Car Nightmare Help Needed!!!

carolannjo

Anyone advise on the following: in 2003 we purchased a year old car. Part of the deal was that the car would have the balance of the manufacturers warranty, of which 2 years remained. We asked for a full service on the vehicle and the warranty book was stamped. Now the vehicle has developed a major fault which manufacturer is blaming on lack of servicing, specifically mentioning that it was first serviced in 2003 at 20,000 miles or thereabout!! When we checked book nothing has been stamped in it for the first year of the cars life when it was owned by Lloyds UDT alliance man, St Neots PE19 8JE (who we can find no trace of!!!) We assumed (wrongly as it turns out) that the dealer we purchased it from would have these details and have discovered that according to them the car has never been in their garage for servicing ever, only for a chipped windscreen which we noticed the day we bought it. It appears that the cars warranty was void as it had not been maintained as per manufacturer. My question is do we have any recourse against garage for misrepresentation as the car was sold with warranty intact. Also is there any recourse against dealer who did not bother to service it but stamped the book. We are looking into contacting finance company although car is now paid off. Basically all due to major fault developing, if that hadn't happened we would be none the wiser.
One further thing would anyone know how to find out if a company has stopped trading or been bought over or changed name?

DavidHM

What's the car? How many miles has it now done? What's the fault that has occurred?

The car is now five years old and even if it had had an impeccable service history, it would now be ~2 years out of warranty and possibly many thousands of miles also.

I do think you have a possible claim for misrepresentation against the dealer. If the supplying dealer put their own stamp on it (and they are a franchised dealer) then you'd be better off working on the assumption that your stamp is evidence that the car was serviced and the dealer's records are wrong. However even if you can show that the car was not as described, it's a leap to show that the lack of servicing actually caused the fault - whereas the manufacturer, even if it blames the lack of servicing now in rejecting a goodwill payment, will also point out the car's age, mileage, etc.

I don't quite see why you want to trace the original owner, unless it'd be to get them to provide evidence that the car was in fact serviced. Try http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk - they can show if a company is in liquidation, for example.

DealDrivers_company_representative

It sounds as though the supplying dealer stamped it in 03 when HE serviced it at your request, but it is not his fault that the previous owners failed to get it serviced. The car possibly came from Lloyds TSB fleet, which buys thousands of cars for fleet drivers and often they are returned at 1 or 2 yrs old, but as you've found may never have been serviced by their keepers before going back into the resale market - you should have looked at the service book before buying.

I sounds as thoough you didn't look at its service book before you asked the dealer to service it at time of purchase.

A batch if Citroen Picasso's recently hit the market place like this, which had never been serviced as their registered keepers just had them for 12-24 mths before the end of their contract was up. They've now gone out into the market place with no servicing and possibly invalid warranties.

When buying a used car check its full history, especially an ex fleet car that's still under 3yrs old.

carolannjo

DavidHM wrote:

What's the car? How many miles has it now done? What's the fault that has occurred?

The car is now five years old and even if it had had an impeccable service history, it would now be ~2 years out of warranty and possibly many thousands of miles also.

Hi thanks for response, it is a Nissan Almera and the fault is timing chain!!! Nissan UK say it is down to lack of servicing as the chain should last the lifetime of the car. We have had it serviced at 9000mile intervals since purchase. Current mileage is 53,000, it is only 4 years old at present and at Nissans prices is uneconomical to repair!!
DealDrivers We asked at time of purchase about the warranty and were assured that they had checked it out and everything was fine and that was why they could say "balance of manufacturers warranty" otherwise the warranty would be void and they could not say this. We have this in writing. You are correct in your assumption that we would like to trace original owners to see if car was serviced. Just angry that there seemsto be a spate of these cars all requiring timing chains earlier than expected (we have another whose chain went at 36,000 miles and 4 years old) perhaps we are clutching at straws! Thanks for your comments.

amcluesent

>vehicle has developed a major fault which manufacturer is blaming on lack of servicing<

Confused. The car has failed after the end of the warranty period. Were Nissan going to part-fund the engine replacement as a 'goodwill' gesture until they found that the first service interval(s) had been missed?

MORPH3US

I'm confussed also?

How long is the warranty on the car - 3 years I assume?

So even before the warranty validity issues, if the warranty is only 3 years then you are no longer in warranty.....?

Or do they have a "lifetime warranty" on the chain?!?

BTW if they are saying its unecconomical repair, what value is the car and what is the fix cost? Surely a chain can't cost that much, so just find a garage that is cheaper for labour?

M

DavidHM

Well to be fair, if you have to scrap the car because of the timing chain, it has lasted the lifetime of the car

Seriously, the timing chain failure shouldn't as far as I am aware damage the rest of the engine (but I am willing to be corrected on this fault) although it is a bigger job than just a cambelt replacement (which would be scheduled around now on most other cars).

Oil starvation can definitely contribute to the faulty timing chain, so I'm sort of with Nissan on this one - although it is also a known weakness of this engine and relatively early failure of the chain is quite common, so it's not entirely down to a lack of servicing.

However, I'm puzzled as to why the car would be uneconomical to repair. I'd say the car is worth around £2,500 to £3,000 and the timing chain is (expensive at) £150 or so. Book time for this job is 4 hours' labour, which should be no more than £400 even at a main dealer. Allowing for ancillaries I can't see this job working out at more than £700 even at main dealer prices, and probably no more than £400 at an independent all in if you shop around.

That's obviously expensive but it shouldn't be anywhere near enough to write the car off and even a replacement engine from an independent (as opposed to new, off the shelf from the main dealer) shouldn't run you more than £1,000.

Personally I'd be getting quotes from different independent garages rather than relying on the main dealer, as even if you managed to secure a goodwill payment from Nissan, the chances are that you'd still end up paying more at the dealer than you would pay at an independent.

peterg1965

I personally do not think that you have a leg to stand on here. The car is well past its manufacturers warranty period and they will, quite rightly, not wish to pay for the repairs. Sorry.

DavidHM

The strongest argument is that the car was not of satisfactory quality when supplied, not having been serviced previously. However even if you could establish that, you'd still have to establish that this contributed to the loss (and as she's had the car for less than six years, it might be possible to make that claim). However the argument would be with the supplying dealer and not the manufacturer.

However the OP would have to satisfy the court that she neither knew, nor ought to have known by reasonable inspection, that the car had not been serviced (and that it should have been), having regard to all the circumstances of the transaction, including the price paid.

It's not going to be an easy one to establish and a claim that a garage is likely to want to defend vigorously (although whether or not it is successful, it would not be able to reclaim its costs in Small Claims Court).

carolannjo

As I mentioned before we were perhaps clutching at straws with this one will try and answer questions posed!!!
amcluesent: yes!!!
MORPH3US: Cost of timing chain replacement £1000-£1300 Nissan dealers.
DavidHM: Good one yes suppose it has lasted the lifetime of the car he he just not the lifetime I would have expected! Car is worth at most £2300 so having to pay half of that is kinda steep. Plus as you have mentioned premature failure of the timing chain IS VERY common in these cars most of the garages I have phoned are doing 2-3 every month!!!! This is our second car with this fault other went at 36,000 miles (had full service history). Nissan say they "have had no indication there is a problem with timing chain on this vehicle" Try putting Nissan Almera timing chain into Google and many people will beg to differ. Nissan charge 8-9 hours labour for this job as they say it cannot be done any quicker, parts oil and coolant add £300 rest is labour. At present trying to find local independant to fix it cheapest so far £622.
peterg1965: You are correct they will not want to pay for the many people whose chain has gone prematurely. My local garage has a "record" of one going at 10,000 miles.
I suppose we are a tad bitter having just forked out recently for other car and when we found out that this one had gone as well were gutted. Gave ourselves wee bit of hope that we might not have to pay all of it when we asked Nissan UK about the alarming number of these going prematurely. They offered half the cost straight off the bat!!! However as we can only supply service details from our purchase date offer now rescinded.
Repair necessitates full engine block strip, rest of engine is fine. Will just spend a few days getting quotes from independant.
Many thanks to all who responded your answers were most helpful and constructive might ask a few of you along with us next time we buy a car!!!!!

MORPH3US

Might be worth contacting watchdog if this is as common as you say...

Anyone see the Renault Clio "bonnet opening" fault on there a few weeks back?

M