Snapped Cam Belt, take car dealer 2 court?

earlofbarrett

I purchased a 2004 Peugeot 807 Executive from a dealer on 26th September 2012 for £4305 (£2000 of which was part-ex) but have experienced the following faults:

· 12.2.13 – Snapped Timing Belt – causing severe damage resulting in the vehicle requiring a new engine and injectors at approx £1800 + £378.90 Garage bill to tell me this!!
· 03.3.13 – Front wheel coil snapped

With 78196 miles on the clock, I asked the dealer if the Timing Belt needed changing whilst purchasing the vehicle, but was specifically told by them “it did not need changing until 100000 miles” - however this fault occurred with a mileage of 81366 (some 18634 miles short of their statement) and me only travelling 3170 miles in the 4½ months of owning the vehicle.

Within 6 months of the sale Citizens Advice have advised me to inform the dealer that under The Sale of Goods Act 1979 they have sold me a vehicle that was “not of Satisfactory Quality” at the time of purchase, and as the fault is of such a serious nature, within a reasonable time of the sale, and I have had to stop using the car, to seek a full refund of £4305+£378.90

Does anybody have any good experiences of going down this route or know of any other angle I might come at them from, and does the part-ex make any difference?

Many thanks in advance!

agrinnall

It would help to know which engine it has, looking at Parkers there seem to be at least 4 (2.0 and 2.2 litre in both petrol and diesel) with several power variants too.

Obviously a timing belt can go at any time, the replacement mileage is just a guide. I think your best bet is if you can show that the selling dealer gave you the wrong information. I found a website that suggests the mileage recommendation may actually be 80K, although this was only for one engine type. Have you checked what Peugeot say about this?

mattyprice4004

There's a well known problem with cambelts snapping on these vehicles - I'm surprised you haven't had a Google before making a thread.

Go and have a look for other topics about the same car.

verityboo

Interesting reading here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/peugeot/807-2003/?section=bad

Seems there is a design fault with the 2.2 HDi engine which causes failure

mattyprice4004

verityboo wrote: »

Interesting reading here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/peugeot/807-2003/?section=bad

Seems there is a design fault with the 2.2 HDi engine which causes failure

See my post above

It's a well known thing in the trade.

bod1467

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4457419

Original thread about this.

sarahg1969

bod1467 wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4457419

Original thread about this.

Thought it was familiar.

Yes, it's a common problem.

Honest John's not much help on the point. There is plenty of info out there on UK and French forums.

As I said on the other thread, my car had a new engine at Citroen's expense in July 2011. I did have to pursue them through the courts for the other expenses I incurred.

OP, if you need any assistance, I'm happy to assist if I can.

ETA: I didn't pursue the dealer under SOGA or contract. I went straight after Citroen UK in negligence because they know about the problem, but refuse to do anything about it.