Faulty motability car last fault causes injury and very nearly serious accident.

BANANAVAN

Evening
in October 2009 we ordered a brand new new car via the
Motability
scheme. We had to make a advance payment of just over £10k , it is then payed for on contract hire for 3 years.

Its had various faults from the beginning.
leaking doors , leaking windows, faulty radio, faulty alarm. These were all fixed without much drama

last month there was a fault with the power steering resulting in the car needing a new power steering pump
we thought that surly that's got to be it for faults .
how wrong were we

Yesterday my wife was driving the car round a roundabout ( as you do )
She indicated to exit the round about . this is where it all went wrong.
Total power steering failure by this time a rather large wagon has pulled onto the roundabout and she is heading straight for it . due to the steering failure, she has had to fight the steering to avoid a collision, I was at home so rushed down the road to find her very shaken and in tears.
Shes has an appointment with the doctors tomorrow due to the pain in her arm ( from trying to steer the car ,so as not to hit the wagon) not getting any better.

Shes refusing to drive the car when it returns as understandably she doesn't trust it TBH neither do I

The car was recovered back to the dealers where today they conformed that a seal in the replacement pump had failed causing total loss of power steering fluid and loss of power steering.

We would like all or at least most of our advance payment back as all of the above has happened with the car only covering 10K miles from NEW

Any advice on how best to get the ball rolling

snoopy89

might be a good case for domanic on the beeb or watchdog. its disgusting to have a car like that in this day and age. contact mobility first and see what they say as they will be your first port of call, if you dont get any where cause a storm, it nearly always works. but dont lose your temper it wont get you anywhere. all the best of luck.

iluvmarmite

They might just say they will exchange the car for another one of the same type.

jetta_wales

I think since your lease is due to end in October this year then you will be very unlikely to get much of your advanced payment back but possibly you could approach it from the view of compensation? It would be the manufacturers fault though no not Motability but they own the car not you so I've honestly no idea who'd be responsible legally.

BANANAVAN

jetta_wales wrote: »

I think since your lease is due to end in October this year then you will be very unlikely to get much of your advanced payment back but possibly you could approach it from the view of compensation? It would be the manufacturers fault though no not Motability but they own the car not you so I've honestly no idea who'd be responsible legally.

The lease is a 3 year one so its October 2012 it ends.
The advance payment was payed payable to VW

jetta_wales

BANANAVAN wrote: »

The lease is a 3 year one so its October 2012 it ends.
The advance payment was payed payable to VW

Lol my bad :-) You pay through VW but since Motability are the ones with the cars papers I'm not sure then who would be liable financially despite the fact the problems are the manufacturers fault.

I must say I'm wracking my brain to think what VW could have such a pice tag unless it's an Audi (who are VW owned now I think) but I hope not as I have an Audi on order.

Have you spoken to mutability about it?

birkee

I'm confused... the Motability cars are free, and are replaced every three years. (With a small advance payment for upgraded vehicles)
If you have paid £10k up front, and the rest over three years, surely this has been bought on HP, and the car doesn't belong to Motability?

jetta_wales

birkee wrote: »

I'm confused... the Motability cars are free, and are replaced every three years. (With a small advance payment for upgraded vehicles)
If you have paid £10k up front, and the rest over three years, surely this has been bought on HP, and the car doesn't belong to Motability?

You can get some very nice high end or high spec cars on Motability if you are willing to pay a larger advanced payment.

We're paying £3,100 for ours (and saving real hard still till it's ready )

birkee

jetta_wales wrote: »

You can get some very nice high end or high spec cars on Motability if you are willing to pay a larger advanced payment.

We're paying £3,100 for ours (and saving real hard still till it's ready )

Must be a VERY nice car, but up front payment AND three years payments?

jetta_wales

birkee wrote: »

Must be a VERY nice car, but up front payment AND three years payments?

1.8 Audi A4 saloon with extras like storage pack and additional rear airbags. When you consider the insurance on very nice cars then it is a very good deal actually.

Not sure I could ever justify a £10k advanced payment since you have to give the car back after 3 years but if it's something you really want then it's just personal choice really.

My OH's had packed lunches in work for nearly a month now and the kids too to save the last of the payment before it's due :-)

It was about £2k for a decent mondao which the only other car we liked with a big enough boot for our needs. Didn't want a big family car as it seems a shame to have a brand new car and it not be one you really really like so for the extra £1k over the ford to get a bloody gorgeous A4 it seemed a very good deal indeed. I've always loved cars, just wish I could actually drive them too.

easy

BANANAVAN wrote: »

Evening
in October 2009 we ordered a brand new new car via the
Motability
scheme. We had to make a advance payment of just over £10k , it is then payed for on contract hire for 3 years.

Its had various faults from the beginning.
leaking doors , leaking windows, faulty radio, faulty alarm. These were all fixed without much drama

last month there was a fault with the power steering resulting in the car needing a new power steering pump
we thought that surly that's got to be it for faults .
how wrong were we

Yesterday my wife was driving the car round a roundabout ( as you do )
She indicated to exit the round about . this is where it all went wrong.
Total power steering failure by this time a rather large wagon has pulled onto the roundabout and she is heading straight for it . due to the steering failure, she has had to fight the steering to avoid a collision, I was at home so rushed down the road to find her very shaken and in tears.
Shes has an appointment with the doctors tomorrow due to the pain in her arm ( from trying to steer the car ,so as not to hit the wagon) not getting any better.

Shes refusing to drive the car when it returns as understandably she doesn't trust it TBH neither do I

The car was recovered back to the dealers where today they conformed that a seal in the replacement pump had failed causing total loss of power steering fluid and loss of power steering.

We would like all or at least most of our advance payment back as all of the above has happened with the car only covering 10K miles from NEW

Any advice on how best to get the ball rolling

I would suggest you get the ball rolling by talking to motability about this. The vehicle does actually belong to them, and they are the ones who should be dealing with VW about these issues. You haven't said anything at all about their involvement in the issues up to date. In your shoes I would have been talking directly to motability in the first instance, My understanding is that your contract for the supply of the vehicle is with Motability, they have a contract with VW (or possibly with the dealer who supplied)

I think you would be ver unlikely to get your advance payment back in full, you have had 18 months use of the vehicle so far. I would be asking motability to allow you to end the lease early, and start a new lease.

I suspect that the best offer you are likely to get will be to get the vehicle replaced with another of the same, for 3 more years - and you may well have to get quite assertive to get that.

But please - talk to motability about this - as the owners of the vehicle it's their job to manage this situation.