Tesla seatbelt problem and trader ignoring emails

melb

hi there my husband bought a 2016 used Tesla about a month ago from a garage specialising in electric vehicles.  From the first journey the passenger seatbelt has randomly tightened during normal driving.  We emailed the seller and he suggested we monitor it.

We did so and drove at varying speeds, braking, accelerating, driving slowly and also stationery and the seatbelt did it randomly.  On one 20 minute journey it did it 4 times and it tightens to such an extent that I as the passenger cannot move at all.  I have to unbuckle the seatbelt and allow it to fully retract and reinsert it which is obviously dangerous in most circumstances.  I have looked online and this seems to be a common problem but there is rarely a conclusion - apart from one lady who rang the seller up and played hell and got it replaced!

The seller is now completely blanking us and our emails.

We took the garage into Tesla today to have some work done under a recall and their answer was they could inspect it to see if there was aproblem at a cost of £87 + VAT which we are not prepared to do.  Why on earth would we pretend there was a problem if there wasn't?  If for some reason we had just decided we did not want the car we could have returned it to them within 14 days so there is no need for us to lie as the issue began on day 1!

Their warranty is 3 months and covers 'any mechanical parts which fail earlier than would normally be expected' or words to that effect.  I would expect a seatbelt to last the lifetime of a car unless there had been a serious accident.

Please can anyone offer any advice where we can go from here? 

jimjames

Claim on the warranty? How do you register a claim?

AdrianC

melb said:

hi there my husband bought a 2016 used Tesla about a month ago from a garage specialising in electric vehicles.
...
We took the garage into Tesla today to have some work done under a recall and their answer was they could inspect it to see if there was a problem at a cost of £87 + VAT which we are not prepared to do.  Why on earth would we pretend there was a problem if there wasn't?

Your 5yo car is too old to still be under a manufacturer's warranty.
You bought it from a non-franchised dealer, and got a three-month aftermarket warranty on it.

Why on earth wouldn't a franchise dealer charge you for investigating and resolving the problem?

Their warranty is 3 months and covers 'any mechanical parts which fail earlier than would normally be expected' or words to that effect.  I would expect a seatbelt to last the lifetime of a car unless there had been a serious accident.

Will the warranty cover the cost of having it fixed at a franchise dealer? I don't know. Ask the warranty company.

melb

the Warranty is with the company that sold the car to us not a third party.  obviously Tesla will charge for the investigation but we would not expect to cover the cost of this.  I would imagine that all warranties would cover pre-existing faults which the seatbelt obviously was as it happened on day 1.

I know it is no longer under the manufacturer's warranty we did extensive research and tbh were surprised about how limited (in both years and coverge) the manufacturers warranty is for such an expensive car.

I don't know how we register a claim apart from following the T and Cs which said to contact the company in the first instance which we did and have hit a brick wall.

DB1904

melb said:

the Warranty is with the company that sold the car to us not a third party.  obviously Tesla will charge for the investigation but we would not expect to cover the cost of this.  I would imagine that all warranties would cover pre-existing faults which the seatbelt obviously was as it happened on day 1.

I know it is no longer under the manufacturer's warranty we did extensive research and tbh were surprised about how limited (in both years and coverge) the manufacturers warranty is for such an expensive car.

I don't know how we register a claim apart from following the T and Cs which said to contact the company in the first instance which we did and have hit a brick wall.

Are you sure? The consumer rights are with the seller. 

melb

The consumer rights are with the seller - what does this mean please?

melb

I have found that the Warranty is provided by A company, trading as B company (B company being where we bought the car).  We emailed on day 2 asking for a copy of the warranty but that is one of many ignored emails. 

AdrianC

melb said:

the Warranty is with the company that sold the car to us not a third party.

So it isn't actually a proper insurance-backed warranty, just a "We'll see you right" from the vendor?

obviously Tesla will charge for the investigation but we would not expect to cover the cost of this.

I VERY much doubt an independent garage's "We'll see you right" will cover the cost of a main dealer doing work.

They certainly don't have any obligation under consumer rights to do so.

I would imagine that all warranties would cover pre-existing faults which the seatbelt obviously was as it happened on day 1.

Quite the opposite. Pre-existing faults are always excluded from proper warranties. I presume this issue did not manifest itself on the test-drive pre-purchase?

melb

Pre-existing faults are always excluded from proper warranties.  Are you serious? And what is a proper warranty in your view? No test drive as it was bought from and delivered by a Southampton company with a 30 day no quibble return.  you seem very antagonistic AdrianC.  maybe you would like to buy a Tesla but can't afford one?  

KimJongUn88

I’d never buy a Tesla. Their seatbelts always seem to be problematic.

melb

nice one lol!