Vauxhall Gearbox/Cylinder/Clutch failure. Not using main dealer, can I complain?

JonE11

So I have a 22-month-old Corsa on a PCP from a main dealer. Servicing up to scratch from a main dealer and has done 44,000 miles.

The clutch suddenly got very light and eventually, the car stopped getting into gear.

So I take into a Vauxhall dealer who inform me it will cost a £1000 (labour cost) to find out if it is a warranty issue or not as they need to remove the gearbox. This turns out to be a standard Vauxhall cost. It's absolutely ridiculous, but apparently, that's how Vauxhall do business.

They could give me no indication whether the issue would be the clutch (so wear & tear not under warranty) or a mechanical issue so under warranty. So the choice Vauxhall left me with is risk a £1000 to find out if I'll pay nothing or I'll pay £1000 plus the repair cost.

I went to an independent dealer, who could do the whole repair for £400. Because I didn't have the money to go ahead with riskin £1000, I let them go ahead and repair.

Turns out this was a slave cylinder failure/leakage which had caused the clutch to, therefore, need to be replaced. So it is a warranty issue and would have been free.

Do I have any chance trying to make this claim to Vauxhall because it is their fault, but how could they expect me to risk a £1000 on it? I have photos to show proof of the fault, but I don't know if it is worth or how to go about complaining.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

stator

Yes, certainly complain in a letter to Vauxhall.
Do you still have the broken component? If so offer to take it to one of their dealerships for them to inspect.


If they refuse, you could consider taking them to small claims court for the £400.

Car_54

JonE11 wrote: »

They could give me no indication whether the issue would be the clutch (so wear & tear not under warranty) or a mechanical issue so under warranty.

I went to an independent dealer, who could do the whole repair for £400.

The independent quoted for the "whole repair" without knowing what repair was needed. Didn't that strike you as odd?

EdGasketTheSecond

Car_54 wrote: »

The independent quoted for the "whole repair" without knowing what repair was needed. Didn't that strike you as odd?

Not odd, they just quoted for a clutch job.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Not odd, they just quoted for a clutch job.

I don't strike it as odd either, labour plus parts plus vat reasonable to think £400 on a clutch job on one of the worlds most common cars.

AdrianC

Car_54 wrote: »

The independent quoted for the "whole repair" without knowing what repair was needed. Didn't that strike you as odd?

The majority of the cost is labour. Once you're in there, the cost of the slave and clutch kit are all known, and you'd be daft not to replace them all.


Anyway, no, OP, you do not have a hope in hell.
Clutches mostly need replacing after ~2yrs because of abuse. Clutch abuse is NEVER warranty-covered. This would have been covered, but you've taken it somewhere else instead. Vauxhall are not going to cover that cost... For all they know, the slave you turn up and wave at them didn't even come out of your Corsa...

forgotmyname

The £400 job probably wont have been genuine items. Thats where you may have issues with a claim

Manxman_in_exile

AdrianC wrote: »

The majority of the cost is labour. Once you're in there, the cost of the slave and clutch kit are all known, and you'd be daft not to replace them all.


Anyway, no, OP, you do not have a hope in hell.
Clutches mostly need replacing after ~2yrs because of abuse. Clutch abuse is NEVER warranty-covered. This would have been covered, but you've taken it somewhere else instead. Vauxhall are not going to cover that cost... For all they know, the slave you turn up and wave at them didn't even come out of your Corsa...

I'm confused. Should it have been covered or not?


EDIT: OP - what do the Ts&Cs of your PCP say about using independents?

AdrianC

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

I'm confused. Should it have been covered or not?

Seems fairly clear to me.

Clutches mostly need replacing after ~2yrs because of abuse. Clutch abuse is NEVER warranty-covered. This would have been covered

Implicit: (...because this was a component failure not accelerated wear through abuse...)

Ganga

The way i read the original post was that the car could not be put into gear ( as the slave cylinder was leaking ) this would not wear the clutch out.
The first thing to check would have been the clutch fluid level under the bonnet and this would have pointed out where the fault lay.
I am sure it would not cost £400 to repair/replace the slave cylinder and bleed the clutch.

AdrianC

Ganga wrote: »

I am sure it would not cost £400 to repair/replace the slave cylinder and bleed the clutch.

Concentric slave built into the release bearing...