Cam belt gone under warranty. Car miles from garage

sdavi3680

Posting on behalf of my girlfriend.

She had a new cam belt put in a few years ago which is still under warranty. The cam belt went on the motorway last week and she was towed back to where she lives in Gloucestershire. The (independent) garage that fitted the cam belt is in Devon. Obviously it would cost loads to get it towed to Devon, and it would cost loads to get it fixed in a garage in Glos. The car is only worth about £500-800 (Vauxhall Corsa) but it was only owned by her Gran before and has done low mileage.

Are there any options for her? Surely cars must break down miles away from the garage that did the work all the time. Whats the normal process? Should the garage pay for anything, perhaps to pay for a local garage to assess whether it's definitely their liability because of the cam belt?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

whats got me concerned is that you say it was fitted a few years ago, how many years we talking here? was it just the belt replaced or was the idler/tensioner and water pump changed at the same time?

chunder

sdavi3680 wrote: »

Posting on behalf of my girlfriend.

She had a new cam belt put in a few years ago which is still under warranty. The cam belt went on the motorway last week and she was towed back to where she lives in Gloucestershire. The (independent) garage that fitted the cam belt is in Devon. Obviously it would cost loads to get it towed to Devon, and it would cost loads to get it fixed in a garage in Glos. The car is only worth about £500-800 (Vauxhall Corsa) but it was only owned by her Gran before and has done low mileage.

Are there any options for her? Surely cars must break down miles away from the garage that did the work all the time. Whats the normal process? Should the garage pay for anything, perhaps to pay for a local garage to assess whether it's definitely their liability because of the cam belt?

sorry to burst your bubble but most cambelt manufacturers will only provide a warranty for 12mths/24000mls at the most, and this will only be awarded if all tensioners/rollers poss even water pump have been replaced, and you will need a receipt from a vat registered garage also. Have seen this many a time where 'the brothers cousin has fitted it and he works in a garage, :eek: fitted it with his haynes manual but did it cheap and just replaced the belt'. sorry to say i dont think you have a leg to stand on.

sdavi3680

Burst my bubble?

No it wasn't from a mate with a haynes manual, it was in a proper garage that people take cars to, to get work done on them.

Anyway, I don't know exact details other than she said the garage told her it was still under warranty. So let's just say that it was all changed legitimately, all seals, rollers or whatever. Would you then have a leg to stand on?

forgotmyname

If the garage said its covered then sort out some cheap breakdown cover and its fixed for free. BUT
make sure its covered because if it turns out not to be covered after you get the car there you will
have to pay them to do it or find some other method of getting it back.

Cannot see a belt fitted years ago being under any sort of warranty.

Normal process you get the car there and they fix it.

pendulum

It's unusual for a garage to willingly offer a warranty exceeding one year for a cambelt. Do you have this warranty offer in writing?

Does the receipt specifically state a cambelt kit will be fitted? If it does not say "kit", then it's likely just the belt was replaced, and as the belt probably would have failed before now if it was incorrectly fitted, it's most likely another component has failed and taken the belt out with it. The warranty, if it exists, would only cover the belt itself and not any other component that causes it to fail.

You don't have to be a cowboy garage to just fit a belt and not a full kit - a lot of garages do this. In my opinion they should always tell the customer the difference between just a belt change and a full cambelt kit change and let the customer decide whether to pay the extra, but not many do in my experience.

You could get it recovered to the garage for them to look at, but the chances of getting it fixed for free are slim IMO. You're relying on a hefty amount of goodwill here so be polite rather than aggressive and I'd be happy to settle for some kind of compromise / discount etc.

andygb

I have never heard of any warranty (bar that for a new car) cover a cambelt for any more than one year.
Even most manufacturers now are advising that cambelts are replaced every three years or 36K miles (whichever comes first).
There are other things to be taken into consideration - dirt, coolant, oil contamination which will all hasten the demise of a cambelt.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

let me set a few things on track, those who specify that belt kits have only one years warranty need to check again. gates timing KITS with water pumps and the timing kits have the vehicle manufacturers specified interval as their warranty so any failure within that specified interval miles/years SHOULD be covered by that warranty i cant say who else offeres that type of cover but gates DO.

belts on their own yes i would say they carry one year 23,000 miles warranty as componants not changed as recommended by VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS can cause premeture damage and failure to the belt and engine.

your trouble here is your garage you had the belt fitted at is some miles away and for a warranty CLAIM to be made you would have to take it to the that garage in order for them to process your claim and their labour charges and engine damage.