Faulty 2nd hand car, advice needed

Wonder_Girl

Hiya,

I am after some advice, I apologise in advance, this will be a long thread but I would like to give as much details as possible to ensure I know where I stand.

My little Fiat died! So after consideration and some looking around my OH & I decided to spend a bit more to buy something reliable. We have two children & a big dog, we are also planning on having a baby next year, so with all this in mind we opted for a MPV.

On the 8th June we went to the local 2nd hand dealership as this had been recommended by a few people in the area. They had several MPV & after looking at them we opted for a 2004 Vauxhall Zafira. We were advised it would be taxed & MOTed the following day & I could then collect it, I also noticed a warning light on the dash that was on,I was advised that this was it’s service due reminder & I was advised this would be sorted in the MOT.

9th of June I went to pick the car up, it had been taxed but I was advised by another man (the one we had bought the car from was now on holiday) that an MOT had not been carried out as the last one was done in September, I advised that the MOT was part of the sale & that I expected it to be completed. He then called & arranged for the car to have an MOT the following Wednesday in their nominated garage, I was happy with this. I signed the HP agreement & left with the car. Over the next week or so I noticed the “service” light flash on & off a few times but thought nothing of it. Car passed it’s MOT on the 17th of June & I didn’t notice the light come on after this.

21st of June, OH & I had visited the in-laws for the weekend in Nottingham, we were on the way back on the motorway, OH noticed that the fan wasn’t working, neither were any of the other buttons in the part of the panel, I figured the fuse had gone so we pulled into the next service station to buy some fuses. After turning the ignition off it would not turn back on, Greenflag were called & they took us to the nearest garage as this is the level of cover I have. My FIL then had to come pick us all up & bring us the rest of the way back to Leeds.

22nd June called the garage to explain what had happened, the dealership referred me to the garage that had carried out the MOT & they whined a bit about me leaving it so far away! Anyway they went to pick it up that day. They checked it the following day & advised me that the starter motor had gone, they ordered the part & I collected the car on the 25th. I then didn’t notice the warning light again. The cost of this was covered by the 12 month warranty I had from the dealership.

3rd July, OH & I had driven down to Ipswich for the weekend, we are on the way into London with two friends on the way to a concert when the warning light comes on, a minute or so later the car alarm started to go off & all the electronics went haywire, very scary when doing 70mph! Anyway I managed to pull into a layby without too much difficulty, turned the engine off & low & behold it won’t turn on again, another call to Greenflag & a tow to the nearest garage. We then had to hire a car for the rest of the journey (this was cheaper than the 4 of us each buying a train ticket) I then called the greenflag garage on the Saturday morning, they advised they had taken it to the Vauxhall service centre down the road as they thought the warranty was with them, it wasn’t, but non the less they agreed to do the work, I would then pay them & they I would have to claim back through the warranty company, I was happy with this. After a few calls back & forth to the warranty company I established that I couldn’t get a courtesy car & that the car wouldn’t be repaired til mid week, I had no alternative other then to leave the car in Ipswich & get the train home to Leeds.

9th July I took the day off work & got the train to Ipswich, I then picked the car up, paid the £700 & was advised that the starter motor had been replaced (yes the two week old one) apparently the issue was the ignition barrel which caused the motor to burn out, the motor itself wasn’t the issue. Drove the car home & it has since been fine.

Until tonight, on the way home from work tonight & the dreaded light has come on again! Have parked up & the car still turns on but I have lost all faith in it. We have spent approx £1,000 on the car & related travelling costs since having it (will get £580 back towards the last repairs soon) & I am at my wits end. I have lost all faith in the reliability of the car & to top it off we are going on holiday on Friday, I need the car to get us to the in laws, luckily my FIL will be driving us to Dover in his reliable MPV.

If you have read this far you need an award & I thank you. My real questions are where do I stand? Can I get them to swap the car for a better one? Will this be a problem due to the HP being with a separate company? Can I just return it & get the dealership to annul the HP & go somewhere else to start the process again? Any advice would be appreciated, I have no idea what my rights are & what I should expect as a resolution to the problem.

Thank you for listening
WG x

harveybobbles

Crikey...

Well Vauxhall/Saab/GM were doing recalls on the starter motors, so not sure if yours was one of these.

The alarm going off will be the siren as these go faulty and have their own power supply.

Diesel44

This is digusting customer service. I take it by the way I'm reading your post, that it was not a Vauxhall dealership you purchased the car from.

Wonder_Girl

Diesel44 wrote: »

This is digusting customer service. I take it by the way I'm reading your post, that it was not a Vauxhall dealership you purchased the car from.

No, it was a general dealership

mrscb

Diesel44 wrote: »

This is digusting customer service. I take it by the way I'm reading your post, that it was not a Vauxhall dealership you purchased the car from.

From who..........

Sirbendy

the light that's lit - is it the car with a spanner light, or the engine block lamp? If it's the engine block lamp you *may* be able to do a diagnostic procedure on it to find out what's upset it. I say may - I know my 2001 Astra (which the Zaf is based on) does it.

I'm sure I've read about the ignition barrel too, somewhere...plus the starter. Wonder if it's on my Vauxhall dealer reference DVD. I'll check tomorrow night if I remember.

If it's the engine block lamp lit, turn the car off. Put your foot flat down on the acellearator, and on the brake too. Turn the key to "2"..DO NOT go to engage the starter, just power the ignition/instrument panel. Give it a few seconds, and the light *may* start to flash.

Count the flashes..10 is the equivalent of a 0, any other number is the number of flashes. There should be a 4 digit code flash sequence with a pause between each "digit". If you can get that, stick it on here and we can look it up.

As I say, a 2004 Zaf MIGHT NOT have the capability..but then again, it may.

tomstickland

A friend who works for a dealership said the ignition barrels are known to stick in the start position.

Wonder_Girl

Hi Sirbendy, it's the car with the spanner, it flashes on for a few seconds and then goes off again, but that's what it has being doing since day one on and off

Tomstickland - that is what the Vauxhall garage said was the problem, that is why it happened after the first garage replaced the starter motor only, the ignition barrel was replaced on Thursday so it can't have stuck again already?

Thanks for all your help, I'm planning on going to the dealership tomorrow to see what they have to say about it, not sure what to expect tho

mikey72

Generally a good car, but look at

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=429

to quote the page

Ignition key assembly can collapse and short out the starter motor. Typical bill (ignition switch & starter motor + £294 labour) £510. Ignition barrel is manufactured from poor quality plastic which overheats so that the ignition key is difficult to remove, does not return and consequently leads to a burn out of the starter motor. Also starter/starter flywheel ring problems on 1.8s.


The 2004 Zaf will give any stored codes if you press the brake and accelerator as above. Try it and post them back. May be one or several.

harveybobbles

tomstickland wrote: »

A friend who works for a dealership said the ignition barrels are known to stick in the start position.

we've replaced these on Astra's quite a lot when they fail to engage.