My car got an engine warning light after 3 days. Can I deny to pay?

Spicynoodles

Hello to anyone reading this.

Recently I bought a Peugeot 208 GTI prestige, with less than 16,000 miles. I got the car through a HP deal, with warranty, servicing, etc.
The car was great for the first 3 days, but then driving home from work an engine fault popped up.
I rang my local dealership up (not the one I purchased it from) and it would be a minimum of 10 days for them to look at it.

During these 10 days the car would be fine with no warning lights for a few hours. Then spend about 30 hours idling to high, revving to high with little power and some other minor issues. But anyway, long story short.

I eventually got it looked at, there was a lot of communication (or lack of communication on their side) between me and the two dealerships. The local Peugeot dealership eventually rang me back saying the warrenty wont cover it. And there is a timing issue with the chain.
So they gave me 3 choices, pay myself, hope the other dealership will offer to pay, or for them to take the car and fix it themselves.
I had the car 3 days. I only drove it back to my families house the first day. The second day I drove down to my flat in Southampton. And the third day I drove to work.
I barely got chance to experience the car let alone damage it personally. It has now been sat in a garage longer than I have had it working. It's been broke for nearly 3 weeks. Can I just reject to pay the fee, if the dealership I bought from denies to pay.

Thanks to anyone if you do reply

agrinnall

Your mistake was not contacting the dealer that you bought it from in the first place. Had you done so they may have authorised investigation, and possibly repair, at your local dealer, but now you've given them an excuse to turn you down.



If you have a repair done and it's not paid for by somebody then you won't get the car back.

Spicynoodles

Thanks for replying. I didn't want to make it too long winded, but I did let them know the day it broke. They're both under Peugeot so I made sure both dealerships could liaise with each other. They confirmed saying the warrenty deal I had was very good, and it would bother the diagnostics of the car.

Arklight

The dealers are franchises, they aren't actually part of Peugeot or anything. You are dealing with two separate businesses.

Your contract of sale is with the dealership you bought it from. The warranty you have is not the same as your statutory rights. The latter doesn't apply to the second dealer and the former they aren't going to fight your corner for because you aren't their customer.

The original dealer is under no obligation to pay someone else to fix a car they haven't seen since it drove off the premises. What year is it by the way?

AdrianC

Let's put it this way...

Who else is paying?

Not the garage you took it to. They have zero obligation.
Not Peugeot UK or whoever issued the warranty. They've turned it down.
Not the garage you bought it to. You didn't give them the opportunity to address the issue.

Spicynoodles

Sorry for the lack of information.
The garage I took it to (Hamble) I'm not expecting them to pay. My car is a 65 plate and It had about 15,800 miles when I picked it up. The garage I bought from (Pentagon) are the ones I'm negotiating with. I live a couple hundred miles away from Pentagon, which is why I was unable to take it directly back to them.
They're trying to get more senior management to approve some sort of contribution at least.

My main issue was, if everything is declined and I'm expected to pay the full price. Do I have any rights, leverage, support anything in my position. Since I only had it 3 days on a fairly new, very low mileage car?

DUTR

Spicynoodles wrote: »

Hello to anyone reading this.

Recently I bought a Peugeot 208 GTI prestige, with less than 16,000 miles. I got the car through a HP deal, with warranty, servicing, etc.
The car was great for the first 3 days, but then driving home from work an engine fault popped up.
I rang my local dealership up (not the one I purchased it from) and it would be a minimum of 10 days for them to look at it.

During these 10 days the car would be fine with no warning lights for a few hours. Then spend about 30 hours idling to high, revving to high with little power and some other minor issues. But anyway, long story short.

I eventually got it looked at, there was a lot of communication (or lack of communication on their side) between me and the two dealerships. The local Peugeot dealership eventually rang me back saying the warrenty wont cover it. And there is a timing issue with the chain.
So they gave me 3 choices, pay myself, hope the other dealership will offer to pay, or for them to take the car and fix it themselves.
I had the car 3 days. I only drove it back to my families house the first day. The second day I drove down to my flat in Southampton. And the third day I drove to work.
I barely got chance to experience the car let alone damage it personally. It has now been sat in a garage longer than I have had it working. It's been broke for nearly 3 weeks. Can I just reject to pay the fee, if the dealership I bought from denies to pay.

Thanks to anyone if you do reply

Short answer is NO! (unless that is the agreement with the finance company?).

AdrianC

Spicynoodles wrote: »

I live a couple hundred miles away from Pentagon, which is why I was unable to take it directly back to them.

That's not their problem. You chose to buy from a supplier a distance away. Your consumer rights give the supplier the right to deal with the issues directly - they are under no obligation to pay for others to deal with them. They may, of course, choose to as a customer service measure.

They're trying to get more senior management to approve some sort of contribution at least.

And that would be a sensible goodwill measure.

My main issue was, if everything is declined and I'm expected to pay the full price. Do I have any rights, leverage, support anything in my position. Since I only had it 3 days on a fairly new, very low mileage car?

Your rights start with you returning the faulty goods to the supplier.

Within 30 days, you have a legal right to a full refund - but the goods need to be returned to the supplier.

On top of them being under no obligation to pay for others to do the work, if they wish to play hardball, then they could claim that the fault is due to incompetent work at the other garage.

Spicynoodles

Thanks for taking the time to reply. And no work has been done on the car yet it was just the diagnostic. I won't waste anymore of your time and leave it at that.
I appreciate the answers though.

Arklight

Spicynoodles wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply. And no work has been done on the car yet it was just the diagnostic. I won't waste anymore of your time and leave it at that.
I appreciate the answers though.

Just be clear with the garage you bought it from that you expect it to be fixed in situ or you'll be having it towed back to them for their one chance at fixing it.

Make sure they know that you know that you can reject the car.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/your-rights-if-something-is-wrong-with-your-car

Spicynoodles

Ok thanks for the advice