Sold car - £1000 of work in a year!!!

everlastingspirit

Hi,

Here's the deal. Bought a 2004 Corsa last August (08) on HP form a dealer in Coventry called Andrews Garage. Seems to be an ex-company car. Had higher mileage circa 85000 but was a diesel so thought this was fine. 3 month warranty included. The people who run this look a bit old school dodgy but for some reason i gave the benefit of the doubt.

As soon as i was on my 12 mile motorway drive home, engine exhaust light pops on. Ring garage next day to be told they will send mechanic out as its likely just a sensor. Fair enough he comes out gets fault code and says will ring me. 2 days later and no call. Ring garage who chases him, says doesnt have waht fault code means and waiting for vauxhall to call him back. 2 days later no call. Fortunately i remember roughly what code was, type it into a search engine and i hve my answer, MAP sensor. So call garage who give me his number (notice the shrugging of interest now getting me to call their mechanic). I tell him this and says he will order part. Over next 1 1/2 months he and the garage make excuses l ike awaiting part, awaiting confirmation warranty people will pay out, warranty people say they wont pay out so they are arguing my case. Eventually i get the number for warranty people and call them.... I give them my details and explain what has happened so far. In response they advise the warranty has been activated but they were sorry to say noone had even called them to report. As it was still in warranty they waived he usual diagnostic chargesd involved due to the incompetence of the garage and sent me to Nationwide Autocentres in Rugby. Took 3 days from call to warranty people to car having new sensor. No problems. All due credit to the Warranty people who were very corteous and helpful.

Next thing service costs £180 - Not to bad but my mechanic said that handbrake was never lubricated during previous service. Has done but will ned replacing on MOT. Also engine management light now on and EGR valve needs replacing (£160 job).

Go on holiday in partners car. Come back & my whole clutch has gone, £400 job.

Get mot done. Rear suspension arm gone + handbrake cable £280 job

Now i am just about to sell the car (hopefully part ex) and getting EGR valve done so i dont pass problems to someone else and they are struggling to get the part off without snapping manifold or something similar. They are working around getting it off at another angle to avoid but car could cost £160 + additional £100 for work involved. Im just gladi have a good mechanic.

apx £1000 in last year, car is only worth £2900.

Is there anything i can do against the company who sold me this car. Surely some of these faults should have been evident to them. Obviously i would like some compensation but the main thing is them being punished for selling a crap car!

Sorry for the rant but i just feel so ripped off and stressed by it all!

What are your thoughts

cyclonebri1

I do think youv'e been unfortunate, but I very much doubt there is any point in trying to pursue the issue. Lesson to learnt is if you smell a rat, as you indicated, run away.:eek:

The clutch issue is a none issue, at 85K, on average, it would be approching the end of its life, although they can last much more or much less. This is why high mileage cars should be cheaper, generally you should expect bigger repair bills, offset by the lower purchase price;)

hewhoisnotintheknow

i would say its too late

the £400 clutch and £180 service can be knocked off your total as they are just things that need doing

so that leaves a balance of 420 for the year, which isnt too bad

maninthestreet

How did the clutch fail whilst the car was parked up and not being driven?

hewhoisnotintheknow

maninthestreet wrote: »

How did the clutch fail whilst the car was parked up and not being driven?

i assume they mean the first time it was driven it died, or does he mean the clutch was stolen?

missile

Ex company cars are often cheap to buy. They are usualy well thrashed and trashed. That is pretty much what I would expect on a 2004 corsa with 85,ooo miles. How many miles did you add?

Volcano

I agree with #3.

The clutch is a once-every-85K job, the service and MOT repairs are standard costs, so that gives you a max of £260 of repairs above the basic running costs, which is quite good compared to some on here who tell us about their head gaskets and gearboxes going.

Running costs should be calculated over the lifetime that you have the vehicle. It is quite possible you can keep this for another year and have no problems with it and for it to sail through its MOT next time. If this is the case then you've done really well with the car.

hewhoisnotintheknow

missile wrote: »

Ex company cars are often cheap to buy. They are usualy well thrashed and trashed. That is pretty much what I would expect on a 2004 corsa with 85,ooo miles. How many miles did you add?

ours usually leave the car park about 15 times a day doing short trips (less than 15 miles) wheel spinning and bouncing off the limiter as they thrash up the road with condensation spraying out the exhaust!

cyclonebri1

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

ours usually leave the car park about 15 times a day doing short trips (less than 15 miles) wheel spinning and bouncing off the limiter as they thrash up the road with condensation spraying out the exhaust!

Can't agree there I'm afraid. Thats a pool car not your typical company car which gets driven up and down the motorway 5 days a week.
In my less "well off" days I always bought ex comp high mileage cars, usually at 3 years old and anything from 80 to 100k miles. Never caught a crab with any off them, keeping them on average for a further 4 years. I consider the savings I made in having a reasonably presentable car well worth the sacrifice in mileage.:T:T

hewhoisnotintheknow

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Can't agree there I'm afraid. Thats a pool car not your typical company car which gets driven up and down the motorway 5 days a week.
In my less "well off" days I always bought ex comp high mileage cars, usually at 3 years old and anything from 80 to 100k miles. Never caught a crab with any off them, keeping them on average for a further 4 years. I consider the savings I made in having a reasonably presentable car well worth the sacrifice in mileage.:T:T

no these are company cars running short errands, but yes generally pool cars are dogs and company cars are better looked after!

pianeet

hang on a minute am i right in thinking that nationwide auto centers said all this work needed doing ,if so take it with a pinch of salt,if you are in rugby i can recomend midvale garage on bilton road ,he has nothing to do with me but will not rip you off if not try stanbridge motors both of these garages will give you far better service than nationwide