Who pays to replace the faulty clutch on my car?

Rebbie

My husband's car needed a new clutch 18 months ago, which was replaced by a local independent garage that we have used many times and have previously been happy with. Earlier this year we noticed that the clutch wasn't working very well and asked the same garage to check it out when they did a service. The car came back working slightly better but they said they couldn't see a problem with the clutch. We don't think they checked it at the time. Then, last week the clutch went completely and after a week the garage said that it had 'completely fallen apart' and would need replacing. They are now asking us to pay over £500 to replace it. We have the receipt for the original clutch but they say that it is outside the warranty as the warranty is for 12 months or 10,000 miles and it is 18 months and 12,000 miles, though if they had checked it when we first reported it, it might have been within the warranty. Can we contest this? I've read somewhere that a product has to last 'a reasonable time' and don't think 18 months is very reasonable. What do you think? Grateful for any advice.

InsideInsurance

Have you complained to them?

SOGA does entitle you to a "reasonable life" (though capped by the law of limitations at 6 years in England, 5 in Scotland) but it is up to you to prove that the fault is inherent and not (a) fair wear and tear or (b) from missuse

Even if they are liable they get the choice of repair, replace or refund and a refund can be less than original paid to reflect the use already received (eg if a reasonable life is 3 years and you've had 1.5 years you'd roughly get a 50% refund)

Hintza

You will have to prove that it was a manufacturing fault or an assembly (fitters) fault.

I could wreck a clutch in less than a day easily. They will argue that it is pilot error and it will be up to you to prove otherwise.

Rebbie

Update: My husband has picked up the car and has paid for the repairs as he needs the car for work. The garage say they are going to return the clutch to the supplier and that if they get anything back for it, we will get at least a partial refund. They say that they do a lot of business with this supplier and would be disappointed if they don't accept liability.

By the way, what is SOGA? And how can I find out what is a 'reasonable life' for a clutch?

It's a bit difficult to prove that the fault is inherent or that it was fitted incorrectly, etc, especially with no knowledge of mechanics, so how can this be done now that the clutch has been replaced?

bod1467

http://sogahub.tradingstandards.gov.uk/explained

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/car-part-longevity/clutch-last.htm

InsideInsurance

Rebbie wrote: »

By the way, what is SOGA? And how can I find out what is a 'reasonable life' for a clutch?

It's a bit difficult to prove that the fault is inherent or that it was fitted incorrectly, etc, especially with no knowledge of mechanics, so how can this be done now that the clutch has been replaced?

SOGA is Sales of Goods Act

You would normally commission an expert report to substantiate the cause of the failure and deem the reasonable life

arcon5

Although a bit too late now to try enforce any rights you may have had.

What car is it?

marliepanda

My husband's car needed a new clutch 18 months ago, which was replaced by a local independent garage that we have used many times and have previously been happy with. Earlier this year we noticed that the clutch wasn't working very well and asked the same garage to check it out when they did a service. The car came back working slightly better but they said they couldn't see a problem with the clutch. We don't think they checked it at the time. Then, last week the clutch went completely and after a week the garage said that it had 'completely fallen apart' and would need replacing. They are now asking us to pay over £500 to replace it. We have the receipt for the original clutch but they say that it is outside the warranty as the warranty is for 12 months or 10,000 miles and it is 18 months and 12,000 miles, though if they had checked it when we first reported it, it might have been within the warranty. Can we contest this? I've read somewhere that a product has to last 'a reasonable time' and don't think 18 months is very reasonable. What do you think? Grateful for any advice.

We have only hd 5 months (and a titch) of this year, so even if you had taken it in 'earlier this year' you would have been over the 12 month warranty.

SOGA allows you the remedy up to 6 years but you would have to prove that the clutch was inherently faulty, with an independent report showing that. That can be difficult after such a length of time as nobody knows your style of driving etc etc

AnnieO1234

The problem you will have without an independent inspection is that all it takes is for you to have taken a learner out in a hilly area for a few days, clutch gone.

Xx

yangptangkipperbang

InsideInsurance wrote: »

SOGA does entitle you to a "reasonable life" (though capped by the law of limitations at 6 years in England, 5 in Scotland) but it is up to you to prove that the fault is inherent and not (a) fair wear and tear or (b) from missuse

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 goods must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose - it does not mention any expected "life" of a product. All references to a "reasonable life" with reference to SoGA are purely based an interpretation of what SoGA actually means.

The 5 or 6 years you mention are nothing to do with the life of the product but are merely the (already existing) period in which you can take legal action for damages.

InsideInsurance

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 goods must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose - it does not mention any expected "life" of a product. All references to a "reasonable life" with reference to SoGA are purely based an interpretation of what SoGA actually means.

The 5 or 6 years you mention are nothing to do with the life of the product but are merely the (already existing) period in which you can take legal action for damages.

As you say, it is implied rather than explicit but you will find most people dont quote acts verbatim.

The limit is, as I stated, the law of limitations which effectively gives a cap on the SOGA. There is no explicit exclusion to the limitations hence the normal caps apply. So even if the "reasonable life" of something is 10 years youre still statute barred after 6 years (in england) even though you could argue that the product was not compliant with SOGA due to manufacturing defects