Fault after two weeks

hedderz

Hi all

I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I bought a second hand car (4 and half years old,70K miles) from a trader. I got a warranty from the trader with the purchase. I've only had the car 2 weeks and the rear suspension failed. It turns out its the compressor for the air suspension has packed in. I rang the warranty company and they have told me the process in which to go through and I and the garage have followed that. We are just waiting for the warranty company to give the go ahead. All fine so far.

However, I think that the warranty company will not cover all the costs. They told me from the outset that there is a limit to the claim (£1000) and they will only cover up £39 per hour labour costs (the garage charge £45). They also won't cover any time spent diagnosing the issue (I think they've spent about 2 hours looking at it).

What are my rights in terms of getting the trader who I bought the car from to cover the extra cost that the warranty won't? I do like the car and would like to keep it once its been fixed. I know I would be well within my rights to return the car and get a full refund but I'd like to avoid that if poss.

Thanks in advance.

Hedderz

Rain_Shadow

What is the vehicle?

foxy-stoat

My guess, Citreon C4 GP, one or both of the air bags have a hole which causes the compressor to stay on and over heat - or compressor has got wet.

Forget the warranty, take it back to the dealer, reject it or get them to fix it properly - if you do decide to have them fix it, type up a full rejection letter ready for when it fails again - I hope it will be within a few weeks.

Good lucks

AdrianC

Rain_Shadow wrote: »

What is the vehicle?

It's a 5yo 70k BMW 5-series.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1606336

hedderz

AdrianC wrote: »

It's a 5yo 70k BMW 5-series.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1606336

Thats a bit scary! Forum detectives at work. Yes thats my post (or a friend on my behalf) on PistonHeads.

Yes its a 61 plate 2012 BMW 530D M Sport. It happened Monday morning just as I was driving past my local BMW specialist. I left it there as I didn't want to risk driving it any further. I spoke to the trader and they advised to talk to the warranty company.

I'm going to stalk to the dealer again and see if they are happy to continue down the warranty route and cover any excess or want to deal with it themselves.

Thanks for your help so far.

Hed

foxy-stoat

I would take it back to the supplying dealer to sort out - or reject it.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Let the dealer sort it out. Period.

AdrianC

One question to consider is whether it's reasonable for the compressor to fail on a 5yo, 70,000 mile car.

Your legal rights do not carry the expectation for a newly-acquired used car to be utterly perfect as if it were new, and it was certainly not a fault that could have been in any way apparently pre-existing.

lincroft1710

hedderz wrote: »

They told me from the outset that there is a limit to the claim (£1000) and they will only cover up £39 per hour labour costs (the garage charge £45).

So a not very worthwhile warranty!! £39 ph seems very low for garage labour charges.

straighttalker

foxy-stoat wrote: »

My guess, Citreon C4 GP, one or both of the air bags have a hole which causes the compressor to stay on and over heat - or compressor has got wet.

Nice skills Sherlock! There are a plethora of vehicles out there with air suspension Audi, BMW, Merc and Land Rover amongst other marques all have vehicles with airbags fitted which can fail. Not sure why you went for Citroen.

shaun_from_Africa

AdrianC wrote: »

One question to consider is whether it's reasonable for the compressor to fail on a 5yo, 70,000 mile car.

Your legal rights do not carry the expectation for a newly-acquired used car to be utterly perfect as if it were new, and it was certainly not a fault that could have been in any way apparently pre-existing.

However, I would still expect an expensive component to last longer than four and a half years, especially on a vehicle that cost £18k.
You are right that you shouldn't expect the car to be perfect but it must still be fit for purpose and durable and these factors allow for the price to be taken into account.