Faulty car - what are my rights?

Hamez

Hi all. Recently (2 months) purchased a used Suzuki Swift from a 'local' dealer. Other week the engine management light came on, phoned the garage where I bought it and they said to take it to a local garage to see what the problem is as they are 2 hours away. Took it to Suzuki and they said it needs a new catalytic converter, roughly £1500!!! Phoned the seller and they said there is no way it would need a new one, to have Suzuki switch the light off and if I want to take it to them and leave it with them for a couple of days to look at, which is really awkward for me. He also said that parts such as a catalytic converter are not covered by the 3 month warranty and I will have to pay. Where do I stand with the SOGA? Do they have to replace it for me? Need to know where I stand before I go down there demanding.

DUTR

Take it to another place for a 2nd opinion.

motorguy

Hamez wrote: »

Hi all. Recently (2 months) purchased a used Suzuki Swift from a 'local' dealer. Other week the engine management light came on, phoned the garage where I bought it and they said to take it to a local garage to see what the problem is as they are 2 hours away. Took it to Suzuki and they said it needs a new catalytic converter, roughly £1500!!! Phoned the seller and they said there is no way it would need a new one, to have Suzuki switch the light off and if I want to take it to them and leave it with them for a couple of days to look at, which is really awkward for me. He also said that parts such as a catalytic converter are not covered by the 3 month warranty and I will have to pay. Where do I stand with the SOGA? Do they have to replace it for me? Need to know where I stand before I go down there demanding.

I would have thought the dealer should cover it but they may try to portray it as a 'wear and tear' item.

What age is the car? How much did you pay for it? What miles are on it?

colino

What you need is a proper tech to look at the car and diagnose properly. The same code for faulty cat, can be anything from a pinhole leak in the exhaust, up to and much less likely, a faulty cat.

Hamez

motorguy wrote: »

I would have thought the dealer should cover it but they may try to portray it as a 'wear and tear' item.

What age is the car? How much did you pay for it? What miles are on it?

Its a 2008 model, paid £5500 and its just under 60k.

Joe_Horner

Cats are a tricky one for SOGA because it's relatively easy to damage them by "operator error" - even running out of fuel can harm them if you're unlucky!

On the other hand, failure is still fairly rare and there are other things that should be ruled out first. Besides which, the price you've been quoted sounds a little on the steep side (to say the least!) so a second opinion without he Dealer Premium involved would be sensible!