Advice Required

steveroebuck

In March of this year I purchased a 17 Plate Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport SRI-NAV from an approved Vauxhall dealer (Thurlow Nunn of Dereham) with just under 800 miles on the clock (Car was registered June 2017)

I had zero issues with the vehicle until Tuesday 12th June when the electronic handbrake decided to fail and I couldn't release it, it needed a callout from the RAC where the technician had to remove the winder motor and manually release the brake from the passenger side rear wheel. This enabled me to get home, but I had no use of the handbrake.

I delivered my car to my local Vauxhall Network Q dealership for repair under warranty. They diagnosed the car quickly and established the fault with Brake Control Unit. They ordered a replacement but upon fitting discovered it wouldn't "code up" to my car, so needed to engage Vauxhall technical. Since then there have been a series of back and forths between the dealership and Vauxhall technical, full hardware dumps of my car have been sent and all to no avail. They even reverted to ordering a secondary Brake Control unit which also failed to code to my car.

They have now had my car for almost 3 weeks and we are no closer to a solution, I have no faith that Vauxhall know how to fix my car or the technicians at the garage do either.

Thankfully they have supplied me with a hire care during the duration but it is not of the spec my car.

Where do I stand legally getting them to give me a replacement car or some form of compensation?

System

Under the CRA you have to give them the chance to repair it. I would argue that 3 weeks is long enough and if they can't get you an equivalent replacement you should get a refund, at the very least I'd expect some compensation for inconvenience even if its just free servicing.

foxy-stoat

If they have supplied you with a loan car for free then I am not sure where you stand legally with compensation - your into goodwill gestures here, maybe ask for the next service free and a free valet - once they have fixed the fault which I would assume will be free.

If its on finance then complain to the finance company about a replacement vehicle if they cannot fix the handbrake - report back if you get anywhere.

steveroebuck

Car was paid for in cash, in full so no finance at all.

I would say 3 weeks is a decent time for them to attempt to repair it especially as they seem to be clutching at straws now.