Evans Halshaw sold me an unsafe care

Legacy_user

I purchased a car and extended warrenty from Evans Halshaw (The Car Store Worksop) 8 weeks ago.
Around 3 weeks later the brakes became noise, one week later I felt a strong juddering while the car was being driven. I stopped and called out the aa but by the time they had arrived the car has cooled and so no diagnosis was made. Two days later the same problem occured and the front passenger side wheel had become very hot in comparison to the other wheels. I arranged to have the car assessed at my local EH garage. They couldn’t diagnose the fault but recommended the car be assessed by the Audi garage. However the origional garage (EH Worksop) wouldn’t authorise this so I raised a complaint with EH, this apperntly takes 48 working hours for a response. In the meantime the problem happened again and this time the wheel was so hot I could smell burning rubber. I hadn’t heard back from EH complaints so for my own sanity and because I was worried about my safety I took the car to Kwik fit who explained the brakes had seized at some point and caused the brake pads to become scorched. They recommended new pads and disks and full investigation into the cause. Again EH wouldn’t authorisation payment so, after some argument the car was towed from York back to the origional garage in Worksop. I was the left without a car for three days until I could get the hugh distance to worksop, at my own expense, to collect a courtesy car. They held the car for 4 days (although one of these days was a bank holiday) and came to the conclusion there was nothing wrong with the car. But they offered to pay for an assesment by Audi.
The car was with Audi today who diagnosed faulty caliper causing the brakes to stick and advised new pads, disk and callipers. The technition advised the car was not safe to be driven due to the risk of the car becoming out of control if the brakes seized while being driven. This was the exact concern I had raised with EH since the first time the fault occured three weeks ago! I feel they have put my safety at risk all this time.
The current position is I dont have a car. I live 50 miles away from Worksop EH. I have to travel to Birmingham tomorrow for work and I have been forced to hire a car until thursday. I will have to pay for a taxi to collect the hire car tomorrow. This should be partly covered by the warrenty but has to be pre approved, I called time and time again this afternoon to arrange this but the phone was never answered. EH wont pay to the have the work done by Audi and will be collecing the car but they dont know when or how long any repair will take. Meanwhile I have no car or have to incur even more costs to hire a car. They have offered me a replacement car but they dont have anything in stock that is in anyway comparable to this car.
Can anyone offer any advise?
Ideally I would like to return the car for a refund due to the massive amount of stress this experience has caused me and the hugh inconvenience and financial costs incurred!!

DUTR

From the moment you mentioned the wheel getting hot, suspicions to sticking caliper, as the garage has pointed out a fix, then I don't know what the beef is?

Ectophile

I wonder how they can make such a song-and-dance over what's a simple and common problem.


Brake calipers stick. If they can't be cleaned up, then it's a reasonably simple job to swap the faulty calipers, fit new pads, and new discs if required.


From personal experience, the consequence of overheating sticky calipers is that the brake fluid boils, and you lose all pressure in the braking system. At that point, you need the handbrake to stop the car.

edde

So the car had a faulty caliper which was only found after 3 weeks?

EH didn't find any problem and since they checked it and found no problem and you drove it away then I don't think they put your life at risk.

They offered you a car and didn't have anything comparable what did you want them to do? What comparable car did you hire? Many main dealers courtesy cars aren't the same the the cars people drop off (stupid idea imo).

Jonesya

Sticking brake calipers can happen, I've had it myself, and if its intermittent and comes and goes it can be a pain to diagnose, but if a wheels clearly getting hot and the discs and pads have got seriously hot you'd hope a decent garage would spot this.

I'd expect the garage to pay for a full overhaul of the brakes, with new pads, discs and caliper.

But I don't follow your argument about travelling from York, unless the garage has moved since you bought the car? Then it's always been there and you knew where it was, and the travel to or from it. That's buyer beware of buying a car long distance - it's a pain if there's problems.

System

Agreed, I did ask EH to move the car to a garage closer to me but they convinced me not to because they would loose the commision, saying they would deliver the car to me (which they didn’t). So lesson learnt, look after yourself in future!
Although I dont live in York I just happened to be there over the xmas break. After all the beauty of a car is you can go places far away from home and I didn’t buy a car for it to sit on the drive!

waamo

. Meanwhile I have no car or have to incur even more costs to hire a car. They have offered me a replacement car

This makes no sense at all. What do you mean?

System

They have offered to replace the car, a permanent replacement. Give me another car to the same value but they have nothing comparable in stock.

AdrianC

CLWood wrote: »

They have offered to replace the car, a permanent replacement.

Can't say fairer than that.

Let's look at the timeline...

• You bought a used car (age unspecified) from a dealership 50 miles away from your home. The distance to the retailer is your problem, as you chose to buy from a distant supplier.
• You drove the car for three weeks without problem.
• A problem occurred.
• Rather than return it to the retailer, you insisted on them paying for a franchise main dealer, which they refused, as is their right. They are under no obligation to do that. Your obligation is to return it to them.
• The problem must have appeared to go away, because you chose to continue driving the car, rather than return it to the retailer. At this stage, you were within 30 days of purchase.
• The problem occurred again. By this time, outside the 30 day deadline. Again, you did not take it to the retailer. You chose to take it to a fast-fit chain notorious for upselling parts not required. Unsurprisingly, they insisted it needed new parts - and, again, the supplier refused to pay, as is their right.
• Finally, you returned it to the retailer.
• They had the car for "four days" (including a bank holiday - which, given the timeline, can only be either Xmas or New Year, with the attendant disruption to normal business hours either side of that). They investigated, could not identify the problem, so agreed with your original suggestion of a main dealer investigation. You were given a courtesy car, despite them being under no obligation to do so.
• The dealer identified a faulty caliper - and, despite you having chosen to drive the car around since the problem first occurred, you think the supplier are at fault for not stopping you from doing so - despite you continually refusing to take it to them to investigate the fault.
• You are now complaining about hire car costs, so I presume that you have returned the courtesy car, although you do not mention that.

Your legal rights are to have the car replaced for major faults that develop within 30 days of purchase. Whether a single faulty caliper - quickly and easily replaced - would qualify as a major fault is another question. You actively refused to take the car back to them within that 30 days, and chose to drive it until the fault recurred. They now have a legal right to repair - which you do not want to let them do. They are offering an exchange (which they are under no obligation to do), but you do not think they have anything "comparable" in stock.

If you agree to them replacing the caliper, you could be driving your own car this evening.

Harry223

unfortunatley i've had a similar issue with EH and the only time they decided to 'listen' was when I decided to contact the UK MD Gary Armstrong.

The call centre/complaints team are just as bad as the sales/store staff - anything slightly complicated they cant be bothered.
You should be able to take your car to any EH store for repairs/diagnosis, irrespective of where you originally purchased the car from.