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Arnold Clark - second hand car
Hi - any advice gratefully received. It's a very long story but I have attempted to summarise.
We bought a 3 year old Renault Captur from Arnold Clark in Feb. They MOTed and serviced it prior to us buying it and assured us it had a full service history. We have a number of issues with it.
On receipt of the car we found the service history is incorrect (for example the first service stamp is dated 8 March 2016, the car was registered 31 March 2016). All the service stamps are from the same independent garage who owned it as a rental vehicle. When I queried the service dates with Arnold Clark they went back to the garage who confirmed in an email that all the services had been carried in accordance with the service schedule. Arnold Clark this this is sufficient.
After buying the car and finding the issue with the service history I had the car assessed by an independent garage who stated that there was excessive engine noise and vibration. I complained to Arnold Clark HQ and after some delay the car was assessed at one of their branches (not a Renault garage). They have diagnosed a stretched timing belt but have said that it should be assessed and rectified by a Renault garage. This was then referred back to the franchise that I originally bought the car from who had to approve as they would have to pay for it. One month on despite chasing and complaining I have had no confirmation that this will be done.
Finally I have just realised that we have never received any ownership documentation for the car. Neither do we have the green slip from the previous V5 document. Arnold Clark assured is they would do it all online.
Due to Arnold Clark being very unresponsive to email complaints and telephone calls I took the case up through Resolver in early June. Initially this seemed to help but I have had no contact from anyone since mid-June. I have escalated thorough Resolver, the next step is the Motor Ombudsman which I can do in 10 days.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the long thread and any advice on next steps that you could advise would be really helpful.
We bought a 3 year old Renault Captur from Arnold Clark in Feb. They MOTed and serviced it prior to us buying it and assured us it had a full service history. We have a number of issues with it.
On receipt of the car we found the service history is incorrect (for example the first service stamp is dated 8 March 2016, the car was registered 31 March 2016). All the service stamps are from the same independent garage who owned it as a rental vehicle. When I queried the service dates with Arnold Clark they went back to the garage who confirmed in an email that all the services had been carried in accordance with the service schedule. Arnold Clark this this is sufficient.
After buying the car and finding the issue with the service history I had the car assessed by an independent garage who stated that there was excessive engine noise and vibration. I complained to Arnold Clark HQ and after some delay the car was assessed at one of their branches (not a Renault garage). They have diagnosed a stretched timing belt but have said that it should be assessed and rectified by a Renault garage. This was then referred back to the franchise that I originally bought the car from who had to approve as they would have to pay for it. One month on despite chasing and complaining I have had no confirmation that this will be done.
Finally I have just realised that we have never received any ownership documentation for the car. Neither do we have the green slip from the previous V5 document. Arnold Clark assured is they would do it all online.
Due to Arnold Clark being very unresponsive to email complaints and telephone calls I took the case up through Resolver in early June. Initially this seemed to help but I have had no contact from anyone since mid-June. I have escalated thorough Resolver, the next step is the Motor Ombudsman which I can do in 10 days.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the long thread and any advice on next steps that you could advise would be really helpful.
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Comments
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Stop driving it. Have you tired to reject it formally?0
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Unfortunately its not that simple. My wife needs it for her job so we have still been using it. We have not formally rejected it and I am not sure they would listen if we did. What would be the method of formally rejecting it?0
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Could that first service date have been a simple error, putting 2016 instead of 2017?We bought a 3 year old Renault Captur from Arnold Clark in Feb. They MOTed and serviced it prior to us buying it and assured us it had a full service history. We have a number of issues with it.
On receipt of the car we found the service history is incorrect (for example the first service stamp is dated 8 March 2016, the car was registered 31 March 2016). All the service stamps are from the same independent garage who owned it as a rental vehicle. When I queried the service dates with Arnold Clark they went back to the garage who confirmed in an email that all the services had been carried in accordance with the service schedule. Arnold Clark this this is sufficient.
The car is out of the manufacturer warranty, so there's no issue with a history voiding that.
If the history is important to you, did you ask to see it before purchase?
What engine, age and mileage? I'd be surprised if it was due a belt change yet.After buying the car and finding the issue with the service history I had the car assessed by an independent garage who stated that there was excessive engine noise and vibration. I complained to Arnold Clark HQ and after some delay the car was assessed at one of their branches (not a Renault garage). They have diagnosed a stretched timing belt but have said that it should be assessed and rectified by a Renault garage.
Why did you leave the site without having been given the V5C/2?Finally I have just realised that we have never received any ownership documentation for the car. Neither do we have the green slip from the previous V5 document. Arnold Clark assured is they would do it all online.
The only effect of that is that you'll need to pay to get a V5C in your name - £25 with the V62. If you had the V5C/2, it'd have been free.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-a-vehicle-registration-certificate
BTW, without the docref from the V5C/2, how have you taxed it?
Arnold Clark are Arnold Clark. Their customer service is legendarily bad, and has been for many years.Due to Arnold Clark being very unresponsive to email complaints and telephone calls...0 -
To answer your questions:
"Could that first service date have been a simple error, putting 2016 instead of 2017?" - the next two service dates are 2017 and 2018 and the stamps and the handwriting are the same. My guess is that they have been added retrospectively.
"If the history is important to you, did you ask to see it before purchase?" - we bought the car via the internet, I asked about the service history, they showed us a video of the service book which showed the stamps, I didn't examine the dates at that point.
"What engine, age and mileage? I'd be surprised if it was due a belt change yet" -
Its a petrol, 898 cc, 44000 miles.
"Why did you leave the site without having been given the V5C/2?" - good question which i can't satisfactorily answer! They taxed the car on our behalf.0 -
Are you sure the first stamp isn't for the pre-delivery inspection rather than a service - I'm not familar with Renault's but some service books include a stamp for the pre-delivery inspection.0
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Indeed.Which has probably stretched as per the OP.
But, unless there's some chinese whispers, the diagnosis has to be in question.
If the car had a full main dealer service history, there may be a potential for goodwill from Renault UK. Given that it's been serviced outside the chain, that's unlikely.0
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