Bought a used car from a garage and the cambelt has snapped.

kingstreet

Does the vehicle in question have an "interference" engine?

That may determine the kind of damage sustained.

Although the belt had been changed, if the whole kit (belt, tensioner/ pulley) wasn't done at the same time, it might as well have been left alone.

If the dealer/seller is prepared to have the engine repaired, or even replace it, if necessary, I'd consider they'd made good.

If repairing, I'd even think of requesting a precautionary water-pump replacement at the same time.

colino

Just let them get on and fix it, no point in realising you bought a pug in a poke now.

almillar

Firstly, the garage is repairing it. That's what the 3 month warranty was for!
Also, I wouldn't consider a cambelt to be wear and tear. Tyres, brakes, wipers, clutches (after, let's say, 50K miles) are wear and tear. Cambelts are service items. That suggests to me that you must change them at X miles or X years, or they may break. They should not break in between if replaced as per the service schedule. Either someone has lied in, or about the service schedule, or the belt has been badly fitted or manufactured.

jaydeeuk1

fortgrange wrote: »

I don't think a couple of weeks could be considered 'fair wear and tear' and falls well inside a 3 month guarantee they have to give you.

1) They don't have to give you any warranty over and above your legal rights
2) The car is 10 years old, not a few weeks. As belt has been changed before (I'm going to guess every 5 years/50k) then thats 2008, would be due a new one now anyway

If garage are therefore fixing FOC, please name them. They'll deserve massive credit for fixing up a knackered 10 year old engine.

However, I read it as they'll replace the belt FOC, but any underlying damage is touch tits, as obviously bent valves weren't there at time of sale.

fortgrange

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

1) They don't have to give you any warranty over and above your legal rights
2) The car is 10 years old, not a few weeks. As belt has been changed before (I'm going to guess every 5 years/50k) then thats 2008, would be due a new one now anyway

If garage are therefore fixing FOC, please name them. They'll deserve massive credit for fixing up a knackered 10 year old engine.

However, I read it as they'll replace the belt FOC, but any underlying damage is touch tits, as obviously bent valves weren't there at time of sale.

Warranty, legal rights whatever, the car should be fit for purpose.

Age would come in to it if you were saying 'there's more play in the steering than a new car or the paint work is not as shiny as a new car' Then you would be told where to go.

I don't think they need to be praised for fixing a 'knackered engine' The whole point of going to a dealer and paying a premium is to avoid buying cars with knackered engines. If they thought there was any chance a cambelt would fail after a couple of weeks they should have replaced it before they sold it, simples.

UsernameAlreadyExists

I agree with everyone that says this isn't a problem, and just let the garage fix it.

I had a cambelt "slip" a few teeth and it ran like a cement mixer full of bolts ... and this happened driving it home from the purchase
They got it back the next day to fix, and when I asked for a replacement car they said they didn't have one. I was stood on the forecourt surrounded by about 50 cars .... so I asked if they were taking the p1ss? Needless to say I drove one of their cars home ... and when they needed it back I got another one. Free use of 2 cars for a couple of weeks, and finally got my car back as good as new (replacement head on a 2.5V6 - so that cost them a packet!)

motorguy

rankin108 wrote: »

Thanks, so you think the garage has to repair it? If there has been too much damage to the engine and it is not economical to repair, what happens? In your opinion, is this item covered under the warranty? I have been looking on the CAB website and fear the law is NOT on my side as this was not a fault when I bought the car and to be fair, the garage could not have known this would happen.

The law is on your side and the dealer is repairing it under warranty so i'm not sure what the problem is?

The dealer has the option to repair, replace or refund based on what he decides is most cost effective for him.

Dirtydec

A similar thing happened to me last year,we purchased a car from a trader,the engine went badly wrong after a few weeks and minimal use.We contacted the dealer who did her best to wriggle out of her responsibilities however clear it may be.You will get clever people on here telling your rights are and what the dealer should do but in practice this does not always work.Trading Standards are in my experience a total waste of time.We ended up going to court but still lost out in legal fees.
Keep communicating with the dealer,keep it friendly,yes he is within his rights to offer an effective repair and hopefully this will be done to a satisfactory standard and you will end up with a decent motor.

masterlumps

good on the garage, i think you are getting bloody good service here.

rankin108

Thank you for all of the replies. The garage collected the car as they said they would and are currently repairing it. They offered me another comparable car as that would have been quicker but I have opted for the repair. From what I have read I have been lucky, thank you all for your help.