Cambelt snapped within 7 days from purchase

kozlikha

Bought a 2011 Audi A3 from a dealer, full service history, cambelt and waterpump changed (handwritten in service book) at 99k, currently 141k. Car was sold in full working order. Only did about 200 miles in it and it broke down on motorway. Car is now parked at home, non-runner.

Am I entitled to a full refund? I was given a warranty (£250 per claim - £50 excess). This warranty isn't going to cover the cost of repair, nowhere near as engine potentially damaged. Also I specifically bought the car with full service history to avoid this kind of thing from happening. Wrote email to dealer giving them 14 day notice to issue a refund and pick up the car.

If they don't refund, what chances do I have in court? As far as I'm concerned even though the car did 141k miles, this isn't big miles for a fully serviced diesel engine, also the car was sold without any mechanical faults, which can't be right if the cambelt snapped days after purchase and with minimum usage. Will Consumer AcT of 2015 enable me to recover costs via small claims?

And if the dealer says cambelt needed to be changed, then why wasn't this advertised or in fact addressed prior to putting car on forecourt?

ssparks2003

What was the suggested replacement intervals in the handbook?

kozlikha

ssparks2003 wrote: »

What was the suggested replacement intervals in the handbook?

60,000 or 5 years.

ratrace

kozlikha wrote: »

60,000 or 5 years.

ok, so when was it changed ie what year, also when you say hand written is there a stamp in the book with a garage number on it so you can call and confirm that it was done

what needs to be confirmed is what really happend so in other words did the belt it self snap due to being old and the hand written stuff is fake or did one of the pullys seize up which made the belt come off etc.... but to be honest its not really your problem its the dealers

after just 7 days for the belt to snap and cause major engine damage i think you are in a strong position to argue that the belt was very worn and it was just a matter of days away from snapping

what did you pay for the car if you dont mind me asking


Oh and keep any evidence such as the recovery date/time and what the miles are on the car when you bought it and when it snapped

AdrianC

If the dealer's any good, they'll refund without quibble.

But if they do put up a fight, on the basis that the cambelt clearly hadn't snapped when you purchased, and it couldn't possibly be foreseen since it was documented to be ~8k within the interval (inspection is not straightforward), then you could be up for fun.

Let's say it does come back to your pocket. Autotrader has 25 2011 A3 diesels with similar mileage, from £6k to £3k. It's definitely going to be worth getting the engine swapped rather than lob the car away or flog as spares/repair (although it would sell well for that). Even at the lower end, I doubt it'd cost much over half the value. They're all generic VAG engines, with no shortage of good used ones available out of bent cars.

Richard53

A handwritten entry in a service book (I'm guessing without a dealer stamp?) is always going to benefit from further investigation. But even so, belts deteriorate with time as well as mileage, which is why the manufacturers specify years as well as miles between changes. The date of the supposed cambelt change is crucial.


When I bought my current car, it was advertised with 'recent cambelt'. Turns out it was only 20,000 miles ago, but six years. As VW recommend 4 years for that model, I got a discount for (in effect) 'cambelt change way overdue', and the first thing I did on picking it up was get it changed.


Sod's Law, the old one was in perfect condition, but I was glad I have done it just for peace of mind.

AdrianC

7-8yo car, now 140k, belt changed at 100k - 60k/6yr interval. So there's no way that the belt's going to be over on time... And it's within mileage, although not by a heck of a lot.

My money is on either the "history" lying about the belt being changed, or it was only the belt/pump changed, and it's probably something original and unchanged - tensioner, guide or idler - that's let go now and taken the belt with it. But, apart from saying "Don't take the history at face value", that's pretty academic.

kozlikha

Belt was changed in March 2016. Just checked garage that did the work (stamped) is permanently closed now, so no way to check. As far as I'm concerned the car already had a fault when I bought it, paid £3500+ for it. Which state that I'm entitled to money back, but was wondering if anyone had to go small claims with car dealer based on similar problems (car breaking down within 30 days).

Sure enough it's not an enormous amount of money for a car, but it's not scrap or old banger either. So should not have happened.

AdrianC

So right down at bottom-end money for a leggy 2011 A3. Which suggests the dealer may not be the most customer-service focussed...


Really, there's only one way you're going to find out how this is going to play out.
TALK TO THE DEALER YOU BOUGHT IT FROM.

If they say "Ooops, yep.", then you're laughing.
If they say "Nope, worked when it left here, mate.", then you're physically returning the car/paperwork/keys/everything and issuing a small claim.
If they defend that claim, then it's all in the hands of whoever hears it, and the strength of the wording of your claim and their defence.

It's not their problem to collect it, btw. It's yours to return the goods to where you collected them from. They may collect, sure, especially if they're nice people who play nicely. But they would be within their rights to deduct the charge for that from the refund. You have breakdown cover, who recovered it from the side of the m'way? You should have had them take it back to the dealer...

kozlikha

AdrianC wrote: »

So right down at bottom-end money for a leggy 2011 A3. Which suggests the dealer may not be the most customer-service focussed...


Really, there's only one way you're going to find out how this is going to play out.
TALK TO THE DEALER YOU BOUGHT IT FROM.

If they say "Ooops, yep.", then you're laughing.
If they say "Nope, worked when it left here, mate.", then you're physically returning the car/paperwork/keys/everything and issuing a small claim.
If they defend that claim, then it's all in the hands of whoever hears it, and the strength of the wording of your claim and their defence.

It's not their problem to collect it, btw. It's yours to return the goods to where you collected them from. They may collect, sure, especially if they're nice people who play nicely. But they would be within their rights to deduct the charge for that from the refund. You have breakdown cover, who recovered it from the side of the m'way? You should have had them take it back to the dealer...

According to Which dealer is liable to pick the car up if it's now a non-runner. The fact that I have breakdown cover has little to do with it.

ratrace

kozlikha wrote: »

According to Which dealer is liable to pick the car up if it's now a non-runner. The fact that I have breakdown cover has little to do with it.

Adrian does have a point when you broke down you should have had the car towed to the garage where you bought it from as the car was still only a week old (since you bought it) or if you didnt do that the very least i would have done is call them to make them aware of the problem as soon as its happend

Shame the garage has closed down that did the belt, but as its said above you need to call them and discuss what happens now as by law they have a right (one chance) to fix the problem for you, but im not sure how far from home they are located and getting the car recoverd there could be expensive

as you have stated (dates/miles) the belt falls with in normal intervals and has failed prematurely so going by that you are the innocent party

@ that miles it is a bit of a risk buying a car as most of the parts would be original unless stated otherwise such as injectors. turbo,flywheel etc.... separate issue if they were to fail