Having an issue with Richard Hardie garage about car bought form them a few months ago 12 March at 8:31PM edited 12 March at 8:33PM in Motoring 27 replies 1.2K views

calicocat

Hi,

wondered what people thought about this.

Bought a Fiat 500X from main dealer last August, still in warranty, but understand break pads and discs aren’t covered in this. However,  mate noticed that discs looked bad but mother has been very ill so haven’t had time to get it in until today. They were going to charge £300 to do ( which is an obvious rip off) but I stated the car was like this when I bought it and surely this should have been picked up by them on the pre-sale check. I have only done around 2500 miles since I bought it.

Chappie in garage says vehicle was fine when sold, I argued it wasn’t. He said all he can go by is that pre-checks said it was fine, so it was fine.
Got home to check paperwork I got given with the car after purchase, and there is a service record and paperwork from July , a month before me buying it, which was done by previous owner. This service paperwork states an alert on it saying discs are corroded. Which proves it was like this when I bought it. Also , it was their garage which did the service, so they certainly can’t deny it was a problem before I purchased.

My question is..

Shouldn't this have been picked up and fixed before it was sold on? And do I have any recourse do you think to ask them to fix it free of charge as checks were clearly not done properly.

Thanks

neilmcl

You purchased a used car, things like brake disc/pads are wear & tear items so you can't reasonably expect them to be perfect when you bought the car. It would've been up to you to check the condition of things like this prior to purchase.

calicocat

I understand that, and this was pointed out to them but the salesman just brushed it off saying it was fine, and I haven’t had time until now to get it in to them. I’m not a mechanic, and you expect a certain level of professional service from a main dealer ( that’s probably a mistake on my part too). I don’t expect to have  to hire a car expert to take with  me to an approved Fiat dealer.

They are denying  they sold it with a problem , when their own service sheet says there was prior to purchase ( not that they know this as yet). I am going back at them tomorrow and have emailed Fiat headquarters to see how they feel about it. 

If I have to repair it then I do and that’s fine, but they will get no further business from me and I think it is bad practice. The vehicles breaks were clearly not checked properly prior to sale.
 

neilmcl

So have you been to an independent garage to see if the brakes actually do need replacing or not. The fact that you had a service report stating the discs were corroded doesn't necessarily make them worthy of immediate remedy, otherwise the previous owner would've had sorted them then and there. If they're not worn to the point they'd fail an MOT then the dealer has done nothing wrong.

lesalanos

Unfortunately brake discs will always be susceptible to rust.  Only doing 2500 miles in 6 months means that rust will not get "cleaned" off as much through normal use.  

Ectophile

Brake discs are made of steel, so they corrode.  It doesn't really mean anything, unless they have got so thin that they are outside the manufacturer's specification.

If you go for an enthusiastic drive, you will find they look a lot less corroded afterwards.

calicocat

Ok, fair points to consider there thank you for the feedback. 

Got it booked in with my usual garage next week, then I will find out if they need doing etc. 

calicocat

Have spoken to Fiat, they are so far agreeing with me it seems. So will see what happens. Got the impression they have had more than just my complaint about the garage in Question. Pretty impressed with Fiat coming back straight away to be honest, regardless of whatever the outcome is. 

Plus they are in the middle of the crisis and chaos over there and still amazingly quick at responding . They are all working from home though I think. 

m0bov

You might get some goodwill from them, but you did'nt buy the car from Fiat and when you did buy it, it was more than 6 months ago.

calicocat

Yes, I am aware of this, so are they. That doesn’t stop the fact that they have sold a car with a known problem, bad practice at best. 

Mercdriver

If I changed my brake discs every time they were a little corroded, I'd be very poor indeed.  I driving 15 - 20k a year, but there is sometimes a gap when I am out of the UK.  When I come back, there is frequently some rust on my discs.  A bit of braking will deal with this.