Used car bought one day,£200 repairs the next,would you bother complaining more?

pendulum

No rights, the dealer you bought it off said to ring him Monday if the problem persisted but you chose to get it done elsewhere before then, so he's not responsible for the repairs. You must give the dealer a fair chance to rectify the problem which you did not do. Running a vehicle with iffy O2 sensors isn't a problem that requires an immediate fix either, if you fell for the "you can't wait a few days, get it done now before serious damage is caused" then you were hussled, by the garage that I strongly suspect made a fair amount of profit on the parts, because 2x Lambda's don't often cost £90 each on an old runabout I can get genuine Bosch for £60 on my car, for example, and trade often gets it cheaper.

It passed the MoT and it's running OK so the emissions are legal and the car is fit for purpose. Nevertheless the dealer agreed to look at the fault on Monday but you decided to take it elsewhere before then. Not a very good case!

bris

pendulum wrote: »

No rights, the dealer you bought it off said to ring him Monday if the problem persisted but you chose to get it done elsewhere before then, so he's not responsible for the repairs. You must give the dealer a fair chance to rectify the problem which you did not do. Running a vehicle with iffy O2 sensors isn't a problem that requires an immediate fix either, if you fell for the "you can't wait a few days, get it done now before serious damage is caused" then you were hussled, by the garage that I strongly suspect made a fair amount of profit on the parts, because 2x Lambda's don't often cost £90 each on an old runabout I can get genuine Bosch for £60 on my car, for example, and trade often gets it cheaper.

It passed the MoT and it's running OK so the emissions are legal and the car is fit for purpose. Nevertheless the dealer agreed to look at the fault on Monday but you decided to take it elsewhere before then. Not a very good case!

+1
The dealer was, it seems dealing with the problem, offering advice as to what will fix, and if not to ring him back on Monday. You were impatient and decided to go ahead with the repair. The dealer does have the right to fix the issue, you took away his right.
You might struggle with this one.

deanos

yep agree with above you should have waited

the sensors are £20 on ebay brand new and IIRC you only have one ,seems like the mechanic has done you over

s_b

unfortunately now i know the make and model of your purchase justmel i think your engine problems have only just begun and i dont think your sensors are the cause but more the result

hope im wrong mind

justmel

Typed long reply and got timed out so will try again.

I don't feel the garage is ripping us off,they said we could wait,it wasn't urgent but shouldn't be ignored,yes i am impatient and i worry a lot,maybe too much but that is my nature.

It definitely does have 2 sensors,i checked with mitsubishi,we are buying the parts and garage is charging £20 to fit them,looked on ebay,tried halfords,ended up using a local supplier we have used before.

Ebay was cheapest but takes 12 days,£60 each one,halfords were most expensive £125 for the rear and £60 for the front at trade price,my son is studying mechanics and has a trade card for halfords.

Local supplier was £176 for both,rear one was £120 and front one was £56,chose them.

Yes i know i really could have waited and asked the dealer to fix it but they already tried to cover the issue up by saying it was a historical fault,said redex would fix it and no i don't trust them.

I have had some much needed sleep after 2 weeks of stress for various reasons and have concluded that if i want this done on my timescale by someone i trust i will have to pay up and lump it,i also know i should have paid for a RAC inspection before husband bought the car so that will teach me for next time.

sb i hope you are wrong too,i can only hope this is it for a while,we had the old model previously and it was lovely,few repairs but nothing too bad,i would have kept it but at 225000 miles with the gearbox gone and a few other things that needed attention before the next MOT in November it didn't seem reasonable.

Thanks for the input everyone

mattyprice4004

They wouldn't have had a leg to stand on... if you'd waited.

Unfortunately you've shot yourself in the foot, and you'll be lucky to get anything. I think you've lost the £200.

justmel

As of now i have had no work done at all,i can ask the shop to return the parts which they would happily do and get my money back and i can cancel with my own mechanic.

All i have had is a diagnostic test which the dealer knows about but no actual work.

Husband checked the coolant level this morning,it was above F and has dropped slightly,will phone mechanic later to ask but am seriously considering not going ahead with the sensor repairs.

Problem is i do not trust them to repair it properly and would prefer a refund but am i really likely to get one? Will they not argue to repair it? And if we say no we don't trust that i think they will take offence and refuse a refund.

vax2002

Before you can do anything you have to offer the seller garage the chance to fix the car.
Which they will decline, then you can contact trading standards.
We hear this so often, dodgy garages turn of MIL lights with code readers.
They dont come on for historic reasons, they come on because the engine has an expensive fault.

dan_l

Perhaps some of the part time mechanics need to get their facts right before telling posters garages are ripping them off selling them too expensive/too many parts.
It could of been a bit embarrasing for the OP if they hadn't been so sure on the parts.

justmel

Thankyou once again,re my last post i misheard my husband,yes the coolant level has dropped but is still above the F level.

We took it to yet another mechanic who told us that it is quite usual to drop a bit if it is above the F level and since the car is not overheating at all and there is no fluid leaking that can be seen he is not one bit worried about the water pump.

I have now told my husband that he has two choices,he can either follow it up with the dealer who we don't really trust to do the job properly but that way he keeps his rights or he can go ahead and have the repairs done knowing it will be done properly but then accept that all rights will be lost and it is at our expense.

I have told him he has to choose and that i can't keep stressing over it,i even lost my temper with him a bit and pointed out to him that 3 seperate mechanics have now seen this car and the only fault they can find is the sensors.

All 3 have explained possible causes,all 3 have said it is not urgent but shouldn't be ignored and all 3 are satisfied that they cannot find any problems aside from these sensors so i did snap a little and asked him if he would like me to call every mechanic in the land before he stops stressing over other things .

Once again thankyou and i will let him decide what he feels he must do next.