Evans Halshaw Extended Warranty - DMF

mdemetri2

Hi

I am currently having problems with Evans Halshaw extended warranty....bought car last April, had it serviced by them twice, last week it broke down - clutch sunk to the floor, suspected slave cylinder.

Digging out the paper work for the car I found I had not been given any warrany paperwork, only I had invoices to show I'd paid for the warranty and recalled it to cover mechanical failure which seemed like a good idea at the time.

Turns out, according to dealership, the car requires £1,500+vat to replace the dual mass flywheel and clutch - their version of events says the slave cylinder exploded, that also caused damage to the flywheel. They also state consequential damage or loss to other components is not covered by the warranty. I have been pushed from pillar to post trying to get a copy of my warranty since last Friday.....I complained in writing today - there are lots and lots of instances of them contradicting themselves and providing conflicting information, as well as generally being poor at handling the situation.

Finally today I received copy of the warrany, and find that there is no mention of the flywheel - although they seem to cover themselves by stating an unspecified components arent covered.

I did notice that I could have had a hire car after 24hrs of the breakdown which wasn't offered to me, so will take that up with them tomorrow.

Latest stance is they accept slave has failed and covered under warranty, as is the labour but not cost of repairs to clutch (due to oil contamination) or flywheel which has some signs of wear (as expected, car has 70k miles) and apparently 'lots of movement' within flywheel, cost of repair £938.

Anyone had any experience or advice? I've complained in writing and awaiting a response in the meantime its what avenue to take with them.....

forgotmyname

Either pay up for the new DMF and clutch or let them replace the slave and cross your fingers the clutch and flywheel work OK?

Consequential damage is usually excluded, thats normal.

Retrogamer

Sounds like complete nonsense with that price to me.
If they're going to replace the slave cylinder, then the gearbox will need to come off.
The DMF might be a bit worn but oil contamination won't affect it so unless it shows problems just now might be best not to replace it.
The clutch friction plate and pressure plate are the only 2 things i'd recommend to replace. Which would be a couple of hundred max.

I could get into a garage with my car, get the DMF, slave cylinder and clutch all replaced with official parts and including the labour i'd be about £800 tops.

Sounds like they're trying to charge you for labour as well for removing the gearbox which they would have to do for the warranty work anyway.

AdrianC

A clutch slave could very easily contaminate the friction plate when it fails - so the parts cost of the clutch would need to be paid.
When you're replacing the clutch, it would be a false economy not to replace the DMF at the same time, especially if it is showing signs of wear (which wouldn't be covered under the warranty anyway).

If the slave is internal, then almost all of the labour required should be covered.

And... they are apparently agreeing to all of those.

So it's simply a question of whether £938 is a reasonable figure for the parts cost (plus, say, half an hour or so of labour to remove and replace the flywheel, and align the clutch), plus VAT. That shouldn't be hard to determine - but a rough hint as to what the car is would help...

bigjl

Post up the make of car so somebody can actually give you a price for a replacement clutch/DMF/concentric slave.

Though I would question the story about the concentric slave exploding, that sounds like good old fashioned exaggeration.

Not sure why you feel the need to name and shame Evans Halshaw in your very first forum post though?

It just makes people think the reason for the post is to create negative reports online for prospective EH customers to find rather than somebody having a genuine problem they wish to get some advice on.

arcon5

bigjl wrote: »

Post up the make of car so somebody can actually give you a price for a replacement clutch/DMF/concentric slave.

Though I would question the story about the concentric slave exploding, that sounds like good old fashioned exaggeration.

Not sure why you feel the need to name and shame Evans Halshaw in your very first forum post though?

It just makes people think the reason for the post is to create negative reports online for prospective EH customers to find rather than somebody having a genuine problem they wish to get some advice on.

I'd hardly call this a name and shame post! It's interesting you say that since a lot of posts that don't say what garage they are dealing with are greeted with questions like 'where did you buy it from'... A very valid question since warranties are standard across the industry!

And why should op withhold their name? Op owes them no favours, nor does op seem to be seeking any injustice towards them! Merely asking for advise about about what others think he/she should be expecting.

arcon5

'A lot of movement' in the flywheel... What does that even mean? They always have movement in them and have a manufacturers spec as to the degree of rotational movement allowed.
They'll also rock side to side to a degree.

Although if slave cylinder failed it would more than likely 'burn' the flywheel if anything. Unlikely though if the failure was not something that gradually got worse over time.
I've left a few blued off flywheels in place a few times over the years because customers can't afford a flywheel and never had issues, in my experience they have to be really bad to cause any immediate issues. May reduce its lifespan though but my how much we don't know.

If it was fine before I'd be wanting to know how much movement and how it compares to spec before even considering an expensive purchase like a flywheel.

Pressure plate and friction plates aren't usually that expensive

mdemetri2

Nissan Qashqai Acenta 1.6 Diesel. In my frustration and rant and forgot to mention it!

forgotmyname: I did consider just asking them to replace the slave and see how things went, but then thought better of it given they eventually agreed to over the labour element to - which after I finally got a copy of the warranty they should have done anyway (which was NOT post marked the day they said it was posted, rather 3 days after they told me it was in fact posted).

AdrianC: What you say is pretty much what other independent garages also said.....what I wasn't happy about was being initially told I was expected to foot the bill for all parts including labour, regardless of warranty.

bigjl: The order in which they were telling me things had failed i.e. slave exploding which in turn meant clutch and flywheel replacement - that was them stating fact based on their technicians 20 years experience. Why would I not name and shame them.

I called other Nissan dealerships, one had not yet even changed a DMF on a Qashqai, the other said they had done a few due to poor driving styles i.e. riding clutch - the slave causing the need to do it was not something they recognised. Very different to the 'double figures' the Workshop Manager stated they had done.

Turns out they do the flywheel as a matter of course, regardless - to avoid customers coming back in the future complaining. While I agree it makes sense while the gearbox is out, they were trying to charge over the odds.

Yesterday I asked the dealer in Principle, to put their findings and cost in writing. What I got, was a recommendation to change the flywheel, not a you must do it which was what they had been saying. They also took the time to re-visit the costs and acknowledge the mistakes.

Car is having DMF and Clutch and should be collecting tomorrow. Cost is half what they were pushing for.

Lesson learnt, never ever by a car from an Evans Halshaw dealer or any dealer related to Pendragon (who are yet to acknowledge my complaint - 4 days now).

Their after sales customer service is utter garbage.

mdemetri2

Thanks arcon5. It's not as though I've said which dealer or specific names.

Anyway, as you say there is a degree of movement expected....I did think of asking them to tell me what the measurement of movement was so I could get it checked against allowable thresholds, but then who is to say they would just quote on the high side anyway.

I've asked to keep the flywheel they have removed which I will have checked out after the fix.

At the end of the day, I expect wear and tear and if things need changing then so be it. What I don't appreciate is having them try and pull the wool over my eyes with costs I shouldn't be incurring and have to put up with their inconsistent messages and poor service - calls not answered, calls being dropped while on hold (happened lots), receptionists laughing because it was the n'th time I had called within a few minutes due to the shoddy telephone system, the message coming from service manager and workshop controller being very different, them not knowing what is in their own warranty apart from being very keen to refer to the line about 'consequential loss', no offer of a courtesy car (at time of writing, 1 week with no car), blatantly lying about when warranty had been posted when they could have scanned a copy and email it - which they did when I asked.....the list goes on.

bigjl

arcon5 wrote: »

I'd hardly call this a name and shame post! It's interesting you say that since a lot of posts that don't say what garage they are dealing with are greeted with questions like 'where did you buy it from'... A very valid question since warranties are standard across the industry!

And why should op withhold their name? Op owes them no favours, nor does op seem to be seeking any injustice towards them! Merely asking for advise about about what others think he/she should be expecting.

I don't ask for Garage names unless that is relevant.

It isnMt as though the Garage has decided that it's wear and tear.

Consequential loss is part of most Insurance Policies. And most after market Warranties are just Mechanical Breakdown Insurance Polices.

The Garage has not sold goods which are unfit a failure of a part has occurred over a year since purchase.

Why has the OP not named and shamed the Warranty Co? Surely it is their T&C that the OP should be upset about?

bigjl

mdemetri2 wrote: »

Thanks arcon5. It's not as though I've said which dealer or specific names.

Anyway, as you say there is a degree of movement expected....I did think of asking them to tell me what the measurement of movement was so I could get it checked against allowable thresholds, but then who is to say they would just quote on the high side anyway.

I've asked to keep the flywheel they have removed which I will have checked out after the fix.

At the end of the day, I expect wear and tear and if things need changing then so be it. What I don't appreciate is having them try and pull the wool over my eyes with costs I shouldn't be incurring and have to put up with their inconsistent messages and poor service - calls not answered, calls being dropped while on hold (happened lots), receptionists laughing because it was the n'th time I had called within a few minutes due to the shoddy telephone system, the message coming from service manager and workshop controller being very different, them not knowing what is in their own warranty apart from being very keen to refer to the line about 'consequential loss', no offer of a courtesy car (at time of writing, 1 week with no car), blatantly lying about when warranty had been posted when they could have scanned a copy and email it - which they did when I asked.....the list goes on.

Lol

You mentioned the name of the group.

The individual Garage name is irrelevant.

There was no need to mention the dealer group.