Car issues: Finance

planty027

I got a car on finance, was very happy with what I got. Car was perfect.

After 7 months (1 month after warranty) the engine management light came on. 

I was straight in contact with the garage purchase from. They said that it’s not a car type they’re specialists in (they’re a fiat garage, this is a Citroen) and suggested going to a Citroen garage for diagnostic as what they have may not bring up the problem. We did so and the Citroen garage suggested the timing chain was gone. The car had only done 20,000 miles so this is very early for this to go.

we went back to the dealer we got the car from who then said they never would have advised to go to another garage, and that we were silly to do so. After many back
and forth, we mananged to cut a deal with the garage to go halves on the new timing chain fixed by another garage that are their partner service garage. £350 each

All was good, for around 2 months.

the engine management light then returned. We were straight back in touch with the garage who said to bring the car in as it is due service and MOT and they will take a look at it then.

as the light is on, it’s going to fail MOT. If the issue is not resolved, what are my rights. Can I get out of the finance agreement?
can I get the same issue fixed for free?

this is a lot of money on a financed car that was one month out of warranty, low mileage and only 5 years old. Feel like we’ve been sold a faulty car

AdrianC

When you say "warranty", you mean an aftermarket used car warranty. It was two years out of the manufacturer's warranty.

I presume this is the Prince engine? Lots of well-known timing chain issues with that, both in PSA products and especially Minis - the engine was developed by BMW under a joint venture with PSA.

I really wish people would stop being so fixated on low mileage being a good thing. 20k miles in five years is not good for engines. You don't say how many miles you covered in the seven months you've had the car. I presume the service history was full and to the manufacturer's spec?

You also don't know what the current fault is that's causing the light to come on. It's very unlikely to be the chain again - but, if it is, you've got a good case against them for poor workmanship last time. The chances are, though, that it's unrelated.