Opinions please

Knockieranlady

My husband and I purchased a used 4x4 from a reputable garage three weeks ago. We paid our deposit and the salesman promised to have it serviced, valeted and ready for the road by the following week when we would pay the balance.
A week later my husband collected it and brought it home. I noticed that it had not been valeted when it arrived, a minor issue you may say, well we thought that too, until four days later when we checked the oil, the oil hardly covered the tip of the dipstick. We then brought it to our own mechanic to check it out thoroughly. He came up with a list of problems and said it definitely had not been serviced.
We went back to the garage and told the salesman our findings. He apologised profusely and booked it in for a service a few days later. We left it in for service last Monday and its still there. When we rang today we were told that when they took the gearbox apart to replace the seal an inner seal was weeping and also needed to be replaced, the part wont be in till Monday so it will be at least Monday evening before we have it back.

Am I wrong to be angry? The salesman has convinced my husband that this time everything will be A1 as good as new, he is happy with that, I on the other hand feel we are been messed around. They had a week to service it the first time before we picked it up and only that we happened to check the oil we would not have known about these other problems. I am also worried that we had been driving around for four days with a virtually empty oil tank and could that have done severe damage to the engine.
I am interested to hear any views, should I be happy that at least it is getting done now, or am I right to be annoyed. He did give us a replacement vehicle while we are waiting and he said we can bring it back to our own mechanic afterwards to get it checked out to prove all the work has been done. Sorry for going on a bit. It is a 2.9 diesel by the way

matt cork

i think this is a difficult and really feel for you. it happened to me many moons ago but luckily i lived in a small village so the service and apology i got far out weighed the minor issues.

i would find out whether the garage which is currently carrying our the service originally promised is planning on carrying out anything outside of what was discussed. it wouldn't be unheard of for a garage to try and 'make up' problems and try and charge you to try and recoup the cost of the promised service. that being said if you are dealing a recognised dealer this is unlikely

i would certainly keep the garage happy at the moment because at the end of the day they have your car and then take further issue with them once your vehicle has been returned to you.

i wouldnt believe there would be significant damage to your engine with low oil. certainly if there was any damage you would have recourse against the garage as this would have been caused as a consequence of them not carrying our the pre-agreed service

perhaps a good course of action would be to obtain 'free servicing' for your vehicle when the time comes? i wouldn't be afraid of raising hell over this

gyppo

I can understand how you would be annoyed - you and your husband have shelled out a fair bit of cash, and the garage looks like they could'nt be bothered to do anything else once they had your money.

However, to be fair to the salesman, he did organise it to be serviced as soon as you aired your grievance. The issue with the oil seal on the gearbox might mean that they are now, at least, committed to ensuring your car will be in tip-top condition leaving the garage (or maybe I'm a born optimist!!).
Anyhow, mistakes can and do happen, and it looks likely that the sales and service team have a communications problem somewhere. I would give them the benefit of the doubt - This time.

As regards the low oil level - did the oil warning lamp come on at any stage?
If it didnt, its unlikely that any damage was caused. It is however, a poor reflection of the previous owners servicing of this car.

mike65

Hmmmmm, the trouble with this is that you now feel you can't belive a word the garage says, trust is hard won and easily lost. Let them do as they've promised and once you've got the service done don't ever go back and if anyone cavasses opinion on that garage you know what to say!

I'd say no damage has been done to the engine, the minimuim is just that + a bit for safeteys sake. As the dipstick showed above that point there should'nt be a problem.

Mike.

Gerry

I think you need to get them to agree to replace the engine if it fails, free of charge. When you get the car back, identify the oil pressure light on your dashboard. Note how long it takes to go out when you start the engine from cold. If it goes out pretty much straight away you should be ok for the moment. If it stays on for a few seconds, thats bad.
But, you don't know how long the car has been running with that amount of oil in it. If it has been like that for a while, it will have greatly accelerated the bearing wear. Lets say the engine would normally last for 250,000 miles, if this lack of oil has worn the bearings a lot, it might only go for 150,000 without a rebuild.
This is all hypothetical ( figures are off the top of my head ), and a worst case scenario. But its not your fault, so you need to give the garage hell until they agree to take care of it for you. I'm sure you paid good money for the car, so don't feel bad about doing this. And fair play for checking the oil, a lot of people don't bother to do this.

Gerry

mike65 wrote:

Hmmmmm, the trouble with this is that you now feel you can't belive a word the garage says, trust is hard won and easily lost. Let them do as they've promised and once you've got the service done don't ever go back and if anyone cavasses opinion on that garage you know what to say!

I'd say no damage has been done to the engine, the minimuim is just that + a bit for safeteys sake. As the dipstick showed above that point there should'nt be a problem.

Mike.

I think from what she said, it was below the minimum mark. Could be wrong though..

mike65

until four days later when we checked the oil, the oil hardly covered the tip of the dipstick

I read that as some oil on dipstick (just).

Mike.

Knockieranlady

Thanks for all your replies, the oil light didn't come on but the oil was nowhere near the minimum level, a tiny drop on the very tip of the dipstick when wiped then checked. I'm glad you can understand my annoyance, we paid 17,500, in good faith. On one hand I don't blame the salesman, he doesn't do the servicing, but on the other he is the one we are dealing with. In fairness to him he never questioned us and promised to get everything done this time. suppose I just have to wait and see what happens on Monday. Its embarrassing though, we get one jeep everyone notices then all of a sudden its gone and we have a different one, feel daft telling people there were problems, makes us look fools

junkyard

I assume the garage has given you a loan of a jeep. If its a jap import you could bee waiting for parts buy at least they're fixing it for you, others would just fog you off. Waiting for parts is alway a problem even for vehicles sold new in Ireland. It was a bit unfair to be given the jeep as it was alright.

stratos

I wouldn't worry too much, Providing it's a reputable garage things should get sorted out.
I have bought many second hand cars over the years and sometimes a worrying hiccup would happen.
I think you need to judge a vehicle just as much by it's surroundings and the person selling it, as by the car itself.

The old saying, "would you buy a used car from this man ?" really can ring true. If possible I always try to get a look behind the scene in garages look behind the gloss of the killing floor, oops meant sales area.
Messy workshops and customers cars being driven sideways out the workshop can tell you a lot about the operation your dealing with.
Anyway hope it all works out.