clutch failure 6 months out of warranty

barrygardner

Hi

Bristol St Motors have told me that the clutch needs replacing on my Ford fiesta (4200 miles) after it failed on Sunday. Apparently a part that should be solid (the plate?) is in bits. As it is 6 months out of warranty they want to charge me over £500 to replace. I've quoted sales of good act and am awaiting a reply. As I bought the car from them and had it serviced annually by them I'm rather peeved. Does sales of goods apply? If it does, should I expect them to pay the full cost or accept a deal?

Hintza

The problem you will have is a clutch is classed as a wear and tear item so you are going to have to push that it is a fault and not down to misuse.

If I bought a new car from a dealer I really would expect them to fight my corner with Ford.

I think you should expect to pay a portion though, but I'm not sure what would be reasonable.

TradePro

Did you buy the car new? Are we to assume that it's 3.5 years old if 6 months out of warranty?

If so, I think you'll struggle to have it accepted as a defect, it should have failed before now if a faulty component.

TradePro

barrygardner wrote: »

I've quoted sales of good act and am awaiting a reply. As I bought the car from them and had it serviced annually by them I'm rather peeved. Does sales of goods apply?

iolanthe07

The clutch should last longer than 4,200 miles, but is not usually replaced under warranty, and your car is well over the warranty period anyway. They will probably claim that someone has been driving it with their foot resting on the clutch. My elderly mother used to do this and got through about three clutches a year.

worried_jim

Bob Hope. Lol!!!!!!

TradePro

worried_jim wrote: »

Bob Hope. Lol!!!!!!

I couldn't find a picture of no hope

Haha.

Seriously though, it was the 'I've quoted SOGA' immediately followed with 'what is the SOGA'.

It happens far too much.

Hintza

iolanthe07 wrote: »

They will probably claim that someone has been driving it with their foot resting on the clutch.

But that is not the problem the OP reported.

Strider590

It's usual to assume the driver has been abusing the clutch and very often with good reason.
Small cars attract under confident drivers, under confident drivers tend to sit too close to the wheel, in this "compact" position the foot is riding the clutch all the time. It's just one of those facts that garages know all too well, they think "small car + clutch failure = riding clutch".

Can't really hold that against them (for as annoying as it may be).

£500 is an insane price, I got a gearbox and new clutch (+slave cylinder) on a Vectra for £750 a few years back. On a Fester I'd expect £300 absolute maximum, with a cup of tea and some biscuits thrown in.

pappadruid

I have just had a similar experience to you. I bought a car from a dealer and the clutch failed 5 days later. I have successfully got the dealer to meet the full cost of repairs. (you can see my thread on the subject in this forum)

The circumstances regarding your problem may be different to mine though so I dont want to give you false hope.

My advice would be to research the SOGA via google and the CAB website is very good and make a decision from there as to exactly where you stand with things. Write to the dealer and tell them what you want from them and why, quoting any relevant legislation as applicable.

Good luck!!

jaydeeuk1

I'd expect a clutch to last longer than 4200miles, unless your driving style has suddenly changed (I'm assuming your previous car lasted ok). Hyundai had a similar problem with clutches going early on the i10 and i20s which weren't due to riding the clutch, and I think eventually they footed the bill in the majority of cases (might have been on watchdog a year or so ago).

I'm assuming it has full service history (3 stamps I imagine at 3years) so I'd want Ford to at least stump up for the labour.