Used Car bought - Major problems, what are my rights?

Ikpo1979

Hi, Ill try to keep this as short as possible but its been a fairly lengthy process so far.

Bought a used 2008 Peugeot 308 in April 2012 from an Independant used car dealer for £7300 which i obtained a loan for & paid with a debit card. The car came with a 3 month warranty which was provided by A1 Approved. A few weeks into owning the car, I noticed a fault with the Turbo, so I took it back to the Dealer I bought it from and explained the issue. They said they would sort the problem, so I left the car with them the next day & it was ready for me to pick up that following evening. They said that the problem was to do with the Turbo being stuck open but they had managed to rectify it.

The car drove fine for a few months so i thought the problem was sorted. When the initial 3 month warranty had expired I received communication from A1 Approved asking me if I'd like to extend the warranty for a further 12 months for £275. For peace of mind I agreed to do this.

A few months went by then in August, the same problem occured with the turbo, and also an error message appeared saying "Depollution system faulty". I contacted the delaer again & they said that as it was out of the original warranty period, that i had to deal directly with A1 Approved myslef. I got in touch with them, explained the problems and they said that I could take the car to any independant garage (stressed that it cant be the main peugeot dealer) get them to assess the problem and then the garage would have to contact A1 Approved and get authorisation for the repairs.

To say it was a massive struggle to find a garage who are happy to do Warranty work is an understatement. "Warranty work, doesnt really pay" is a common answer i got from many mechanics.

To cut a long story short, the car went to 3 different garageswith them all saying that they are unable to diagnose the problem and that it would need to go to the main dealer. (all diagnostic work, under the warranty terms & conditions is at the customers expense).

So left with no option now, I booked the car into the main dealer (at my expense) and got them to rund a diagnostic test on it for £90 + vat The test results have shown that there are some major faults on the car. Timing Chain, The ECU, The coolant pump & wiring to the coolant pump are all looking like they need repairing. Although Peugeot cant be 100% sure unless they spend another 2-3 hours on the car (@£60 an hour), and whatever they find they think the repairs will be in in excess of £1000

So I am still no further along, with getting the car fixed or even if itll be covered under the warranty. The car has only 25,000 miles on the clock.

Can anyone help with where I stand on this, does the dealer who sold me the car have any responsibility, any advice would be gratefully received, as I don't have a endless pot of money to get the problem diagnosed or fixed!

anotherbaldrick

Only a quarter of a million miles on the clock ? Blimey , hardly run in..

Ikpo1979

Thanks, obviously only 25,000

UsernameAlreadyExists

http://www.a1approved.co.uk/claims_process.php

If your vehicle has broken down we at A1 Approved do not wish to add to the inconvenience so please contact us on our free phone number 0800 9706860 in the first instance where a member of our Customer Services Team will give help and guidance where-ever possible.

The garage must then call A1 Approved Claims Department on our free phone number or they can email us on [EMAIL="claims@a1approved.co.uk"]claims@a1approved.co.uk[/EMAIL] to discuss the repairs prior to commencing the work. We do reserve the right to inspect the vehicle and / or the failed part(s) and also to nominate the repairing garage.

Phone them, and get them to tell you where to take it !!

EDIT:

Ikpo1979 wrote: »

So left with no option now, I booked the car into the main dealer (at my expense) and got them to rund a diagnostic test on it for £90 + vat The test results have shown that there are some major faults on the car. Timing Chain, The ECU, The coolant pump & wiring to the coolant pump are all looking like they need repairing. Although Peugeot cant be 100% sure unless they spend another 2-3 hours on the car (@£60 an hour), and whatever they find they think the repairs will be in in excess of £1000

Also ^^ this sounds like crap to me. It's pretty hard to run a diagnostic test on a car with a faulty ECU, and £90+VAT? that's steep!

What's their problem with the timing chain? timing chains are brill - they don't snap. that's the whole point. and if they're not aligned properly, you car will run like a dog whilst smashing itself to pieces from the inside.
Coolant pump? Does your car overheat?

TradePro

Ikpo1979 wrote: »

A few months went by then in August, the same problem occured with the turbo, and also an error message appeared saying "Depollution system faulty"

It's not just the DPF system failing to regenerate is it?

Ikpo1979

I dont know a great deal about cars so alot of it is lost on me. However, The timing chain is a known fault on these cars aparantly and that is what they think could be contributing to the turbo intermittently working.

Basically they found 2 faults on the car. One is linked to the "Depollution system faulty" error.

The diagnostic report reads - "Fault P2191 Mixture regulations fault, require further diagnostic time to get to coolant pump to test the electrical wiring and the engine ECU to establish what needs replacing"

The second fault is with the intermittent Turbo and the diagnostic report reads - "Fault codes P2603 - Turbo additional coolant pump fault and P1385 - Super Knock detection. As above, require 2-3 hours further investigation time to strip & trace wiring and determine what is required. Please note, info flash applicable to this vehicle regarding timing chain - when first starting vehicle in the morning, is there a metal tapping noise coming from the engine that lasts a few seconds, if so then timing chain replacement is required and is in the region of £1000 to carry out."

There is no problem with overheating, but have head a few strange noises occasionally when starting up in the mornings.

Ikpo1979

TradePro wrote: »

It's not just the DPF system failing to regenerate is it?

I wouldnt have a clue as I'm not very clued up when it comes to cars. Is this something simple to repair?

forgotmyname

Its a 5 year old car and the main dealer will want to put everything in an as new condition so prices to repair parts that are fully serviceable.

25,000 miles in 4 years + and its got a DPF? Thats bad bad bad...

Sell it and buy something without a DPF if you dont do long enough journeys for them to work properly.

UsernameAlreadyExists

forgotmyname wrote: »

Sell it and buy something without a DPF if you dont do long enough journeys for them to work properly.

He's bought the warranty - so not his problem - they should sort it!

Ikpo1979 wrote: »

... when first starting vehicle in the morning, is there a metal tapping noise coming from the engine that lasts a few seconds, if so then timing chain replacement is required and is in the region of £1000 to carry out."

There is no problem with overheating, but have head a few strange noises occasionally when starting up in the mornings.

ooooof

Mankysteve

It sounds like the dealer is trying to rip you off tbh. Have you tried seeing if there any indie Peugeot garages near by

TradePro

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

He's bought the warranty - so not his problem - they should sort it!

It's not that simple unfortunately, as it's a kind of 'misuse'.