Leaking Aygo

Telly_Tubby

We bought a 56 plate Aygo Black new and have been absolutely delighted with it. So much so that when we needed our second car replaced we opted for a 58 plate Platinum.

Just after buying our second Aygo, we noticed a gross smell, it turns out that we have a leak and water in the boot and both rear footwells.

Today, the main dealer, who has serviced it for all it's 79k miles so far, tells us that it needs to have the seals for the rear doors, the boot and the top stop light renewed with an uprated design. Toyota don't want to know as it is out of warranty and the bill is going to be £325.

I find this grossly offensive as it is now clear to us after reading forums such as this,that the Aygo has a design flaw and is not fit for purpose as it left the factory.

Does anybody have any helpful comments to make about where we can go from here please?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Telly_Tubby wrote: »

Just after buying our second Aygo, we noticed a gross smell, it turns out that we have a leak and water in the boot and both rear footwells.

Today, the main dealer, who has serviced it for all it's 79k miles so far, tells us that it needs to have the seals for the rear doors, the boot and the top stop light renewed with an uprated design. Toyota don't want to know as it is out of warranty and the bill is going to be £325.

Not your problem, you have just bought the car from a main dealer, your contract is with them for a serviceable car, they fix it or refund you and take the car back.

avantra

These cares are cheaply made so spending £325 on anything after 79k is astonishingly good value. Think how much this little motor saved you over the years, it would be naive to think that a cheaply made car will have no issues at this age.

Yes it is a design fault but one can think of much worse things that can happen, it is a French re-budged Toyota after all

Telly_Tubby

Two responses from different ends of the spectrum. Thanks for the input.

As we have had the car for a number of years now, I think it would be unreasonable in the extreme to expect a refund/replacement car.

This is indeed only the second thing that has required attention in all the 79k miles, the first being another regular problem of the rear exhaust hanger giving up. So I accept this has been a wonderfully economic car that we have been happy with.

It just seems to me that as there is a recognised design flaw, we are entitled to a different response from Toyota. Had it been a flaw with safety implications, there would have been no question that all would have been rectified at no expense to ourselves.

As for Terry Pratchett, who am I to argue with the great man? :-)

gilbert_and_sullivan

Telly_Tubby wrote: »

As we have had the car for a number of years now, I think it would be unreasonable in the extreme to expect a refund/replacement car.

Misunderstanding, according to your other post the car was leaking straight away when you bought it, i assumed wrongly the car was a recent purchase, you should have got it sorted immediately after purchase whilst warranty wasn't an issue.

Horizon81

As you've said, look on the toyota owners club Aygo forum. You'll find you're far from alone with leaky door seals and different dealerships try to fix it in different ways. Surely there's a fix out there if your dealer is incompetent.

Telly_Tubby

Forgive my poor explanation. It was indeed our first car that we got new that has now started to leak badly a few weeks ago, We have not noticed it previously.

In my muddled way, I was trying to say that it is sods law that we had just bought a second Aygo. Had we known about the widespread leak problems prior to this, we may have had second thoughts, or at least negotiated the price to reflect the cost of replacing with different seals.

Do you think that we are asking too much of Toyota in the circumstances to at least supply the correct seals that should have been in place instead of the faulty ones that were fitted?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Telly_Tubby wrote: »

.

Do you think that we are asking too much of Toyota in the circumstances to at least supply the correct seals that should have been in place instead of the faulty ones that were fitted?

No i don't think you are asking too much.

Have you tried ringing Toyota customer care at Burgh Heath and explaining all to them yourself, this should be the job of your dealer to do so but sadly even though Toyota dealers generally stand head and shoulders above most others, all are not perfect.

Telly_Tubby

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

No i don't think you are asking too much.

Have you tried ringing Toyota customer care at Burgh Heath and explaining all to them yourself, this should be the job of your dealer to do so but sadly even though Toyota dealers generally stand head and shoulders above most others, all are not perfect.

The dealer called Toyota customer care on our behalf and were given the cold shoulder. The dealer told them to expect a call from us. We have the number but I was hoping to gather views of those not directly involved before calling.

We get the distinct impression that the dealer thinks we should get a more sympathetic hearing from Toyota.

meer53

Ok, my update, sorry it's late !

My car was in the dealers for another week. Whilst it was in (for the 5th time !) i called Customer Relations at Toyota to lodge a complaint. They contacted the dealership and advised that any repairs should be run by Toyota before they were done as they wanted to know what was happening.

At MY suggestion, the garage removed all the carpets and parked the car on ramps before water testing it to simulate the conditions on my drive. It's impossible for me to park my car on the flat where i live. All previous water tests were done with the car level so they were having trouble finding out where the water was getting in.

Every seal on my car had been replaced on Toyotas instructions (more than once !) but they insisted they be replaced again. Guess what ? Yep, it leaked - again.

Off they went, back to Toyota and Toyota sent someone to have a look at it. Result !! The engineer from Toyota and the mechanic at the dealership found that the leak was due to a tiny spot of welding underneath the car, somewhere between the front and rear seats which hadn't been sealed properly. They have only seen 1 other car with the same problem.

Anyway, so far so good, i think they've sorted it. I have to say both Toyota and the dealers (Benfield Toyota Leeds) have been fantastic and have done everything they could to solve my problem. It is a known issue with Aygos but i have friends with Aygos and i'm the only one with this problem. Most people on the Toyota Owners Forum have had the issue resolved by replacement seals on the doors and rear lights but mine was a completely different issue.

With regards to Telly Tubbys post, if you've only just noticed the problem i can sort of see where Toyota are coming from. My problems started within 4 months of me buying the car. If you've only just got problems after 79k miles then i think they're right to say it's not covered, would be different if you'd had the problem from the start.