Honda CRV - Issue Under Warranty - What are my rights?

kdrover

In December 2017 I purchased a Honda CRV Black Edition from a Honda dealership, 6 months old with 7000 miles on the clock.  Here is the timeline of issues I have had with the vehicle since.

• 25th March 2018, oil warning light came on while driving.  Honda Care (AA assistance) came and sold me a bottle of oil as there was nothing on the dipstick.  I alerted the dealership and they put £10 of Diesel in the tank to compensate for the oil I had to purchase.  I get the feeling the engine oil could not have been checked before I purchased the vehicle.
• 14th March 2019, I noticed when I lifted the bonnet, there was no coolant in the overflow reservoir.  I went straight to Halfords and topped this up.  I had to top this up at least 2 to 3 times as the level kept dropping before the next service.
• 24th June 2019, At the annual service, I told the dealership that the coolant level kept dropping.  They said after the service that there was no fault found with the coolant level.  Regular topping up still required after I got the car back.
• 20th November 2019, I took the car back to the dealership for another investigation of the dropping coolant level.  After a full day they were unable to find any fault.  Luckily they did not charge me for their time despite the warning that there would be a charge if they were unable to find a fault.
• 18th - 20th December 2019, coolant level now falling more dramatically.  Dealership requested the car to be left for 3 days for longer investigation.  This time they confirmed a fault and said the radiator would need to be replaced.
• 27th-28th January 2020 - Radiator replaced.  1 week after the replacement it was apparent that the coolant level is still dropping at the same rate as before the radiator was replaced.  I now called Honda Customer Support and told them I was losing faith with the dealership and I want a resolution to this asap.  They said it would have to go back to the dealership for another investigation and that their team of master technicians would be following the case.
• 17th - 19th February 2020 - The car was left with the garage for 3 days.  Conclusion (No fault found), despite that I had gone through 2 litres of coolant since the radiator was replaced.
• 26th February 2020: Car was dropped off at the dealership however was not looked at until 12th March.  On the 14th March they confirmed the coolant was dropping but no obvious external leak and prepared a technical report for Honda.  Honda requested photo's etc from dealership and instructed them now to go ahead with a Cylinder Head replacement. 

Honda provided me with a Vauxhall Astra courtesy car on 17th March from Enterprise car rental.  My car now lies stripped down in pieces in the Honda dealership when I received the call to say that they will be closing the workshop indefinitely due to the Carona Virus lockdown and would not be able to give me my car back.  Honda extended my courtesy car until 17th April.

Honestly, it's the first time I have paid a lot of money for a car and there has been trouble with it since day 1.  I don't think it's fit for purpose and the thought of all this open heart car surgery doesn't fill me with confidence.  Any resale value on the car will also surely be affected by all of this.  I have been very patient thus far.  I have now had to change my work schedule 6 times in order to leave the car at the dealership 6 times and arrange courtesy cars each time.  I have now been without the car for a total of 55 days and counting with no end in sight to this.  I would like to know where I might stand legally given the above timeline of events?  I will be due to have dialogue with Honda again next week and would like to be prepared.

Many thanks.

Hermione_Granger

kdrover said:

In December 2017 I purchased a Honda CRV Black Edition from a Honda dealership, 6 months old with 7000 miles on the clock.  Here is the timeline of issues I have had with the vehicle since.

• 25th March 2018, oil warning light came on while driving.  Honda Care (AA assistance) came and sold me a bottle of oil as there was nothing on the dipstick.  I alerted the dealership and they put £10 of Diesel in the tank to compensate for the oil I had to purchase.  I get the feeling the engine oil could not have been checked before I purchased the vehicle.

So are you saying that between purchasing the car in December 2017 and having the oil warning light illuminate on the 25th March 2018, you never checked the oil level once?
It's possible that driving the car with the oil level so low that a warning had to be given, internal damage was done to the engine, damage that is the cause of the coolant loss.

kdrover

Hermione_Granger said:

So are you saying that between purchasing the car in December 2017 and having the oil warning light illuminate on the 25th March 2018, you never checked the oil level once?

.

Hi Hermione,
Thanks for your reply.
I should note that the car was picked up at the very end of the month of December.  I had not even traveled 300 miles nor visited a petrol station before the warning light came on after collecting the car.  The AA patrol which arrived said that the yellow oil alert which displayed was a warning to say the oil was low but not dangerously low. He said the red oil light if displayed is when engine damage could occur.

I should also clarify my earlier statement. There was oil on the dipstick but it was below the minimum marker when he attended.

Given that there has not been any sign of an oil leak since that event, I conclude that the dealership did not check the oil level before selling the car and was negligent.  I believe I have precisely followed the owners manual directions.

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm afraid I agree with Hermione.  Driving with oil below the minimum level could have caused the subsequent problems, irrespective of the colour of the warning light.  If you push the matter too hard, this might be what the dealer falls back on.  

Ultimately, if you want to reject the car, then that's what you should try and do.  I think you'll find that difficult after all this time because it worked fine for a year between the oil level issue and then the coolant problem.  Maybe your best bet is to trade it in for another car.

Your last post suggests you do hardly any mileage. Is that correct?  How often do you check fluid levels?

shaun_from_Africa

Aylesbury_Duck said:
How often do you check fluid levels?

By the sound of it, whenever they get a warning light.

kdrover

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Your last post suggests you do hardly any mileage. Is that correct?  How often do you check fluid levels?

When I purchased the vehicle it did very little mileage as my wife was in her final stages of pregnancy and I was working from home.  I check fluid levels and tyre pressures every time I refill the car with fuel.  And for the past 6 months I've been checking the coolant level daily.  Is it reasonable to be expected to do more than this? My only fault as far as I'm concerned is that I didn't check the oil level when I drove the car off the forecourt.  When you pay close to 30k for a car, you would like to think this was double checked!

Anyway, I was accepting of the fact they are repairing the car under warranty. My main concern is how many repeated trips to the dealership was required to acknowledge the fault and the number of days I've now been without the car over the past year with this issue with no end in sight.  It surely surely must be costing Honda a fortune to keep me in a rental car for the past month? Very frustrating!

Aylesbury_Duck

As long as you have a courtesy car, does it matter that much?  At the moment you'd only be able to use your car for essential journeys anyway but any mileage you are doing and did whilst your car is with the dealer is not going onto your car.  That's the positive side of this.

You asked where you stand legally.  What outcome do you want if you don't want to reject the car?  Compensation?

kdrover

Quick update on this case for your weekend pleasure 😊.

It's now 108 days since I left the car with the dealership for a cylinder head replacement. I was all set to get it back today but since Honda are undergoing a cyber attack it's been postponed until Monday.  Heck, what's a few extra days!

During these last 109 days we've been hit with.

1. A pandemic

2. The dealership who was working on it originally lost the Honda franchise so Honda(UK) instructed the dealership to rebuild the car with the faulty cylinder head and drive it to the next closest Honda dealer 15 miles away.

3. A cyber attack.

At least Honda have provided me with an Enterprise car rental Vauxhall Astra for the past 91 days.  

All the points I raised about being unhappy with the situation, the vehicle and questioning how much this is costing Honda were disregarded. Replacement vehicle you might think? Not a chance.

Looking forward to seeing my vehicle back at long last. Lets hope it's an end to this adventure.