Car purchased from retailer, broken after 5 months

Domdom1989

Hi. 

I bought a 2015 Mercedes Benz C300 diesel hybrid from a car dealer in Birmingham on 05/09/2021. On 08/02/2022 the cars brakes stopped working properly and warning lights came up on the dash. The car went to a Mercedes independent specialist on 11/02/2022 and it was diagnosed that the vacuum pump system had failed (plastic part that had smashed) and needed replacing. This part cost £211 alone, and the labour was 5.6 hours totalling £420 (£631 altogether). It was also diagnosed that the starter battery was the problem for some of the fault codes I had recently seen, so this needed replacing too. The cost of this part was £213 and the labour was 1 hour at £75.

Along with the diagnostics cost and the addition of vat, the total cost was £1192.80.

The car dealer gave me 3 months RAC warranty, but as this had ended, I didn't use this or call them. I also didn't think to call the garage as I thought they would say I am out of warr, therefore not their problem. 

Now I have heard that because this car hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time after purchase, that the garage is liable for the cost. Could I please have some help in answering if this is true and what I should do now?

Thanks, 

Dominic 

Aylesbury_Duck

Domdom1989 said:

Hi. 

I bought a 2015 Mercedes Benz C300 diesel hybrid from a car dealer in Birmingham on 05/09/2021. On 08/02/2022 the cars brakes stopped working properly and warning lights came up on the dash. The car went to a Mercedes independent specialist on 11/02/2022 and it was diagnosed that the vacuum pump system had failed (plastic part that had smashed) and needed replacing. This part cost £211 alone, and the labour was 5.6 hours totalling £420 (£631 altogether). It was also diagnosed that the starter battery was the problem for some of the fault codes I had recently seen, so this needed replacing too. The cost of this part was £213 and the labour was 1 hour at £75.

Along with the diagnostics cost and the addition of vat, the total cost was £1192.80.

The car dealer gave me 3 months RAC warranty, but as this had ended, I didn't use this or call them. I also didn't think to call the garage as I thought they would say I am out of warr, therefore not their problem. 

Now I have heard that because this car hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time after purchase, that the garage is liable for the cost. Could I please have some help in answering if this is true and what I should do now?

Thanks, 

Dominic 

I can't see that the selling garage is responsible for the failure of a smashed part and the charge in an old battery, a consumable part, after five months of driving.  It sounds like reasonable wear an tear on a seven year old car.

Domdom1989

But is 5 months considered a reasonable amount of time for something to stop working? The battery I agree is a wear and tear part, but the vacuum pump that leads to the failure of the braking system. Doesn't seem like tha car has lasted that long.. 

Domdom1989

I am asking from a consumer rights perspective 

Alderbank

Domdom1989 said:

Doesn't seem like tha car has lasted that long.. 

Well it's lasted 7 years already. It's hardly a write-off and it sounds like apart from that plastic pump everything else is doing fine and might well continue for another 7 years.

How did the plastic pump 'get smashed'?

Aylesbury_Duck

Domdom1989 said:

But is 5 months considered a reasonable amount of time for something to stop working? The battery I agree is a wear and tear part, but the vacuum pump that leads to the failure of the braking system. Doesn't seem like tha car has lasted that long.. 

But presumably that vacuum pump had lasted seven years until February, and you knew that most of the parts on the car were six years old when you bought it.  How did it get "smashed"?  That suggests an impact from something, or perhaps the impeller or whatever is in inside it broke up and damaged the pump?

The car has lasted seven years so far.  It's unreasonable to expect all components on a car to last that long.  As far as consumer rights are concerned, the fact the pump lasted five months in your ownership before failing suggests it was fine when you bought it.

Grumpy_chap

Domdom1989 said:

But is 5 months considered a reasonable amount of time for something to stop working? The battery I agree is a wear and tear part, but the vacuum pump that leads to the failure of the braking system. Doesn't seem like tha car has lasted that long.. 

The car has lasted a long time.
It is just a specific part that has not lasted, but even that part was probably 7 years old when it failed.  How did the plastic part get smashed?

How many miles had the 7 yo car when you bought it?
How many more miles when the fault occurred 5 months after your purchase?

Mercedes is an expensive brand of car and comes with expensive running costs for parts and labour.
These just seem like consumable items that have failed.

Domdom1989 said:

I am asking from a consumer rights perspective 

From a consumer rights perspective, any expectations are measured against "reasonable" and what is reasonable for a 7 yo car is a lower standard than what is reasonable for a brand new car.

In exchange for that lower standard of "reasonable" you have saved in the cost paid.

Domdom1989 said:

Hi. 

I bought a 2015 Mercedes Benz C300 diesel hybrid from a car dealer in Birmingham on 05/09/2021. On 08/02/2022 the cars brakes stopped working properly and warning lights came up on the dash. The car went to a Mercedes independent specialist on 11/02/2022 and it was diagnosed that the vacuum pump system had failed (plastic part that had smashed) and needed replacing. This part cost £211 alone, and the labour was 5.6 hours totalling £420 (£631 altogether). It was also diagnosed that the starter battery was the problem for some of the fault codes I had recently seen, so this needed replacing too. The cost of this part was £213 and the labour was 1 hour at £75.

Along with the diagnostics cost and the addition of vat, the total cost was £1192.80.

The car dealer gave me 3 months RAC warranty, but as this had ended, I didn't use this or call them. I also didn't think to call the garage as I thought they would say I am out of warr, therefore not their problem. 

Now I have heard that because this car hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time after purchase, that the garage is liable for the cost. Could I please have some help in answering if this is true and what I should do now?

Thanks, 

Dominic 

Probably nothing you can do other than pay the bill and enjoy using the car.

Domdom1989

Thanks all for your messages/points. I can see what you're all saying. 

The part exploded according to the mechanic, so just failed and gave up.

The car was on 93k when I bought it and was at 99k when this failed. He did also think the part was original. 

I just thought I would ask, as I wasn't sure. 

TELLIT01

All mechanical parts can/will fail eventually.  Short of stripping the entire vehicle down to its individual nuts and bolts, there is no way to know their internal state.  That's why a 3 month warranty was provided. 

MarvinDay

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that as you didn't contact the seller before getting the work carried out, they were not given the option to perform the repairs and so even if it was the case that the faults were covered by your statutory rights, the seller may not have any liability.

If you had spoken to them and they agreed to fix the car, they may have decided to use second hand or reconditioned parts and their labour charges might have been far lower than the garage you opted to use.

Ath_Wat

MarvinDay said:

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that as you didn't contact the seller before getting the work carried out, they were not given the option to perform the repairs and so even if it was the case that the faults were covered by your statutory rights, the seller may not have any liability.

If you had spoken to them and they agreed to fix the car, they may have decided to use second hand or reconditioned parts and their labour charges might have been far lower than the garage you opted to use.

I doubt the OP has missed out as I'd have thought the likelihood of anyone offering to fix a single part failure on a six year old, 90,000 mile  car after the buyer has driven it for an extra five months and 6,000 miles are pretty slim.