Refusing a Car Part - Within my rights?

matgull

Hi,

Newbie here. Will try to keep to the (not so brief) facts.

1) Took car (Renault, 2003 plate) to approved Renault garage as was in 'limp mode'
2) They diagnosed problem. Contacted us. Carried out work (£275). Did not fix issue.
3) Second diagnosis. Contacted us. Carried out more extensive work (additional £1200). Did not fix issue.
4) Was told part ordered from France. Would be 2-3 weeks
5) Contacted us saying part was no longer made. Would try to find a replacement elsewhere. I contacted Renault customer services. They have agreed to pay off the work carried out by the garage as Renault can not fulfil the fixing of the car. Fair enough.
6) In the meantime garage sent part to Essex to see if it could be repaired. They said no, and forwarded it to Netherlands without our say so. At no point were we asked if this is what we wanted to do. Have always asked to be told what is going on and informed of any decisions being made.
7) Part now returned, repaired, but we do not want the car fixed. Have spent a small fortune in the past 4 years, and enough is enough.
8) Renault tell us they will still pay for the first lot of work even if we reject the part as we are within our rights as part does not full into their guarantee.

So, can we reject the part as it has been fixed without our say so, even though we have mentioned a couple of times that we may not want the car fixing? If we reject the part, are we liable for the cost.

I think not, as we were not asked whether we wanted it fixed, let alone sent to The Netherlands.

Over to you...

Hintza

Sounds as if you left it in the Garage's hands to fix it. They have obviously pulled out all the stops to sort it for you. You also had a lot of good will from Renault on a 7 year old car (which is at th end of it's design life).

I suspect they might take you to court over this and you should perhaps seek legal advice.

You haven't said how much the final bill was?

albionrovers

Had the same problem with a 53-plate. It was never out the garage, service light on, limp mode. Never ever fixed. Sold it in the end and the buyer rang me next day saying "The service light's come on and the power's gone!" Cya - privately sold as seen.

matgull

Final Bill = £1,500+VAT

Repair of Throttle Body = £250


I suspect that the reason they have tried to get the part fixed is because they wanted us to pay the 'customer' rate for the parts and labour, whereas if they get this covered by Renault they will only receive a 'warranty' rate - this would probably be at cost.

I see what you are saying about leaving it in their hands to fix, but all along we have been saying we have been spending a lot on this car, and that we want to be consulted before work takes place.

pitkin2020

So, can we reject the part as it has been fixed without our say so, even though we have mentioned a couple of times that we may not want the car fixing? If we reject the part, are we liable for the cost.


Over to you...

8) Renault tell us they will still pay for the first lot of work even if we reject the part as we are within our rights as part does not full into their guarantee.

Surely you have answered your own question there??

matgull

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Surely you have answered your own question there??

The cost I am concerned about is the cost of the repaired throttle housing (from The Netherlands); I am happy that Renault are covering the cost of the original work covered in points 1 + 2 of my original post.

This is also turning into a point of principle - when I asked whether we could get a reconditioned / second had part as seen on various spares websites I was told by the garage that it had to be a new part fitted, as they would not complete a repair with reconditioned / second hand parts.

I feel it all changed once they realised Renault may only stump up for the original work at a cost pricing, so are trying to get themselves some extra income by getting the car fixed, even though it is against the original advice given to us, i.e. they would not be able to fit any part that was not brand new.

vax2002

They are not worth repairing once they start, they never stop, worst cars on the face of the planet.

pitkin2020

Ahh ok that makes sense now lol. If you didn't authorise it then they have gone and had the part repaired thats up to them, I wouldn't pay it. As you have said they have also gone again the advice they gave you initially so you weren't expecting them to recondition an old part either.

Have they asked you to pay for the recon part?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

TBH renault did alot of leg work, they may have consulted you and you have agreed to go for repair everytime they consulted you so effectivly sending this for repair without your permision was assumed youd have no problems in agreeing to the repair.

note to self: again another reason not to buy anything french.

your withing your rights to reject any part you no longer need, you did not authorise the purchase of the part, so cannot be liable for any fee's they may wish to add as its a special ordered item.

matgull

They haven't asked yet...but surely its only a matter of time.

We were hoping that it would come back that they could not repair the part, because at least that meant that they could put the faulty part back in and I could 'limp mode' out of the garage home, and put it on ebay for spares.

As it stands, if we refuse the part they obviously won't put it back in, we will have to get someone to tow it to our house, or just get someone to collect it from the garage for scrap - we have been given a quote of £150 (they pay us! Bargain!) from someone who will collect it.

It's like praying your football team lets in a goal because your result will come up on the Pools - goes against my nature to hope something can't be fixed.

pitkin2020

You could try and bargain with them. You didn't ask for the part to be repaired so you would like the old part put back. Obvioulsy they can't do that so come to an agreement where you only pay for the part and they pay for the labour. I would only do this though if once fixed the car could be sold for obviously more than that cost, if not then really its not worth it.