Used Car Warranty - Misled at point of sale, and unwilling to payout

fella360

Hello,

I am well aware of the pitfalls of used car warranty, but I was sold a policy in good faith.

I paid 1850 for the car. It's a rare japanese import but the parts are not hard to obtain.

2 days later I notice a knocking sound from the rear and confirm that this is from the 2 rear differential bushings. I have been to 3 seperate garages. The best price I have received is £175 for the work to be completed.

The vehicle also has a clutch issue, and the initial turbo is not functioning as it should, and the gear stick bushing and return spring is broken. These issues I have not yet sought to rectify and only the clutch issue and turbo issue was not present on the initial test drive. During the drive home the check engine light came on and the engine would cut out at 4.5k RPM. I have not sought to have these rectified on the Warranty.

I rang the warranty company today - driveaway motoring services

I spoke with their claims department. I explained the situation and that I had been to 3 independent garages to get quotes for the issue.

The advisor on the end of the line and they said that rear differential bushes are not covered by the policy. I referred to the policy which i have included a photograph of below (refer to the bottom left section). I was placed on hold again and subsequently after a few minutes I was spoken with again. The same advisor told me that despite it explicitly mentioning that it is covered under the policy paperwork I am in fact not covered.



It specifically states under the section of what is covered (and I included a photograph but I'm not allowed to post it) "Differential - planetary gear assembly, crown wheel & pinion assembly, internal shafts, bearings and bushes, thrust washers, spacers, bevel gears."



Subsequently I was then told that the policy isn't actually covered by the company, and is actually direct from the seller (which, isn't a warranty, surely that comes under the sale of goods act?).

I rang back to confirm that they should be covered, and the exact details of why I am going through an external company for an issue that should be resolved by the initial seller, and both the garage and the warranty company are ringing me back tomorrow.

So my issues are thus -

1) The policy which was included as a benefit to the sale (and has a maximum claim of £250) is not as described.

2) It does not cover what is stated in the booklet I was given.

3) Had I known that the 6 month warranty did not include this then I would not have paid the £1850 I paid for the car, and I agreed to pay that price based on the warranty covering the items stated in the booklet.

4) If there are further "Full terms and conditions" (which is likely as the booklet is small), I was not offered these at the point of sale or given the opportunity to read them.

5) The warranty is not covered by an external company, but was in fact from the dealership, something contrary to what I was told at the time.



I understand that these used car warranties are generally not so great due to clauses etc, but I am now looking to make some headway back to having refunded some of the money I paid (of which, an amount was paid on a credit card), or alternatively having the work fixed.


Any advice gratefully received, I am both persistent and headstrong enough to go to great lengths to have this amount refunded.

Inch_High_2

You have touched on it.

You buy a car with faults already present, so why should the warranty company cover it?

That's like buying a crashed car and expecting the insurance company to pay for it to be repaired.

Your issue is with the seller not the warranty company.

fella360

So, that then leads me to, what can I do now? Where do I sit with my statutory rights? The issue only presented itself yesterday - it was not causing any issues or obvious when I bought the car.

Hintza

If it only lasted two days and you were unaware of the faults at time of purchase then this is a SOGA problem. So speak to the dealer and in the meantime start doing some reading about rejecting the car.

But you must give them a chance to rectify any faults.

AdrianC

Indeed. The warranty is for faults that develop after the sale. The seller is responsible for faults that were present at the time of sale or fall under SOGA but outside the warranty.

The question is whether you bought the car in full awareness and therefore acceptance of the faults, and whether they're reasonable to expect in a car of that age and price.

You say it's a "rare import" - so, presumably, there are no price guide entries - but how does the price for that car sit compared to similar cars? What age/mileage?

fella360

120,000 miles

It's a Subaru legacy GTB. A quick scan on Ebay shows average models at around £2500. Poor models at £800. Good models at £5000.

The fault was not noticeable on the subsequent 2 days I bought it, only the day after.

The other faults similarly were not obvious on day of the sale. The clutch issue is that the pedal is stiff. I have since discovered this is not a stiff pedal, but a likely side effect of a Clutch being worn to point of destruction (new one replaced 7000 miles ago, I wouldnt put that as fair wear and tear). I'm not overly fussed about that though, and I'd leave that discussion for another day!

I signed a sheet agreeing to a deposit of £100 - signed to the effect of "On the basis that the vehicle is mechanically sound".

So I presume the best thing to do is to contact the dealer tomorrow, ask for them to rectify the faults? And if they refuse?

AdrianC

fella360 wrote: »

A quick scan on Ebay shows average models at around £2500. Poor models at £800. Good models at £5000.

So you paid a fair price for a below-average condition 15-20 year old car. With that in mind, you can obviously expect some faults to be present, and your rights under SOGA will reflect that. You admit that the turbo and clutch faults were present on the test drive - but you failed to understand the possible implications of them. Worn bushes are not unexpected in a car of that age and mileage.

So I presume the best thing to do is to contact the dealer tomorrow, ask for them to rectify the faults? And if they refuse?

Then you can either ask to return the car for a refund - again, they may refuse, in which case you need to decide whether you want to escalate it to Trading Standards or not - or you can accept that the car has some faults that you will want to rectify.

fella360

The Clutch high pedal was present, but I was not aware of the implications.

The turbo issue was not present.

The bushes issue was not present.

The gear selector issue was present.


Absolutely, I did not expect a new car, or one in perfect condition, however, the mechanical defect of the bushes is one that wasn't present, has developed very quickly and I feel that if it had been present at the time of sale I would have walked away for the money paid, or paid less.


I also accepted that price based on the 6 month warranty, which hasn't refused to pay out on any basis other than the item, which is specifically covered in the booklet, is supposedly not covered. There are no limitations as to how soon you can claim in the documentation I have been provided. If it were to fail to payout on any item in the booklet, I would not have accepted the car with the warranty, and again, asked for a lowered price or walked away.

AdrianC

fella360 wrote: »

I also accepted that price based on the 6 month warranty, which hasn't refused to pay out on any basis other than the item, which is specifically covered in the booklet, is supposedly not covered.

And what grounds have they given for that difference? Pre-existing? Wear and tear? Or just "Nah, we don't feel like it"?

BeenThroughItAll

I think there's a basic point missed here about the English description in the warranty. Technically, 'bushes' in the as-written context "(internal shafts, bearings and bushes") means those internal to the differential as they are part of the same clause as 'internal shafts' and 'bearings', not mounting bushes to which I assume the OP refers.


Whilst it may not be fashionable these days to give a damn about spelling and grammar, this is one occasion where it might prove useful.

colino

If you had just bought it and discovered these major failings, why didn't you turn around and get the trader to fix, swap or refund? Nothing to do with the external warranty company (or every driveway dealer would register rubbish with known faults themselves and have them fixed by a warranty company foc); and as has been clarified above, the diff bushes that are knocking are external suspension bushes, not internal, warranty-covered, lubricated ones.
Doesn't take many burn outs to recreate those faults on an old car.