Leaky car - again...

9wizard9

So, at the risk of getting flamed like last time I asked for advice on this issue - I'm hoping to get some more useful responses from the more constructive people on here!

Bought a used car from a main dealer in December. Specifically went to the main dealer for the piece of mind of a decent warranty etc.

About four weeks after buying the car, it rained properly for the first time (just after all the snow melted), and the boot filled up with water. The car is still within the manufacturers warranty, so I took it into the dealer where I bought it.

The dealer, to their credit, has never disputed that this is an issue that they should resolve under the manufacturer's warranty. Unfortunately, as I have found with previous cars, water ingress is difficult to diagnose.

The dealer has had the car four times for repair so far. Twice they said they had diagnosed the problem and fixed it (by replacing various parts). The other two times they say they haven't managed to make it leak. In each case, I have got the car home, parked it, and run a hose over it for a few minutes to test whether the problem still exists. In each case, I have been able to make the car leak very easily and quickly, even with a light fall of water like a slight rain shower. If it actually rains (as it has for the last couple of days), then the boot gets about half an inch of water in the bottom after a couple of days of rain. Basically the boot is unusable, and as I see it this makes the car unfit for purpose.

I have taken photos into the dealer where I have traced the path of water ingress using talcum powder, and the dealer has always agreed that there is still a problem. It's just that they've not been able to fix it.

They're sending someone out tomorrow for me to demonstrate my tests to them so they can see how I make it leak, but this will be the fifth time they've had the car. In each case they've kept it for nearly a week for diagnosis, so they've had the car for nearly as long as I have have since owning it (OK, not quite, but not far off).

I'm getting to the point where I want to talk about replacement or refund, as I don't believe they're ever going to fix this, and I'm not happy about having paid £14k for a car within manufacturer's warranty from a main dealer and having this problem.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I'm interested to know what any of you would do in this situation?

Thanks for any help - hopefully I won't get flamed this time.

sassy_one

My Mondeo had this problem.

Found out after sometime it was a missing 'plug' which plugs the hole up which is very tiny in the boot, no where near as bad as yours but got alittle wet in there during heavy rain

Strider590

The trouble is they'll just be assuming you've not closed the boot properly or left a window open or whatever, i'd be surprised if they even bothered to test it and id be even more surprised if they'd actually changed anything.
Main stealers are in general unbelievably incompetent and it's because the customer facing staff have sweet FA knowledge and fail to pass on specifics to the tech's, who in turn will be 17yr old trainee's under the watchful eye of the senior mechanic (who's probably out having a fag).

What car is it?

One common problem to a lot of cars is the radio aerial allowing water into the roof..... So cars with rear aerials get a boot full of water, whilst those at the front get water running down the inside of the windscreen.

Sandoval

Why do you keep banging on about being flamed all the time?

skiddlydiddly

Put the flames in the boot, they will soon go out ;p.

Good idea about them coming to you.If they kept it for a week I bet 6 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes of that it was just stood waiting for them to have 5 minutes spare to have a look at it.You could also video it leaking with their employee watching so no denying it later.

Hintza

This post is 4 months old.

Strider590

^^ GRRRRR :mad: :mad: :mad: