Rejection of vehicle for refund

Towlo85

Hello, desperate for some advice over a car my wife purchased. She purchased a car (by way of personal loan) from Arnold Clark in November, day one of ownership the car loses power whilst driving and the AA recover it to Arnold Clark. A new battery, alternator and alternator belt were fitted. 8 weeks later the car is sat on the drive and won't start. AA out again and boost started. AA asked about the journeys being made in it. AA stated it might not be sufficient to recharge the battery. I also own a diesel and do the same time/distance and have never had an issue. 6 weeks on and the same happens again. My wife contacted Arnold Clark and told them we want a refund and not a second repair. Firstly tried to fob her off with 'we can only fix or discount on another vehicle'. We said we don't want it anymore and took it to the service department of our local branch as they wanted to test it. We have sent a letter of rejection due to the first fix evidently hasn't solved the problem. They have come back to us stating legally they don't have to refund unless they witness the fault. This sounds like BS and contradicts what the Consumer Rights Act states, in that it can be rejected if a fault is found and not rectified or another fault develops and can reject a second fix. We feel Arnold Clark are holding us to ransom.

DoaM

Sounds like they are saying that they can't reproduce the fault, thus they are stating no such fault exists (and have evidence to show what they've looked at?) The onus would then be on you(r wife) to prove that the fault does exist.

Towlo85

DoaM said:

Sounds like they are saying that they can't reproduce the fault, thus they are stating no such fault exists (and have evidence to show what they've looked at?) The onus would then be on you(r wife) to prove that the fault does exist.

It's happened every 6-8 weeks. There must be a power draw coming from it somewhere. We have three AA breakdown reports stating no power from the battery. Not sure what else they would need?! A three year old car should not have to be boost started every 6-8 weeks.

JJ_Egan

The dealer fitted battery belt and alternator  . That more or less rules out battery charging and battery holding charge . Even on very low mileage and a new battery cannot see why it would lose all charge .

Battery/ car earth strap fault ??

Fosterdog

How much is she actually driving it? 

born_again

Car details?
How often is car used? How far does it go each use?

Did the AA check the alternator output? Did they check the battery?
A battery that keeps going flat, is only going to get worse. After it was boosted by the AA was the car taken for a long run as they will have advised to get a decent charge in the battery?

Towlo85

It's a 2016 Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCI. The first time in needed boosted after the battery was changed it was left on the drive running for an hour. Each journey is at least 20 mins and 10 miles long. At least one hour trip every week. She turns off the start-stop everytime she gets in it. 
I'm afraid I've no mechanical knowledge. Arnold Clark are stating no fault has been found but there evidently must be one. 

knightstyle

Could be as simple as a boot light not going off or a poorly fitted sat nav, dash cam, radio etc.

Fosterdog

It does sound like maybe it's not being driven enough, if completely flat it would take several hours (4-6 depending on battery age and capacity) of driving to fully charge it. Shorter trips of up to an hour will charge it enough to make another couple of trips but not enough to last without a full charge. In your OP you said that even the AA told you that this amount of driving may not be enough and therefore likely the cause of the problems so why would you assume both them and the dealership are wrong? Leaving the car idling on the drive for an hour is not enough, it doesn't charge as much as actually driving the car.

DoaM

I have a 1.6 diesel Insignia. I do 30 minutes journey in the morning, nearer 40 minutes at night, 5 days a week. I use Stop/Start. Once every couple of months or so I do 2x 3 hour journeys (e.g. Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon) when I go back to the homeland to see family. I've had this car since October 2017 ... I've not had to charge it once. Based on your thought process, my battery should have died a few times in those 2.5 years.

My money is on a faulty alternator, faulty earth bond, faulty battery, or the battery is not sized to cope (i.e. wrong battery has been fitted).

mattyprice4004

JJ_Egan said:

The dealer fitted battery belt and alternator  . That more or less rules out battery charging and battery holding charge . Even on very low mileage and a new battery cannot see why it would lose all charge .

Battery/ car earth strap fault ??

I've owned a motor factor for many years - a huge mistake is discounting that new parts can be faulty. 
It's unlikely, but it does happen an awful lot - and often people are led up the garden path chasing the fault when it's actually a new part that's never worked properly causing the fault.