Arnold Clark - MOT

AdrianC

Leeanne_91 said:

I’ve just bought my 3rd car with AC on August 4th 2020. The last two times the experience has been brilliant and I’ve never had any issues with either vehicle. Given the new rules with COVID-19 I wasn’t offered a test drive at the garage, this wasn’t a problem as I’ve test driven this make of car before and enjoyed it. It was a very rushed exchange, again, I didn’t bother me given the situation the country is in at the moment. Half way up the motorway on my way home (which is a two hour drive as well as a 2.5hr ferry journey) the tyre pressure light appeared. Once at the ferry I phoned AC to ask about the situation as well as ask where the MoT certificate was as it wasn’t along with the service history! I was told that they couldn’t hand out hard copies of the MoT certificate because if COVID-19, which is strange because I’ve always been given a hard copy when buying the car. I asked if there was any advisories and when the next MoT is due. He told me it’s due in January and there was no advisories that he could see. A week later, the brakes are letting out one heck of a screeching noise every time I touch the pedal - you can hear me before you see me. Something wasn’t right. I went on to DVLA and checked the MoT myself, there WAS advisories for the brake discs! My car is currently under warranty and have now had it booked into the local Renault dealership - with the advise to do so by AC themselves. My worry is, is that they’ll say the problem isn’t covered via the warranty and I’ll have to fork out a fortune for the repair. Can they do that knowing they sold me a car with advisories that were 6months overdue AND not letting me know? 

You bought a 3.5yo car without test-driving it.
An hour up the road, the tyre pressure light came on. Could easily have picked up a nail or similar on the road post-collection.

You didn't check the MOT history online before purchase.
When you did, post-purchase, the brake discs turned out to have "had an advisory" (for what? Corrosion, wear, damage?) seven months and how many miles earlier?
A week post-purchase (and how many miles?), the pads were down to the audible wear indicators -  so it needs discs and pads. They're a wear-and-tear consumable, no warranty will cover them.

Yes, it would be good customer service for the vendor to agree to change the discs and pads. Arnold Shark are not renowned for good customer service.
You could have queried them, and got them (and a new test) in as part of the purchase deal. But I presume you don't want to drive back to the vendor themselves to get that work done. Is there another of their branches nearer to you? They are certainly under no obligation to pay main dealer rates for somebody else to change them - but your car is still under the balance of the manufacturer's 5yr/100k mile warranty (assuming it's not hit that 100k, and assuming all servicing requirements have been met).
I think Renault's intervals are 1yr/18k, so when was it last serviced? By a main dealer, or elsewhere?

There is no time limit on fixing advisories, or even any requirement to do so - they are simply something which has passed the test, but which the tester believes the vehicle's owner should be made aware of.

Leeanne_91

The mileage at the MOT was 30,948 and it was just shy of 33,700 when I picked it up (I recently stated a lower mileage number - my mistake, apologies). I know I should have focused better when at the dealership but it was very overwhelming, rushed and not to mention I could barely breathe in these awful masks you have to wear. It is my fault! My question still stands - do you think I’m likely to fork out for new discs/pads if needed?? 

Mercdriver

I suspect you might be about to discover whether it is Arnold Clark or Shark.  As Adrian says, forewarned is forearmed, I wouldn't mind betting that they were aware that the brakes were close to needing changing.  

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history  should be your point of call in future...

Herzlos

You can check the MOT online, so it's always worth doing before buying the car. Car sales haven't been open for long and have been pretty slow I assume, so the brake noise may just be because it's been sat on a forecourt for months, and once the rust is off they should be fine. Ditto the tyres, it could be that there's a slow leak, that it was just a bit soft, that the tyre monitoring system got it wrong, or you drove over a nail. What's the tyre and pressure like now?

They've suggested taking it to a local place so have them look at the brakes and if they need replacing get AC to sort it.

I'm sure AC used to give cars a fresh MOT if there was less than 6 months (this has 5) so I'd ask about that too. The were still offering test drives, but I'm not sure how that works now.

Beyond that, it doesn't seem worth the hassle trying to get the car back to them for minor issues

shaun_from_Africa

My car (10 year old Focus) had it's MOT test carried out about a week ago and there was an advisory for the brakes:

Front Inner Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))

The mechanic who did the test told me that there was plenty of material left on the pads and that with the mileage I currently do, they might need changing in about year to 18 months and when I get them changed, it would be worthwhile getting the discs replaced at the same time.
If the advisory that you have is similar, the brakes may well be okay for another year.

sweetsand

AdrianC said:

Leeanne_91 said:

I’ve just bought my 3rd car with AC on August 4th 2020. The last two times the experience has been brilliant and I’ve never had any issues with either vehicle. Given the new rules with COVID-19 I wasn’t offered a test drive at the garage, this wasn’t a problem as I’ve test driven this make of car before and enjoyed it. It was a very rushed exchange, again, I didn’t bother me given the situation the country is in at the moment. Half way up the motorway on my way home (which is a two hour drive as well as a 2.5hr ferry journey) the tyre pressure light appeared. Once at the ferry I phoned AC to ask about the situation as well as ask where the MoT certificate was as it wasn’t along with the service history! I was told that they couldn’t hand out hard copies of the MoT certificate because if COVID-19, which is strange because I’ve always been given a hard copy when buying the car. I asked if there was any advisories and when the next MoT is due. He told me it’s due in January and there was no advisories that he could see. A week later, the brakes are letting out one heck of a screeching noise every time I touch the pedal - you can hear me before you see me. Something wasn’t right. I went on to DVLA and checked the MoT myself, there WAS advisories for the brake discs! My car is currently under warranty and have now had it booked into the local Renault dealership - with the advise to do so by AC themselves. My worry is, is that they’ll say the problem isn’t covered via the warranty and I’ll have to fork out a fortune for the repair. Can they do that knowing they sold me a car with advisories that were 6months overdue AND not letting me know? 

You bought a 3.5yo car without test-driving it.
An hour up the road, the tyre pressure light came on. Could easily have picked up a nail or similar on the road post-collection.

You didn't check the MOT history online before purchase.
When you did, post-purchase, the brake discs turned out to have "had an advisory" (for what? Corrosion, wear, damage?) seven months and how many miles earlier?
A week post-purchase (and how many miles?), the pads were down to the audible wear indicators -  so it needs discs and pads. They're a wear-and-tear consumable, no warranty will cover them.

Yes, it would be good customer service for the vendor to agree to change the discs and pads. Arnold Shark are not renowned for good customer service.
You could have queried them, and got them (and a new test) in as part of the purchase deal. But I presume you don't want to drive back to the vendor themselves to get that work done. Is there another of their branches nearer to you? They are certainly under no obligation to pay main dealer rates for somebody else to change them - but your car is still under the balance of the manufacturer's 5yr/100k mile warranty (assuming it's not hit that 100k, and assuming all servicing requirements have been met).
I think Renault's intervals are 1yr/18k, so when was it last serviced? By a main dealer, or elsewhere?

There is no time limit on fixing advisories, or even any requirement to do so - they are simply something which has passed the test, but which the tester believes the vehicle's owner should be made aware of.

Dear OP
It does not matter one bit if you "test drove" the car or not or "cehcked the MOT" online.  It can help but the bottom line is not many things show up on a 10 minute test drive and as usally the car people are buying is newer, better, they may get a false sense of secuirty. Therefore, buying as you did happens daily thousands of times I guess, we bought over the phone years, many years ago when we bout a car under a year old for a main dealer as we knew they would be good or put it right
AC is a big org and I can see where you are coming from and your past expereince of buying used cars ie no problems.

What I would say to you is phone them, speak to a manger, sales manager or the aftercare manager, I'm sure they will sort it out.
About the mot and I have said plus someone else, it only advsiory and the 6 months you refer to may not be applicalbe as the car sat around so compare the mot mileage and what the mielage was from when it was sold to you and if its ik mile or more, pick them up on that.

I hope it all works out for you
x

The_Rainmaker

AdrianC said:

 Is there another of their branches nearer to you? 

Once you are out the central belt and on to the islands you might as well be in the Gobi desert as far as dealerships are concerned.  

Grumpy_chap

DoaM said:

Just to scupper that old myth ... AC can't "run the clock down" as it stops ticking the moment a fault is notified/complaint is raised. (At least as far as the Consumer Rights Act is concerned ... warranties are a separate thing).

Thank you for the clarification and I apologise if my earlier post was inaccurate and caused any confusion.

By the way, I have been on holiday once as well.  Not sure what that has to do with the case, but it seems important enough for everyone to mention

Mercdriver

sweetsand said:

AdrianC said:

Leeanne_91 said:

I’ve just bought my 3rd car with AC on August 4th 2020. The last two times the experience has been brilliant and I’ve never had any issues with either vehicle. Given the new rules with COVID-19 I wasn’t offered a test drive at the garage, this wasn’t a problem as I’ve test driven this make of car before and enjoyed it. It was a very rushed exchange, again, I didn’t bother me given the situation the country is in at the moment. Half way up the motorway on my way home (which is a two hour drive as well as a 2.5hr ferry journey) the tyre pressure light appeared. Once at the ferry I phoned AC to ask about the situation as well as ask where the MoT certificate was as it wasn’t along with the service history! I was told that they couldn’t hand out hard copies of the MoT certificate because if COVID-19, which is strange because I’ve always been given a hard copy when buying the car. I asked if there was any advisories and when the next MoT is due. He told me it’s due in January and there was no advisories that he could see. A week later, the brakes are letting out one heck of a screeching noise every time I touch the pedal - you can hear me before you see me. Something wasn’t right. I went on to DVLA and checked the MoT myself, there WAS advisories for the brake discs! My car is currently under warranty and have now had it booked into the local Renault dealership - with the advise to do so by AC themselves. My worry is, is that they’ll say the problem isn’t covered via the warranty and I’ll have to fork out a fortune for the repair. Can they do that knowing they sold me a car with advisories that were 6months overdue AND not letting me know? 

You bought a 3.5yo car without test-driving it.
An hour up the road, the tyre pressure light came on. Could easily have picked up a nail or similar on the road post-collection.

You didn't check the MOT history online before purchase.
When you did, post-purchase, the brake discs turned out to have "had an advisory" (for what? Corrosion, wear, damage?) seven months and how many miles earlier?
A week post-purchase (and how many miles?), the pads were down to the audible wear indicators -  so it needs discs and pads. They're a wear-and-tear consumable, no warranty will cover them.

Yes, it would be good customer service for the vendor to agree to change the discs and pads. Arnold Shark are not renowned for good customer service.
You could have queried them, and got them (and a new test) in as part of the purchase deal. But I presume you don't want to drive back to the vendor themselves to get that work done. Is there another of their branches nearer to you? They are certainly under no obligation to pay main dealer rates for somebody else to change them - but your car is still under the balance of the manufacturer's 5yr/100k mile warranty (assuming it's not hit that 100k, and assuming all servicing requirements have been met).
I think Renault's intervals are 1yr/18k, so when was it last serviced? By a main dealer, or elsewhere?

There is no time limit on fixing advisories, or even any requirement to do so - they are simply something which has passed the test, but which the tester believes the vehicle's owner should be made aware of.

Dear OP
It does not matter one bit if you "test drove" the car or not or "cehcked the MOT" online.  It can help but the bottom line is not many things show up on a 10 minute test drive and as usally the car people are buying is newer, better, they may get a false sense of secuirty. Therefore, buying as you did happens daily thousands of times I guess, we bought over the phone years, many years ago when we bout a car under a year old for a main dealer as we knew they would be good or put it right
AC is a big org and I can see where you are coming from and your past expereince of buying used cars ie no problems.

What I would say to you is phone them, speak to a manger, sales manager or the aftercare manager, I'm sure they will sort it out.
About the mot and I have said plus someone else, it only advsiory and the 6 months you refer to may not be applicalbe as the car sat around so compare the mot mileage and what the mielage was from when it was sold to you and if its ik mile or more, pick them up on that.

I hope it all works out for you
x

Oh dear.  There are 3k+ more miles on it since the MOT.  That's not an issue unless AC said that the car had been with them since the MOT.  I can't see in the OP's posts anywhere they have said that.

OP, please do not take the reassurances of this poster.  AC are likely to say that they are unable to help.  Especially as it is a wear and tear item.  A decent dealer would look after you.  Sweetsand seems to think that any business that has been around for a long time must be correct and automatically does the right thing by its customers.  Testimony of AC customers do not bear this out.  Companies just need to be profitable to survive.

Leeanne_91

shaun_from_Africa said:

My car (10 year old Focus) had it's MOT test carried out about a week ago and there was an advisory for the brakes:

Front Inner Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))

The mechanic who did the test told me that there was plenty of materials left on the pads and that with the mileage I currently do, they might need changing in about year to 18 months and when I get them changed, it would be worthwhile getting the discs replaced at the same time.
If the advisory that you have is similar, the brakes may well be okay for another year.

This is the same issue only with the rear. As for the tyre pressure issue, that was sorted. Once the computer was reset the pressure has been perfect and measuring correctly. There has been no issue with that since that day.