Vauxhall Warranty Damage and Repair

StarshipUK

I own a Vauxhall Astra which is about 10 months old. I purchased it second hand privately, but that should not make a difference with this as Vauxhall Warranty Repairs should still be covered regardless.

I had a problem with the drivers front right hand indicator working intermittently, some days working fine and other days showing an error on the dash and not working. I contacted Vauxhall who said to me on the phone if they could see the fault occurring I would not have to pay a diagnostic fee.

I took the car in while the fault was occurring to show them and their technician had a looked and gave the light a hard thump with his fist (I did not give him permission to do this and was slightly shocked he did this). Since then the light has been working but is barely visible (so dim other drivers cannot see it). Their technician doing this has caused further damage to the light as a result. I was then told I would still have to pay a diagnostic fee, despite being told otherwise before. I was also told if I bough the car from their dealership they would repair it for free, but as I did not they would have to charge me.

The car is only 10 months old and 5000 miles and I believe this should be covered under the warranty, as well as being very annoyed they caused further damage by hitting it. I have contacted Vauxhall Customer Services but they have been very unhelpful (and not able to open PDF documents!) and extremely slow in replying, and have basically said I have to pay despite their technician hitting the light and the car being so young.

I am thinking of sending a written complaint letter to Vauxhall as most replies also seem to be very scripted and non-specific. Please can anyone offer any advice of where I can go from here?

custardy

If its covered by the warranty,the fee should be covered.
If it isnt,the fee will be due.
Hitting a 'dodgy' light is a fairly standard test/fix. dodgy seated bulb is the most common issue.

marlot

Its normal in the car industry to give a defective lamp unit a thump.

Just get it fixed. If that means you have to pay a diagnostic fee in the short term, I guess that's what you have to do. Unless you want to go out and buy a new lamp unit yourself.

bigjl

Why not just change the bulb?

Is it LED or something?

Can't see any reason for the indicator now being dimmer other than the bulb has become unseated.

If you had bought the car from a dealer, Vauxhall or Independant, you could take it back there.

You are not a customer of the Vauxhall Garage.

They are a Franchise, why should they do anything on your car for free?

How do they know you haven't been fiddling with the car yourself? Or the previous owner might have done something to it?

Do you really think giving a headlight unit a thump with your fist could damage it?

What is the level or your vehicle knowledge?

As I suspect it is rather minimal.

No Vauxhall dealer has to accept your car in to do work on it you know. They do it because they get paid to do it, either by you or Vauxhall.