New Car Help

sc0use

we have a 1 year old vauxhall zafira which has had that many problems its cost vauxhall about £6000 now it has to go back again 4 another problem on it were do i stand on just giveing them this car back and asking 4 my money back ?? any help would be great i just get wound up every time i have to go back with the car atleast once a month with a problem you name it this car has had it fitted again and some parts have been changed twice as they were faulty aswell.
ohh and the problem im haveing now a knocking noise from the front end they dont know what it is and are just changeing the parts untill they get it right (lol)
sorry if this is in the wrong place
gh

callmybill

Is the car on Vauxhall's own finance - If it is, then take the car back, cancel the agreement & explain 'the car is not fit for the purpose of road use'.

Contact Vauxhall direct with the complaints :

http://vauxhall.co.uk/ownership/finance/requestContact.jhtml

Explain to them ALL the problems with the car then threaten them with legal action 'unroad worthy car' demand a replacement.

Also contact 'Quentin Wilson'
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/contactus/
send e-mail to the editor and ask for it to be passed on.

terryr

Try your local trading standards for advice

kabie

We have a zafira but it's 3 years old.
Funny thing is though we had a weird knocking noise too; in the end they changed pretty much all of the front end and it went, never knew what it was though. Also just got a new cat because ours went (vauxall paid because it should have lasted longer).
Were thinking of trading it in but the new ones seem incredibly flimsy inside so have stuck with what we have.

sco0ter

Dont know if this is the same thing but I had a 9 month old Mariva with a knocking noise from the front. Turned out to be a steering problem... Something to do with a plastic/rubber bush combo they use and has been failing. When I spoke to the engineer he said all cars from the past 3 years have these fitted and they are substandard but vauxhall wont recall the vehicles because they are hoping that the majority go after 3 years when the warranty is up. 2 other people in my family took thier cars back to have the part replaced under warranty because of this and it was done no problem (both Meriva's as well).

If your cars are from Arnold Clark and you bought the network Q warranty you wont be able to claim under that one as arnold has been misselling these warranties. you will have to claim under the actuall vauxhall warranty

sc0use

thats the problem the car is paid 4 if it was on finance i would of just gave it back ages ago but seams alot harder if you have paid 4 it i will have to wait untill the 6th i think and see if they can fix this problem but i dont have any hope of this as this is the 3rd time they have tried to fix it and dont seam to be getting anywere Vauxhall direct have phoned my to tell me that i have to let them try to fix the car again i even have a name and phone number as i have had that many problems with the car i asked them to take it back and they said it was not as easy as that even after i offerd to buy a new 1 and let them take some of my loss on the car they said no so i just have to wait to se if they can fix it but i will get in touch with the local trading standards and see what they have to say but im gona get a printout of everything that has been done first

vansboy

Are all the problems actually related faults - this WOULD help, if you wanted to reject the car.

You'd have a long time spending out on reports & inspections & back n forward to Vauxhall Customer Care, though.

Best would be to agree a value for the use/mileage you've covered & swap it in - for the new Zafira - already discounting, so possibly a temptation to 'over value' yours.

To see if this valuation was generous - simply get another straight trade in offder, from another Vauxhall dealer - don't tell of the problems, though - just give the impression your thinking of changing.

Other avenues to follow...

Your home insurance, or possibly your car policy, will more than likely offer a Legal Protection' section, allowing for your expenses (but not court fees, if you lost, I'd guess) if you wanted to persue it.

Post your problem on http://www.honestjohn.co.uk clik The Backroom & Discussion & ask there.

Next is http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties e mail stephen.rhodes on there. He's the Consumer Programme presenter, weekdays 10am - 1pm & it's NOT like Watchdog, but a fair & informative & persuing on your behalf (free) to the final outcome. of the problem.

95.5 FM & 630 MW, if not in Beds/Herts/Bucks, he'll still deal with the problem.

VB

meadowcat

I had a Zafira for 3 years and changed it in May. I had a couple of quite major problems which were fixed under warranty, but although I quite liked it, I didn't think I should have had those problems in such a young car.

I got the car new in May 2002 and in February 2004 the driveshaft had to be replaced. They said it was because I had a young driver and he must have been doing fast take offs! Well, maybe or maybe not. He was my third young driver and nothing like that had happened to any of the other cars I had.

Then about six months later I noticed a squeak in the steering when turning the wheel at low speeds, i.e., when parking. They had to replace the steering rack.