Fault on car out of warranty - can anyone help?

Thelayne01

Hi,

My car has been in Lookers garage (Vauxhall approved) for around 5 months (it's Vauxhall) with an undiagnosed fault. After them trying many things like changing the onboard computer twice - as well as others to no avail - I agreed a fixed price of £600 on the agreement that it is fixed. I wrote a letter to them just to have something in writing and to push them a little

Whilst it is still in the garage, after enlisting the help of Vauxhall technicians they are now making noises that the problem has been found (a wiring issue) and are working on resolving this

However, I am wondering what my rights are for this. The car is under 5 years old and I am yet to finish paying off the finance so technically do not yet own the vehicle. Unfortunately the car is now out of warranty (it only lasted 3 years)

As this is not a problem that I have caused or that anyone else has caused I feel like I have been sold faulty goods. £600 for the repair is a hell of a lot of money for me

Can anyone help with this please or give me some advice? It'd be greatly appreciated

PS apologies for the lengthy post!

Thanks

cyclonebri1

The car is out of vx waranty.

You have already agreed a price to get it fixed, (out of waranty)

Maybe comeback if that fails??

(Shruggs shoulders emoticon gone??)

Thelayne01

No worries - thanks for your help

Thought it'd be a long-shot but asked anyway on the off chance as it's quite a steep sum

Cheers

vax2002

Ask for an itemised quotaion of what they are going to do.
the problem may be a simple one, quite often, there expertise finishes at swapping bits.

vikingaero

You could pursue your finance company for the repair costs.

vax2002

Some of these garages are utter clueless, looked at a car Vauxhall Signum for a neighbour , VX said required a new ECU at £1450 as it would not run kept juttering and refusing to start, did the old jump lead test from negative battery terminal to engine and hey presto ran like a sewing machine, fitted a second earth strap from the body to the lifting point and away went all the issues and all 11 OBD codes, took the existing strap to the gearbox to engine off and when we cut it open it hard burnt out inside causing huge resistance , replaced, left the new second one on for good measure and the guy has had no more problems since.
Cost £11
A lot of fast fit semi skilled mechanics are mislead by error codes on scanners, beyond reading the code and plugging a new bit in they are clueless, sometimes the old ways work best.
A poor earth, is a wiring fault.

cyclonebri1

vax2002 wrote: »

Some of these garages are utter clueless, looked at a car Vauxhall Signum for a neighbour , VX said required a new ECU at £1450 as it would not run kept juttering and refusing to start, did the old jump lead test from negative battery terminal to engine and hey presto ran like a sewing machine, fitted a second earth strap from the body to the lifting point and away went all the issues and all 11 OBD codes, took the existing strap to the gearbox to engine off and when we cut it open it hard burnt out inside causing huge resistance , replaced, left the new second one on for good measure and the guy has had no more problems since.
Cost £11
A lot of fast fit semi skilled mechanics are mislead by error codes on scanners, beyond reading the code and plugging a new bit in they are clueless, sometimes the old ways work best.
A poor earth, is a wiring fault.

God, at last a true and down to earth, (no pun intended), car fixer.:T:T

I didn't want to say "mercanich" as kwikkrap employ them,;)

Thelayne01

Thanks everyone - much appreciated

Vax2002: The juttering/refusing to start problem sounds like the same problem I have! 2 garages had their computers (scanners?) on it and couldn't find the problem!!!

bigjl

Hopefully your post might have given you the info you need.

Though why has the car been in there for 5months?