car purchased from a dealer nothing but trouble

mishellyo

Hi I need some help please.I bought a car in July 2011. A kia Sportage 2.0xs 2007 model. I paid over £8000 including the warranty I was conned into buiying.My problem is this:

After owning the car a few days i noticed that the clutch was slipping. I immediately took it back to the place where i bought it and asked for it to be fixed under their 3 month warranty. I was told that "it was not slipping and it was probably because i hadn't driven a 4 wheel dfrive before that it felt different" I pointed out that i had actually owned four wheel drive vehicles before and i know a clutch slipping when i smell one. He told me that he couldn't find any evidence of the clutch slipping and that i should "see how it goes over the next couple of weeks" I took it to an independent garage for an assessment and was told that the clutch needed replacing. i again took it back to the dealer who was trying to put me off but after much wrangling and arguing agreed to fix it.This took over a week and i was given a very dirty, old courtesy car which actually broke down on me whilst i was using it.
On getting the car back i noticed that the car was still not right and immediately called the garage to point out that there was still a problem. I was again fobbed off and told that this was due to the clutch "settling in" and i should wait a week or two and see how it went.
After two weeks the problem was worse and i contacted an independent garage again, I was told that the Flywheel needed replacing. I explained that i'd just had a clutch fitted and that thety had never mentioned it. he was shocked that the flywheel was not replaced along with the clutch as it is part of the same thing.I again contacted the dealer who fobbed me off telling me that the service manager was on holiday for two weeks and to call back when he returned.
i did this to be constantly told that he was unavailable. by now it was past the 3 months warranty - due to their stalling me. When i did speak to the service manager i was told that as the 3 month warranty had expired it was "not his problem" and to claim from the warranty that i was paying for as part of the finance deal.
I called them and was told that as it wasn't a total breakdown i couldn't claim, but that if it did become a total breakdown i would be covered.I called the dealer back who said that i should just drive it as it is as it isn't dangerous and to wait until a total breakdown.it is now one year later and the car is getting worse by the day. i took it to my local garage for a service and i have been told that it desparately needs fixing and again he states that it should have been fixed by the garage when they repaired the clutch.I have owned this car for over a year and it has never been in full working order in all that time. I can't afford to fix the flywheel myself as it will cost around 1000 and i just dont have this amount of money to spare.
Is it too late to claim for this from the dealer? i can get proof from the two garages that i spoke to them within 3 months of buying the vehicle and that they believe the problem to have been present when the clutch was replaced.Any help is greatly appreciated.
thanks

bod1467

Any fault raised within the warranty period is still liable to be resolved under the warranty terms. It doesn't matter if the warranty period has NOW expired - the fault was raised BEFORE it expired, and their intransigence is irrelevant to their claim.

You may need to take them to court over this though.

PS - your post was very difficult to read; long paragraphs, not well-spaced, and a horrible font colour giving terrible contrast.

vaio

A year down the road and the car is still working......I think you might have a battle to get the garage to sort it now.

As for the extended warranty, I'd put money on them rejecting the claim under the "wear & tear" exclusion, they really only cover sudden failure not gradual failure over the space of a year.

If you want to pursue the seller you need to get a lot more proactive....document the garage statements and start writing to the seller but, as above, a year down the line I think you might struggle

mishellyo

Hi thanks for the responses and bod1467 i applogise for the difficulty in reading the post.

I will take it up further with the dealer. i have e-mailed again but had no response.

The reason i left it so long was they recommended i do that.

I can get letters from the other 2 garages and hopefully that will push them into doing the work.

Thanks Again

arcon5

What's the cars mileague and when was it last replaced (of ever)?

bod1467

arcon5 wrote: »

and when was it last replaced (if ever)?

I presume you mean the clutch/flywheel?

mishellyo

Hi Arcon,

The cars Milage is 107000 (it was 99950) when i bought it. As far as i'm aware the flywheel has never been replaced.

Thanks

bod1467

100k miles in approx 4 years? That sounds pretty high for a soft-roader.

mishellyo

It was previously a company car, but does have a full dealer service history covering the first 3 years after that it was privately owned and the service history was more sporadic. hence i'm not sure if it had a new flywheel previously.