Definition of "last a reasonable length of time"

Mickmcdhibs

Hello this is my first post so bear with me.

I purchased an 62000 miles Audi A3 for £8000 with full Audi service history just over three years ago from a non Audi dealership, the dealership has now changed hands and has a different owner, I traded in a car and paid the balance of £3300 on my credit card.

I have done just 16000 miles in the car and it has developed a fault where the timing chain has stretched and have been quoted £4700 to fix the issue, the car is worth around £5500 so this is an uneconomical repair.

My question is the average miles per year is 12000 and the Consumer Credit Act states that goods should last a reasonable length of time do you think I have a claim against my credit card company.

Any comments greatly appreciated.

Mike

The Consumer Credit Act States the following.

Within six years – the longest you have to claim fault. The English statute of limitations says you have six years to bring a claim (five in Scotland), so in effect, that’s the maximum time you have to take back faulty goods.

However people often confuse this and think it means goods must last six years – that just isn’t true.

In fact you’ll note the laws specifically say goods should ‘last a reasonable length of time’ and that’s the key, if nebulous, time limit. ,

To work out what is a reasonable length of time, you have to simply imagine what a reasonable person would say was reasonable.

For example it’s likely you wouldn’t say it was reasonable for a £1,000 LCD TV to break after 18 months of normal use, but it’s probably fair enough if a 10p plastic whistle did.

So what the law actually says is goods must last a reasonable length of time – and if not, they’re faulty, and you have up to six years to bring a case about them being faulty.

If that’s confusing, a somewhat oversimplified way to explain it is that goods must last a ‘reasonable time’ – of which the maximum reasonable time possible is six years.

Geodark

4700! is that for a complete new engine????? can you give us a bit more info? chain stretch is a known problem with some of the audi engines, but has it stretched to the point other damage has happened??? who quoted you 4700 and what exactly was it for?

Geodark

Also might help if you give us a bit more info, engine type, size, model etc.

[Deleted User]

1) You purchased the car three years ago. Although a car should last longer than three years, this age does not start from the point of purchase.., the car had an age when you purchased it. If the car was defective when or shortly after you purchased it, and you can prove you complained about this, it would be a different matter, but not now with a repair need that occurs after three years.
2) All cars require servicing. If you had it serviced shortly before this repair need showed up, I'd go back to the servicing garage, not the people you purchased it from. However, even with this, you may have no claim as you will have to prove the garage should have noticed the fault.
3) To reduce repair costs, I'd go to garages (note the plural) and find out how much it would cost to have a complete refurbished engine change. I suspect this will be a lot less than £4,000.

Mickmcdhibs

Hi Geodark

Its a A3 3.2 V6 and the cost is from a Audi main dealer to remove the engine and gearbox replace the timing chain and put everything back together £1000 for parts and 29 hours labour. Its a main dealer job as it requires specialist tools that small garages dont have (this is after speaking to 5 other garages). I know that this can be an issue with the engine and I have contacted Audi UK for help but they say they will probably only contribute towards the repair to a max of £1500 but this has not been confirmed yet. I have a document that was commissioned in 2009 showing the issue with the badly manufactured chains so I'm all over it but was just exploring other avenues should Audi UK not play ball.

I'm a member of audi-sport,net which has a wealth of information regarding the issue so I am well covered on that side of things, its the credit card payment/refund side of things that I would appreciate some feedback on.

Cheers

Mike

Geodark

deannatrois wrote: »

1) You purchased the car three years ago. Although a car should last longer than three years, this age does not start from the point of purchase.., the car had an age when you purchased it. If the car was defective when or shortly after you purchased it, and you can prove you complained about this, it would be a different matter, but not now with a repair need that occurs after three years.
2) All cars require servicing. If you had it serviced shortly before this repair need showed up, I'd go back to the servicing garage, not the people you purchased it from. However, even with this, you may have no claim as you will have to prove the garage should have noticed the fault.
3) To reduce repair costs, I'd go to garages (note the plural) and find out how much it would cost to have a complete refurbished engine change. I suspect this will be a lot less than £4,000.

Good ADVISE in your signature there have to say Advice/Advise is up there with Brought/Bought.

Geodark

Mickmcdhibs wrote: »

Hi Geodark

Its a A3 3.2 V6 and the cost is from a Audi main dealer to remove the engine and gearbox replace the timing chain and put everything back together £1000 for parts and 29 hours labour. Its a main dealer job as it requires specialist tools that small garages dont have (this is after speaking to 5 other garages). I know that this can be an issue with the engine and I have contacted Audi UK for help but they say they will probably only contribute towards the repair to a max of £1500 but this has not been confirmed yet. I have a document that was commissioned in 2009 showing the issue with the badly manufactured chains so I'm all over it but was just exploring other avenues should Audi UK not play ball.

I'm a member of audi-sport,net which has a wealth of information regarding the issue so I am well covered on that side of things, its the credit card payment/refund side of things that I would appreciate some feedback on.

Cheers

Mike

Righty, in which case I shall let someone more knowledgeable in that area advise you. Good luck fella.

Mickmcdhibs

Thanks Geodark appreciate you taking the time to reply to my issue

bris

Yea that's right small garages only use Halfords socket sets......


Of course they have the tools, they couldn't be in business without them.


You bought a used car 3 years ago and it need's repairing, your on your own as no one is going to take responsibility for this so the offer of a contribution is a good will gesture.


You haven't actually said how old the car is yet either but with the info provide I would estimate it to be about 7-8 years old. Wouldn't the timing chain need changed anyway, before it falls through the engine?

Mickmcdhibs

bris wrote: »

Yea that's right small garages only use Halfords socket sets......


Of course they have the tools, they couldn't be in business without them.


You bought a used car 3 years ago and it need's repairing, your on your own as no one is going to take responsibility for this so the offer of a contribution is a good will gesture.


You haven't actually said how old the car is yet either but with the info provide I would estimate it to be about 7-8 years old. Wouldn't the timing chain need changed anyway, before it falls through the engine?

Why the sarcasm at the start of your post?

I've been told by 5 garages that specialist tools are required to remove and split the engine why would they turn away business. The car has done only 77000 miles and a timing chain should last 150000 miles so it has only lasted 50% of the time it should, you are correct about the age of the car.

Mickmcdhibs

deannatrois wrote: »

1) You purchased the car three years ago. Although a car should last longer than three years, this age does not start from the point of purchase.., the car had an age when you purchased it. If the car was defective when or shortly after you purchased it, and you can prove you complained about this, it would be a different matter, but not now with a repair need that occurs after three years.
2) All cars require servicing. If you had it serviced shortly before this repair need showed up, I'd go back to the servicing garage, not the people you purchased it from. However, even with this, you may have no claim as you will have to prove the garage should have noticed the fault.
3) To reduce repair costs, I'd go to garages (note the plural) and find out how much it would cost to have a complete refurbished engine change. I suspect this will be a lot less than £4,000.

Thanks for the informative reply re your first point does that mean that the sale of goods act only covers new items and the six years starts from the point of the item being new no matter who purchased it.

Thanks

Mike