Used car troubles

Shellbell136

I purchased a used Peugeot 307 2006 with 73k on the clock on the 25 May. Within 3.hours of me picking it up it developed an anti pollution fault. I immediately rang the dealer and returned it to be diagnosed. They then booked it in to their mechanic to be fixed the following Thursday. I drove it the next day and found it was in limp mode. I then didn't drive it again till I had to drop it to the mechanic on the Thursday.
They had the car 6 days to diagnose a fault and repair it. I picked it up the following weds and took it for a run. I then noticed a noise coming from the rear brakes like metal on metal. I barely drove it till yesterday morning to kwik fit to have a free brake check. It was found that the car needs disc and pads all round, one of the hoses is splitting, the disc on the wheel making the noise is sticking due to there being rust etc and it's heating up and making it stick, hence the noise. The brake fluid Lao has a boiling point of 166 degrees as there is water in the system. I was also told that with the brakes on the condition they are in it shouldn't really have passed the mot before I picked it up. I got a rough quote for the work of around £478! I don't feel I should have to pay out that kind of money so soon after buying a car.
I have put all this in writing to the dealership who say they will contact me Monday (today).
Where do I stand with this? Is it grounds to reject the car or should I let them send it back to the people who passed it for mot illegally to fix the brakes? I have lost all faith in it now.

forgotmyname

You mention the boiling point of the fluid yet no mention of the measurements taken for the discs and pads??

Kwikfit's opinion is they all need replacing. But they wont sell you items you dont need will they?

Its a used car with used brakes? Is that a shock?

waamo

kwik Fit are notorious for finding faults that aren't there. Whilst they may indeed be a fault I wouldn't trust Kwik Fit to be the ones to diagnose it.

Ask friends for recommendations as to a decent local mechanic who can look over the car for you.

Shellbell136

I have a brake report which says that the discs are near the 24mm minimum and are showing signs of overheating the pads are all OK but will be changed with the discs. I haven't just taken their word for it they physically showed me the problems and even to my untrained eye it doesn't look good. I've had the car 10 days is my point you don't expect a bill of nearly £500 that quick.

forgotmyname

Near the minimum. So not below and are perfectly fine for an MOT pass and the pads are fine and do not need replacing.

So all good to go and safe until the current pads wear down where the discs and pads should probably be done. That could be 8000+ miles.

You dont expect a bill of nearly £500 that quick. But they dont need doing that quickly and wont cost anywhere near £500 to change all the brakes. They saw you coming.

You bought a used car with used brakes. MOT passable as proven by their report.

RichardD1970

As above.

Don't trust Kwik Fit.

Get a reputable local mechanic to look, at least as a second opinion. He'll probably also be cheaper, even if all the work, does indeed, need doing.

forgotmyname

£135 worth of parts and 2 hours labour? I work slowly and drink lots of tea. Your turn for breakfast so add on £5.

£200 for cash alright?

Shellbell136

Kwik fit didn't give me a quote as they don't on Sundays due to the parts places being shut. I looked it up roughly on click mechanic. Now seems like a silly idea. And in actual fact kwik fit told me to go back to the dealer about it, that is how desperate they were for the sale.

I do have a usual mechanic that I use and trust but he has been closed this week due to annual leave so I thought I would go to kwik fit as it was free. Wrong choice again. But then again I am a women so what do you expect.

GrumpyDil

I don't think any of the replies have anything to do with being a woman. Kwik Fit have a bit of a reputation for always finding work that needs doing when it could probably wait a little bit It sounds to me like they were good in advising you to go back to the dealer but may have been a little keen on saying the work 'needs ' doing rather than it would be advisable as those are two very different positions to be in.

angrycrow

The problems with the brakes could just stem from the car sitting. It could have been sat on the dealers site for months not moving. You picked it up and then returned it for work when it sat for a further week. When the car is sat the brake discs gain a thin coating of rust. The first drive of the car this can cause odd sensations and noises as the pads wear away the rust. This is entirely normal. My 207 rear discs could stick from rust overnight in the winter and would clunk on the first pull off then be fine.

Almost at limit could mean thousands of miles. The difference between new and warn out discs can be as low as 2mm. There is however a problem with the kwik fit figure of 24mm wear. Unless you have a custom set up the standard set up on the 307 1.4l and 1.6l is 22mm front disc with 2mm wear allowance and 9mm on the rear with 2mm wear allowance. The 2l does use bigger front discs which start at 26mm but they only allow for 1.2mm wear in which case 24mm is below minimum.

forgotmyname

I doubt they were the 26mm ones, they would have screamed death trap and said your likely to crash on the way home.