Who pays to replace the faulty clutch on my car?

bod1467

Which is why the law in Scotland is more consumer-friendly because it is 5 years from discovery (of the fault/issue, in which to raise a claim) and not 6 years from purchase.

ThumbRemote

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.

Albeit the act does state that durability is one measure of satisfactory quality. Section 14 paragraph 2B.

arcon5

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Albeit the act does state that durability is one measure of satisfactory quality. Section 14 paragraph 2B.

Yes but that doesn't change where the burden of proof is

Rebbie

So, if my interpretation of the comments (and the links) above is correct:


- Regardless of the length of the guarantee, we have 6 years from the sale of the original clutch to 'reject the faulty goods' if we can prove that the fault is due to fitter error or is inherently faulty. Apparently, the inside of the clutch had disintegrated, so it'll be interesting to find out how this might have happened.


- According to the article about clutch life a clutch can last for over 100,000 miles, though some have been 'as low as 20,000 miles', so if ours has done only 12,000 miles, this would appear to be an unreasonable length of time for it to last.


The car (a Nissan Qashqai) has had what I would consider 'normal' use - no learner drivers or boy racers and has been mostly driven by a 51 year old experienced (but not overly fast or slow) driver around and about a town centre, with a few long distance motorway journeys.


One of my husband's colleagues has suggested that he use the legal advice available through his Union, so we will do this if needs be. We have differing opinions about when he should seek legal advice - he's happy to wait to see what the garage says first, whereas I think he should at least speak to the Union, even if he doesn't take it any further if the garage comes back with a positive outcome. I think it's possible that the faulty clutch will get disposed of if they have an opportunity to do so before anyone can investigate further, but maybe I'm just being paranoid.

bod1467

Rebbie wrote: »

- Regardless of the length of the guarantee, we have 6 years from the sale of the original clutch to 'reject the faulty goods' if we can prove that the fault is due to fitter error or is inherently faulty.

Not quite ... you have 6 years from date of purchase to bring a claim in the small claims court in respect of the goods (being faulty). You can't reject goods which have been accepted.

But as you rightly surmise, it would be your responsibility (after 6 months from purchase) to prove the liability for the fault lies with the retailer/supplier.