2017 Vauxhall Astra Engine Failure

ThunderBet

Car: 2017 Astra 1.4t SRi VX-Line / 50,000 miles

At the end of November 2021 my car started to misfire and after some visits to an independent garage it was confirmed that cylinder 1 had lost compression and a new engine would be required. 

I resarched online and found this to be a known fault with the 1.4 turbo engine known as Low Speed Pre Ignition (LSPI) and that recall was done in early 2018 before I bought the car on PCP from Motordepot in late 2018. The recall was to deliver an ECU update and owners were advised to use a specific more expensive oil. I wasn't aware of this until recently. During my research I found that Vauxhall have, on occasions, contributed to repairs or sometimes even covered the full cost outside of warranty, but this seems to be before the takeover by Stellantis.

On 8 December I opened a case with Vauxhall customer services and my case manager booked by car into my local Bristol Street Vauxhall dealer who confirmed a replacement engine was required. Diagnostics were covered by Vauxhall. On the same day I discussed my service history with my case manager (2019 and 2020 at Motordepot, 2021 at Vauxhall) and was told if this was confirmed I should receive a "significant contribtion" towards the repair. I confirmed my service history and sent the invoices from the Motordepot services to complete my service history but in the meantime my case was passed to someone else who was difficult to reach and eventually on 23 December, two days before Christmas, I was told no contribution would be made, their main excuse seeming to be the two services done away from the Vauxhall network. I was quoted a cost of £4,500 (Merry Christmas!)

I sent a letter of complaint which was redirected so emailed the CEP Paul Wilcox and my case was taken up by an Executive Support Manager who reviewed the case in full. Their full and final position is a 'goodwill gesture' offering to contribute £900 (one fifth of the cost), leaving me £3,600 to pay, so it's still going to be cheaper to get it done elsewhere. Their offer is on the condition the repair is done by a Vauxhall dealer. One fifth is not "significant" in my eyes, but they're claiming I wasn't advised about a significant contribution in the calls they listened to, I wrote it down while I was on the phone I didn't just make it up, but never mind. 

What I'm wondering is if I have any legal grounds to take things further, especially as this is a known issue and the car hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time. The engine is the main component of the car and it shouldn't fail after 4 and a half years and 50,000 miles. The cost of the repair is half the value of the car. The place I bought the car from don't seem to be liable and said the agreement is with my finance company. The finance company think I'd likely be unsuccessful with a complaint through them due to the time I've had the car and the mileage done, but even if I was successful they would just end the agreement and I have about £4,000 positive equity in the car which would be lost.

I just seem to be hitting dead ends everywhere and getting no further forward, and I'm sick of getting the bus already! I would really appreciate some advice. Do I just have to suck it up and get it fixed elsewhere at my expense or do I have any grounds to push this further, and would that be with Vauxhall or Motordepot?

Really appreciate any advice or guidance anyone can offer.

Thank you.

born_again

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

ThunderBet

born_again said:

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

The 2018 service was done just before I bought the car by Motordepot, then I took out their service plan to cover me for 2019 and 2020. The failure has only occurred 4 weeks after my first Vauxhall dealer service!

I'm struggling to find anyone else who can fit me in anytime soon but from speaking to some garages it seems I should be able to get it done for around or a little under £2k, but it still feels unfair and I just want to make sure I've taken it as far as I can with Vauxhall and I'm not missing any consumer law I might be covered by. It all seems a bit vague though around the 'not fit for purpose' and 'reasonable amount of time' statements. 

MattMattMattUK

ThunderBet said:

born_again said:

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

The 2018 service was done just before I bought the car by Motordepot, then I took out their service plan to cover me for 2019 and 2020. The failure has only occurred 4 weeks after my first Vauxhall dealer service!

I'm struggling to find anyone else who can fit me in anytime soon but from speaking to some garages it seems I should be able to get it done for around or a little under £2k, but it still feels unfair and I just want to make sure I've taken it as far as I can with Vauxhall and I'm not missing any consumer law I might be covered by. It all seems a bit vague though around the 'not fit for purpose' and 'reasonable amount of time' statements. 

Any Consumer Rights you had would not be against Vauxhall, they would be against Motordepot as that is who you purchased the car from. Is this a fault that occurs due to an inherent defect, or is it due to incorrectly serviced vehicles, bad luck, something else?

Jumblebumble

ThunderBet said:

born_again said:

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

The 2018 service was done just before I bought the car by Motordepot, then I took out their service plan to cover me for 2019 and 2020. The failure has only occurred 4 weeks after my first Vauxhall dealer service!

I'm struggling to find anyone else who can fit me in anytime soon but from speaking to some garages it seems I should be able to get it done for around or a little under £2k, but it still feels unfair and I just want to make sure I've taken it as far as I can with Vauxhall and I'm not missing any consumer law I might be covered by. It all seems a bit vague though around the 'not fit for purpose' and 'reasonable amount of time' statements. 

Your biggest issue seems to be that Vauxhall will likely argue that had the car been serviced by them in 2018  they would have carried out the ECU remapping and put in the better oil as part of that service.
Unfortunately that is a perfectly good reason and not an excuse as you seem to think it is and they have no reason to be generous with any goodwill and I think you will have to suck this up.

ThunderBet

MattMattMattUK said:

ThunderBet said:

born_again said:

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

The 2018 service was done just before I bought the car by Motordepot, then I took out their service plan to cover me for 2019 and 2020. The failure has only occurred 4 weeks after my first Vauxhall dealer service!

I'm struggling to find anyone else who can fit me in anytime soon but from speaking to some garages it seems I should be able to get it done for around or a little under £2k, but it still feels unfair and I just want to make sure I've taken it as far as I can with Vauxhall and I'm not missing any consumer law I might be covered by. It all seems a bit vague though around the 'not fit for purpose' and 'reasonable amount of time' statements. 

Any Consumer Rights you had would not be against Vauxhall, they would be against Motordepot as that is who you purchased the car from. Is this a fault that occurs due to an inherent defect, or is it due to incorrectly serviced vehicles, bad luck, something else?

Seems to be an inherent defect on certain GM engines, in particular the 1.4 turbo in Astra's and I think Mokka's too. Wish I'd done the research before buying the car but you don't expect to need to when buying a 1 year old car, it's a lesson for the future though. 
Incorrect servicing has likely played a small part if standard oil has been used instead of the more expesive oil recommended, and probably a bit of bad luck too as they don't all fail, but the root of the problem is definitely the inherent design flaw with that engine. 
Motordepot don't seem to think they'd be liable in any way since the agreement is with the finance company, Citizens Advice were a bit vague but they also directed me to Motordepot rather than Vauxhall, so I might have to speak to them again. 

MattMattMattUK

ThunderBet said:

MattMattMattUK said:

ThunderBet said:

born_again said:

Sounds like as 2 of the services were not done @ Vauxhall dealer & had not been done inline with their requirements. Which could be timeframe of physical parts used.
Can we take it that the 1st 2018 service was done?

I would look at getting some quotes to repair from some recommended independents. Which will be well under the price you have been quoted by Vauxhall.

The 2018 service was done just before I bought the car by Motordepot, then I took out their service plan to cover me for 2019 and 2020. The failure has only occurred 4 weeks after my first Vauxhall dealer service!

I'm struggling to find anyone else who can fit me in anytime soon but from speaking to some garages it seems I should be able to get it done for around or a little under £2k, but it still feels unfair and I just want to make sure I've taken it as far as I can with Vauxhall and I'm not missing any consumer law I might be covered by. It all seems a bit vague though around the 'not fit for purpose' and 'reasonable amount of time' statements. 

Any Consumer Rights you had would not be against Vauxhall, they would be against Motordepot as that is who you purchased the car from. Is this a fault that occurs due to an inherent defect, or is it due to incorrectly serviced vehicles, bad luck, something else?

Seems to be an inherent defect on certain GM engines, in particular the 1.4 turbo in Astra's and I think Mokka's too. Wish I'd done the research before buying the car but you don't expect to need to when buying a 1 year old car, it's a lesson for the future though. 
Incorrect servicing has likely played a small part if standard oil has been used instead of the more expesive oil recommended, and probably a bit of bad luck too as they don't all fail, but the root of the problem is definitely the inherent design flaw with that engine. 
Motordepot don't seem to think they'd be liable in any way since the agreement is with the finance company, Citizens Advice were a bit vague but they also directed me to Motordepot rather than Vauxhall, so I might have to speak to them again. 

If there is any liability it would primarily lay with Motordepot, depending on the finance, it could then mean that the finance company would also be equally liable, but it depends on establishing specifics about the fault at the point the vehicle was sold and would require an engineers report. 

born_again

You could try S75 with the finance co. But if you are fed up with busses already. It is never a quick fix & may well end up with you going to FOS is they say No.