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Convertible Roof Problem; Who (if Anybody) is Responsible?
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DifferentType
Posts: 42 Forumite
About 18 months ago my mother bought a convertible Citroen from a second hand dealer for around £4500 with a three month warranty.
About a year later the roof, which is mechanically operated, stopped working. She was quoted a price of £3000 for a new roof which, given that was near enough the cost of the car in the first place, she declined. Since this problem restricted access to the boot however, the dealer that she bought it from agreed to immobilize the roof, at the expense of the car being convertible but providing access to the boot.
A couple of weeks ago, as she was driving, the roof itself came off the car. This happened while she was driving down the road! Fortunately nobody was hurt.
After the incident she has spoken to both her insurance company and the garage from which she bought the car. The insurance company say that the blame lies with the dealer that sold her the car, since they both sold it to her and carried out the work on the roof, while the dealer is insistent that she really tries to push it through with the insurance company.
Clearly, neither of them want to pay, so my obvious question is which party, if it is indeed either of them, is responsible for paying? My mum is reluctant to pursue either along legal lines, lest she wind up having paid legal costs on top of the £3000 to repair the roof if she loses!
Thank you in advance for any response or thoughts.
About a year later the roof, which is mechanically operated, stopped working. She was quoted a price of £3000 for a new roof which, given that was near enough the cost of the car in the first place, she declined. Since this problem restricted access to the boot however, the dealer that she bought it from agreed to immobilize the roof, at the expense of the car being convertible but providing access to the boot.
A couple of weeks ago, as she was driving, the roof itself came off the car. This happened while she was driving down the road! Fortunately nobody was hurt.
After the incident she has spoken to both her insurance company and the garage from which she bought the car. The insurance company say that the blame lies with the dealer that sold her the car, since they both sold it to her and carried out the work on the roof, while the dealer is insistent that she really tries to push it through with the insurance company.
Clearly, neither of them want to pay, so my obvious question is which party, if it is indeed either of them, is responsible for paying? My mum is reluctant to pursue either along legal lines, lest she wind up having paid legal costs on top of the £3000 to repair the roof if she loses!
Thank you in advance for any response or thoughts.
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Comments
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Don't think it can be a claim on Car Insurance.
Can you explain why you think you could involve your Car Insurance?
What Insured peril would be relevant ?
Sounds like your mother needs to get an independent report on the roof and then look to take legal action against the dealer.
If you mother is a member of the AA/RAC, they might be able to assist her with getting an engineers report on the roof.The comments I post are personal opinion. Always refer to official information sources before relying on internet forums. If you have a problem with any organisation, enter into their official complaints process at the earliest opportunity, as sometimes complaints have to be started within a certain time frame.0 -
Don't think it can be a claim on Car Insurance.
Can you explain why you think you could involve your Car Insurance?
What Insured peril would be relevant ?
Oh, I wouldn't have a clue. I'm no expert on cars or insurance (as of the moment I don't have either...).
It was on the advice of the dealer though, I'll try to find out what reason they gave.0 -
Pretty sure that Huckster is correct - if the roof "just came off" then there would not appear to be any peril involved e.g. accidental damage.
From your post it would also appear that the car is a few years old and was outside of the 3 month warranty when there was first a problem with the roof.
Your mum will have to find out why the roof came off - faulty workmanship for instance - but bearing in mind the time that has elapsed this is likely to be hard to prove.0
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