Chrysler won't paid out on car warranty claim. Advice please!!!

Nwaobara

I am extremely upset and frankly disgusted by the way Chrysler have treated me. At present I would never buy another Chrysler car or recommend one to anyone I know. I have had to pay out £850 for repairs and replacement clutch on my Chrysler Delta, which at the time was less then two years old.

The repairs of the car NOT being covered under the warranty even those it was Sudden Clutch Damage / Failure on a 2012 Chrysler Delta. I also had to pay for a diagnosis on the car - not mentioned in the Chrysler warranty policy or stated as a EXCLUSION in the wordings in the booklet. My final complaint is the POOR customer service - A high level of contempt and unsympathetic behaviour by the Chrysler customer service staff. Chrysler Customer Service failing to make contact /call me back.

I am an experienced driver and have owned numerous cars and have never had to replace a clutch. To be given a diagnosis of wear & tear to my clutch after personally driving only 8000 miles and the car doing a total of 16000 miles, seems prosperous and as if Chrysler are trying to fob me off and take advantage of a female driver. Leading up to the point that the clutch failed, there were NO warnings given and I am clear that if the failure was due to wear and tear there would have been the following warnings leading up to this point:
a). Slippage - The car engine has not been revving abnormally as the clutch is released, and the car has not been accelerates gradually.
b). Vibration - A grabbing or chattering clutch is an indicator that there is a problem inside the clutch mechanism. The car has not been jerking as the clutch is released.
c). Squeal or Chirps - My car has made no squealing or chirping noises.
d). Gear changing problems - The clutch has always been engaged completely, and I have had no problems getting the car into gear from neutral.

I don't Hold the clutch at the bite point for longer periods than required.
I don't have poor clutch control or make excessive throttles while the clutch is still engaged.
I don't make hill starts.

Chrysler have stated this is how the clutch has failed due to wear & tear!

The clutch on my car has been independently looked at and the mechanic disputes their findings. He pointed out that there is no visual evidence on the clutch disc and pressure plate that the failure is due to 'wear & tear'. Visual inspection of clutch disc gives a clear indication lining glazing marks. He pointed out this can only be due to oil contaminating the facing of clutch disc and this occurrence is due to faulty oil seal. There is little wear on the disc, that the printed numbers on it are still readable! The lining on the flywheel side of the clutch disk is barely worn and there is no discolouration of the pressure plate that overheating might have caused. He has pointed out that the clutch has failed prematurely.

He has made a professional judgement that if the clutch has failed just after 16000 miles, it will fail again within the next 16000 miles, which will prove that the car is not fit for purpose or their is a manufacturer fault with the clutch components.

At Chrysler are they expecting most cars to have clutch failure after ONLY 16000 miles driven! My last car a Fiat Punto has 34000 miles driven over a period of 6year and the clutch did not fail.

I conclude the failure of the clutch can not be due to wear & tear, but another manufacture defect that has lead to this problem.

I have emailed my dispute to the CEO of Chrysler Fiat UK and he has pass my dispute and complaints to a dealt with by Pam Kaur in the director office. He won't deal with it himself!

Has anyone had this type of dispute with a big car dealer? I have informed Chrysler that I will take legal advice and court action to receiver my cost and Have given them 14 days to respond.

Big thanks in advance for the advice.

Nwaobara.

forgotmyname

You maybe gentle on the clutch but you said you only did 8000 of the 16,000 miles. The previous owner may have abused it. My ex. MIL killed a brand new clutch in a fiesta in 7000 miles.

Maybe she owned it before you?

Richard53

Little lining wear, pressure plate not blued, oil contamination of clutch plates ... sounds like a failure of an oil seal somewhere. I can't see how this could be due to wear and tear. How has the clutch 'failed' exactly? Just slipping, or a big bang?


OP, get an independent inspection report and go in armed with that. From your description, it sounds like you have a good case.

vansboy

See what their response is, then consider issuing a claim against them.

Your mechanics report may well be enough for a court to accept, although it may be stronger if it was from a totally independent source. A clutch specialist maybe?

Also you may well have some insurance cover with your home policy, to enable legal representation, which will cost you little.

VB

philgr

I used to drive a 2.8 ton van that was notorious for clutch problems. that had 191,000 miles on the ORIGINAL clutch. Im unfamiliar with the exact model of car you have as it's a little new for me, but was wondering if the vehicle had been loosing brake fluid at all? I ask this as the Fiat I had shared its hydraulic clutch fluid with the brake reservoir and I had the master and slave cylinder die around 100,00 ( which I feel to be more reasonable). I know that fiat now own Chrysler and that some of the new Chrysler models are rebadged Lancia models from Europe, so unfortunately Im not surprised at the vehicle having problems as my Fiat was an abhorrent contraptionfor reliability overall.

I would concur that a clutch will tell it's history by looking at it and yours certainly sounds like its contaminated with an oil or fluid of sorts.

Another thought - is it a diesel and if so where is the fuel filter in relation to the gearbox? could it be that diesel was spilled during a service?

My advice would be to retain the parts for evidence should you decide to take things further as well as search owners forums that relate to the vehicle to see if others have had this happen and did the find the root of the trouble.

build evidence, keep all matters in writing, but try not to make threats to them like "I wont recommend your cars" or such as it's very likely to be perceived by them as petulent or suchlike. I also suspect that there will be an exclusion in the vehicle's warranty relating to clutch issues definable as wear and tear, hence their response and hence why you need to keep that part.

That said, I fully understand and agree with what you're saying, but Im used to dealing with Fiat UK and have often spent time on the phone with them trying to sort my ex van out.

bigjl

If the clutch friction surface is glazed that would indicate that it has got too hot.

Pretty much the same thing can occur with brake pads.

If there was oil contamination then there would be oil still evident inside the bellhousing.

Has somebody borrowed your car recently?

And those symptoms you mention would not show themselves in every case of clutch problems.

It certainly sounds like Chrysler are correct from the information given.

knightstyle

Even if you wanted to you couldn't buy a Chrysler in the UK unless it is old stock no-one wants.

Nwaobara

Some good advice. Big thanks.

I have got the clutch parts back and will contact an clutch expertise.

Can clutch dust cause the the clutch to fail? This is one of the reason Chrysler is given!

Nwaobara

Mankysteve

CEO never deal with complaint personally ever no matter how many times you email them. They pass it onto someone else, this CEO is just being honest with who dealing with it.

AdrianC

Nwaobara wrote: »

Can clutch dust cause the the clutch to fail? This is one of the reason Chrysler is given!

Clutch dust won't cause it to fail. The dust is the remains of the friction material, and is being pointed to as evidence that the clutch has worn.

knightstyle wrote: »

Even if you wanted to you couldn't buy a Chrysler in the UK unless it is old stock no-one wants.

Sure about that?
http://www.chrysler.co.uk/

If you meant the Delta specifically, then - yep - it's been dropped, but the brand as a whole is still very much present in the UK - and still rebadging the Lancia Ypsilon.

gilbert_and_sullivan

About the only maker i know who will entertain (fairly) something like premature clutch failure is Toyota, possibly Honda and Subaru but i have no personal experience of their customer service.

Its not in the dealers ''short term'' interests to fight your corner for a warranty claim, the warranty labour rate will be substantially less than what they charge the retail customer.

Voting with feet also means finding a dealer (as well as maker) who has long term customer practices, not here today gone tomorrow ethics.