Car Battery warranty question

helen37_2

My father who is a taxi driver bought a new car battery for his skoda octavia in July last year.
When he bought this battery he was offered a 1,2,3 or 4 year warranty. He decided to pay the extra £10 and got a 4 year warranty. With no questions asked about the vehicle usage. In fact he actually went down with his car (which has 2 taxi stickers on his doors and a 2 taxi plates)

Anyway he has problem with this battery not keeping it's charge so he took it back to the shop he bought it from today and was told that he is not entitled to the 4 year warranty as he is a taxi driver and therefore only allowed a maximum of 12 months warranty.

He questioned this as
a) he was not informed of this at the time of purchase, otherwise he would not spent the extra £10 on getting a 4 year warranty and stuck with the manufacturers 1 year guarantee.
b) there is nothing that states on his reciept that there are terms and conditions on the 4 year warranty.

The gentleman he spoke to telephoned his boss who replied with "the manufacturer will only guarantee the battery for 12 months as it is a taxi.

Could someone please give me any advise on how we can resolve this issue.

Premier_2

Inform the seller of the proposed use in future

Kilty_2

I'd say with no written terms and conditions specifically excluding use in a taxi they've not got a leg to stand on....

mchale

I think you will find its classed as "commercial use" thereby excluded, its a common clause

helen37_2

Thanks for your replies

Where can we go from here?

Like I said before my dad would not of bought the extended warranty if he knew that it would only last a year.
The shop are refusing to exchange it, stating that for a taxi it is not covered by an extended warranty.

Do we
a) except what they are saying, but ask for the money back that dad paid extra for the "extended warranty"
OR
b) Stand our ground that dad was never told about it only lasting a year if it is used by a taxi, and ask for an exchange.

Does anyone know what the LAW states about these things?

The reciept clearly says 4 year warranty, but no terms or conditions excluding taxi's

Premier_2

There must be terms & conditions about what the warranty covers?

It won't cover every eventuality, that's for sure...

The fact you bought a product and warranty without explaining its intended usage is not anyones fault expect the buyer's.

fatbelly

Helen

I think you should have a chat with Consumer Direct

I think there may be one or two Sale of Goods Act issues here and they are best equipped to help you.

I did notice from their website that there are additional 'hoops' a seller has to jump through if the warranty costs more than £20. And clearly they've pitched their warranty below that figure.

Worth a phone call though - might be useful to post the outcome here.

vaio

Premier wrote: »

There must be terms & conditions about what the warranty covers?

It won't cover every eventuality, that's for sure...

The fact you bought a product and warranty without explaining its intended usage is not anyones fault expect the buyer's.

Or, the fact that they sold a warranty to a taxi driver without explaining that taxis weren’t covered (or including the fact in any of the documentation) means that the seller is liable (and for the battery, not just a refund of the £10)

What they have done is about as fair as retrospectively excluding say green cars when they turn up with a warranty claim.

On a practical note I’m struggling to see why a taxi would be excluded, I’d have thought a taxi battery would have an easier life than average given the probable usage.

Premier_2

vaio wrote: »

Or, the fact that they sold a warranty to a taxi driver without explaining that taxis weren’t covered (or including the fact in any of the documentation) means that the seller is liable (and for the battery, not just a refund of the £10)

What they have done is about as fair as retrospectively excluding say green cars when they turn up with a warranty claim.

On a practical note I’m struggling to see why a taxi would be excluded, I’d have thought a taxi battery would have an easier life than average given the probable usage.

No.

The supplier sold a battery with a warranty. The buyer failed to disclose the intended usage and failed to understand the terms of the warranty. In this case the warranty was only valid for 1 year because of the usage the battery was put under.

You think a taxi is used less than a typical private car? When a car is being used, a battery is being used.

Premier_2

fatbelly wrote: »

Helen

I think you should have a chat with Consumer Direct

I think there may be one or two Sale of Goods Act issues here and they are best equipped to help you.

I did notice from their website that there are additional 'hoops' a seller has to jump through if the warranty costs more than £20. And clearly they've pitched their warranty below that figure.

Worth a phone call though - might be useful to post the outcome here.

One term within SoGA that probably doesn't help is the one that "there is no implied term about the quality or fitness for any particular purpose of goods supplied under a contract of sale." (14.1)

14.2B.a goes on to state "For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,..."
http://www.johnantell.co.uk/SOGA1979.htm

Unless the battery supplier specifically sold to just the taxi trade, I would suggest the use of the battery was not in line with what they commonly supply them for.

Now if the buyer had indicated the actual purpose the battery would have been used for...


Consumer Direct, as the name suggests, is to help consumers.
The buyer in this case appears to have bought the item for and as part of a business, not as a consumer.

helen37_2

Premier wrote: »

No.

The supplier sold a battery with a warranty. The buyer failed to disclose the intended usage and failed to understand the terms of the warranty. In this case the warranty was only valid for 1 year because of the usage the battery was put under.

You think a taxi is used less than a typical private car? When a car is being used, a battery is being used.

Premier


My dad drove his TAXI to the shop car park, went in and said there is a problem with my current battery, the guy then went out to my dad's TAXI (with it's signs, plates and radio on full view) checked the battery and said there was a problem.

The guy in the shop then proceeded to sell my dad a battery, he then offered my dad a 1,2,3, or 4 year warrenty. NEVER did he say to my dad that the warranty would be void after a year if the car was to be used as a TAXI.

When you buy from a shop whatever it may be you expect there to be a certain life span of that product. Now because dad knew that his car would be doing over the average millage and wanted to keep himself on the road earning money he paid the higher premium to get the extended warranty.

Surely manufacturers have tests done on their products to test thier life span and do this to the extreme. If a battery has an average life span of 10 years for example, someone using it to the extreme would hope to get at least half that time, and some one using it sparingly would get possibly 15 years. So therefore their warranty should cover this accordingly, and if the manufacturer or seller decide that exceptions should be made then this should of been clearly documentated.

This was not done so I believe that the seller is at fault

I wonder why it is just TAXI'S that they are stating it does not cover for the full term, what about other road users who do over the average millage?

I have spoken to my dad and he is going to speak to consumer direct and see what they have to say about it. I shall let you know once i know more.