Bought a car with no cat!

londonTiger

does the r32 use a different cat to the rest of the cars? it's very limited production so if it has its own cat it will be expensive.

take it away from vw and take it to the garage that sold it.

jobdone1

If the car was sold as seen and or spares repairs then in a pickle in my view, however if from a garage then i would be looking at not fit for purpose. Return to garage demand all faults fixed, repaired and mot'ed to prove repair or full refund plus interest and cost of mot failure. I am sure the courts if this is a route to go would swing in your favour.

holsbrown

Just an update - it's been a nightmare!

We took the car back to the garage where we bought it from, they were shocked and promised straight away to rectify the situation by fitting a genuine VW cat and putting it through another MOT. They also apologised for not MOT'ing it before we purchased it, they said this was an oversight and would have normally provided the car with a new MOT.

When they had a look, it appeared that there was actually a cat on the car, they tested the emissions straight away and it passed with flying colours. My husband watched them do this so no funny business went on!

Although this was all a positive outcome and we are really happy with the way this was handled by the garage that sold us the car, I'm peed off with VW.

They were adamant that the car had no cat, they ran the car through diagnostics and failed the MOT, which obviously cost us a few quid. I went back into VW over the weekend to complain, and they implied the MOT certificate I had from the original was falsified and refused to give me any of my money back.

I feel like they just wanted to con us out of the £1450 they quoted for a new cat. Complaint letter to VW HO will be sent today!

Gavin83

I'd personally get a 3rd opinion, either one could be ripping you off.

Are you able to see the cat on the car?

holsbrown

Yes my husband saw the cat, when the garage who passed the MOT had the car up on the ramp he had a look, it had the VW stamp/marking on it and it looked right for the age of the car (it appeared to be the one fitted on the car when it was built).

He also watched them do the emissions test/MOT.

colino

Report the failing garage to VOSA, it's one thing being so myopic the NT couldn't see the cat, but extrapolating that on to the emissions being mysteriously at failure level is too much to accept. Clearly the workshop manager isn't meeting his monthly targets.

holsbrown

Weirdly I saw a whiteboard on the wall of the VW garage about their monthly targets, and they were way off. I wondered at the time if that was relevant.

They also won't give me a print out of the failed readings. They told me they don't keep them so if I didn't ask for a copy at the time it's too late.

only_mee

holsbrown wrote: »

Weirdly I saw a whiteboard on the wall of the VW garage about their monthly targets, and they were way off. I wondered at the time if that was relevant.

They also won't give me a print out of the failed readings. They told me they don't keep them so if I didn't ask for a copy at the time it's too late.

Mine failed on emissions, and i got a print off. Stinks of scam all over sorry to say.

Gavin83

Yeah thats terrible. Main dealerships are generally some of the worst garages out there though. In all honesty had you paid the VW garage the 4 figure sum quoted they'd have just left the old cat on, maybe having cleaned the outside a bit.

I'd imagine you felt like a bit of a turnip as well when you took it back to the garage and they showed you there was no issue. It's good that the garage were cooperative and well done for not going in all guns blazing.

Prothet_of_Doom

You bought what was supposed to be a standard car, and it turns out it's not able to pass the emissions test because it's not standard? Take it back to retailer, explain that they need to confirm the VW diagnosis, and then replace the 'cat replacement pipe' with a Cat, so that it passes the MOT at the VW dealer. It does not need to be a VW part, and it doesn't need to be a new part, but it does need doing this week bla bblah blah trading standards etc.

Have to say I had a problem with a Cat on an old astra and removed the inside of the Cat, and it almost (with a service) passed the emissions, without it, but I was forced to fork out for one. With the Cat the emissions were a factor of ten less.