Misold a car possibly?

richje100

Hi guys, bought a 12mth old car and started having trouble. When i picked up the car after paying for it was told its still covered for 2yrs on manufacturers warrenty so any trouble take it to them. 2weeks later trouble started was told by vauxhall no warrenty in place as not serviced. Place I bought it from agreed to refund me the vauxhall service so warrenty back up and running. Had the issues sorted. Now, 8mths later clutch problems - it's smelling and smoke coming from wheel well. It's also making whining noises. Done some searching on net and turns out its wear and tear so wouldn't be covered unless manufacturing default.
If it is the clutch I'll be looking at almost £900 bill as the flywheel would also be changed.
Is "joe blogs" expected to know this isn't covered? Should I have been told these sorts of parts aren't covered? Would I have a case against who I bought it from?

worried_jim

Most warranties aren't worth the paper they are printed on, however manufactures warranties tend to be a bit more robust, but either type won't cover wear and tear on things such as clutches and tyres as it tend to be driving style which can increase their wear.

You can always see if they will make a good will gesture towards it but I suspect you will have bob hope or no hope. Good luck.

No one selling a warranty will ever tell you whats not covered-(they will just tell you how great they are, but remember they make huge commission and are heavily targeted on them) it's your job as a consumer to read them. Buyer beware.

richje100

Ye that's what I'm thinking. Wouldn't the place I bought it from have a small duty to explain the warranty not just " any problems with the car take it to vauxhall"

gilbert_and_sullivan

Friction materials and normal wear and tear are not covered.

I expect most people would be offended if a sales person insulted their intelligence by explaining such obvious things.

Weird_Nev

Wear and tear parts aren't covered. For a car that means:

Tyres.
Wheels.
Brakes (pads and discs).
Suspension components: Dampers, springs, bushes, linkages.
Steering components: Rack, track rods, pumps.
Clutch
Engine components through Wear - i.e. most of them - belts, timing belts, pumps, coolant system.
Charging system: inc battery.

Basically, every part of the car that can possibly break.

You haven't been 'mis sold' a car. The onus is on you the purchaser to do checks to ensure that the car has adequate history and will meet your expectations. YOU have a duty to read and understand the warranty documentation and raise it with the dealer if you're unhappy.

A clutch failing is sadly wear and tear, and part of the cost of motoring, and warranties should be regarded with the highest suspicion since very few of them will actually help you if the car breaks, and their limitations and exclusions are many and wide ranging.

Hintza

Weird_Nev wrote: »

A clutch failing is sadly wear and tear,

Perhaps, but not necessarily so. But an uphill battle to prove otherwise.

Ultrasonic

Are DMF failures always excluded by manufacturer warranties? Clutch plates are certainly wear and tear items, DMFs I'm less sure of. I'd be reading the small print of the warranty, and consider fighting this if it turns out to be primarily a DMF failure. This is a 20 month old car after all (although we don't know the mileage).

gilbert_and_sullivan

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Are DMF failures always excluded by manufacturer warranties? Clutch plates are certainly wear and tear items, DMFs I'm less sure of. I'd be reading the small print of the warranty, and consider fighting this if it turns out to be primarily a DMF failure. This is a 12 month old car after all (although we don't know the mileage).

Good luck with that one with most makers, Toyota about the only maker i know who would apply common sense and customer care consideration to such a claim.

richje100

Mileage is 20k, I think ill book it into vauxhall to take a look at the smoke it only seems to appear when parked up but sometimes u can smell it when blowers are on. Hopefully they will see if it is the clutch how could I guarantee they tell me the right answer - its a manufacturing issue so covered or it's not manufacturer problem it's yours. I'm No mechanic so I would take their word

facade

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Are DMF failures always excluded by manufacturer warranties? Clutch plates are certainly wear and tear items, DMFs I'm less sure of. I'd be reading the small print of the warranty, and consider fighting this if it turns out to be primarily a DMF failure. This is a 20 month old car after all (although we don't know the mileage).

Most DMF failures are caused by driver error: apparently if you drive it like a diesel it hammers the life out of the DMF, by making it do something, you have to keep the rev counter 2/3 of the way round all the time.

Ultrasonic

facade wrote: »

Most DMF failures are caused by driver error: apparently if you drive it like a diesel it hammers the life out of the DMF, by making it do something, you have to keep the rev counter 2/3 of the way round all the time.

I suspect you were a little tongue in cheek there, but whether that would count as driver error would depend what the car's manual says about when to change gear, which is very likely in a rev range where the DMF will be doing something. Even more so if the car has a gear change indicator. That said I have modified how I drive my own diesel a little with a view to protecting the DMF.

When I posted above I'd misread the OP, thinking the car was 12 not 20 months old, which becomes harder to argue. This is the only route where the OP may have a chance of some compensation though I'd have thought, as opposed to the clutch itself.