Engine Failure on PCP

shiraz99

l_maz95 said:

shiraz99 said:

l_maz95 said:

My bf's car is 3 years into a PCP contract and has now sustained extensive damage to the engine which is going to cost upwards of £4k. The car has only done 30k miles on the clock, 5 years old, only used to travel to work in the area every day when it has all of a sudden broken down due to something with the engine, we have been told this is a common thing with this car type. It has been to 3 garages who have said it is not worth being repaired as it is going to be so expensive. The car is no longer under any warranty, Honda have said they will contribute 1k to repair costs as a gesture of goodwill but that is it. Insurance will not cover this type of damage. We have been advised to not drive the car as it is not safe to do so as at some point the engine will completely fail. Can anyone please help with what options are available to us, we can't afford a repair over £3k for a PCP car

Car's breaking down and requiring new engines, whilst can happen, is certainly not a "common thing". You mention Honda, what model is it and what exactly was the fault?

You do have your statutory consumer rights, under the Consumer Rights Act (2015) but you would need to prove that any fault was present when you took delivery of the car. The other complication is that it's a PCP so your bf will need to work with the finance provider to get any sort of remedy.

It is a 67 plate Honda civic there is a timing issue with the engine

Has the timing chain broke?

shiraz99

Your argument here would be that a timing chain/belt failing on a 30K mile car is way below what is reasonable given that the replacement interval is around 100K miles. I would push your consumer rights with the dealer on that basis and stating that you shouldn't be required to pay anything toward the repair and if they insist you will take them to the small claims court. A car, regularly serviced and only driven around 30K miles suggests this is down to an inherent manufacture issue rather than something you've done or excess wear and tear.

daveyjp

Knowing a few more facts I would push this far harder with Honda.  Get evidence of others having similar problems,  Honda owners club site can be usedul

It is unacceptable for a chain to cause issues after such a short time on a maintained vehicle.

chrisw

I agree, get back on to Honda UK, preferably with the support of your dealer and particularly if it has a full service history, even better if it's a Honda history.

Although not in any way a legal admission, goodwill suggests they recognise it is a known issue and this is supported by the recall and service bulletins in the US. The Uk forums are a good idea as you would expect similar failures to the US despite no formal recall.

Flight3287462

Is this not the finance company's problem assuming the OP has followed all servicing procedures etc?

Herzlos

What's the car worth in running order?

Is the £3k quote with or without the £1k good will?

Your best bet is almost certainly to just fork out and get the repair done, then either keep using the car or sell it on for something else. You can always get Honda to fix it, pay and then try to claim it back through small claims court if you feel it's a defect that should be covered by them.

shiraz99

chrisw said:

I agree, get back on to Honda UK, preferably with the support of your dealer and particularly if it has a full service history, even better if it's a Honda history.

Although not in any way a legal admission, goodwill suggests they recognise it is a known issue and this is supported by the recall and service bulletins in the US. The Uk forums are a good idea as you would expect similar failures to the US despite no formal recall.

The only issue with that is the OP doesn't have a contract with Honda so anything he hopes to get from them is purely goodwill. His rights are with the dealer at the end of day and it's them that he needs to put pressure on.

shiraz99

Herzlos said:

What's the car worth in running order?

Is the £3k quote with or without the £1k good will?

Your best bet is almost certainly to just fork out and get the repair done, then either keep using the car or sell it on for something else. You can always get Honda to fix it, pay and then try to claim it back through small claims court if you feel it's a defect that should be covered by them.

I would say their best bet is to fully exercise their statutory consumer rights.

DrEskimo

Flight3287462 said:

Is this not the finance company's problem assuming the OP has followed all servicing procedures etc?

No, it's the OP's responsibility. Just because the car is regularly serviced doesn't mean faults don't arise, and the finance company are not liable to pay for any of those repairs.

It's the risk you run with having a car out of warranty. This is irrespective of finance or not.

Grumpy_chap

l_maz95 said:

damage to the engine which is going to cost upwards of £4k. The car has only done 30k miles on the clock, 5 years old

It has been to 3 garages who have said it is not worth being repaired as it is going to be so expensive.

Honda have said they will contribute 1k to repair costs as a gesture of goodwill but that is it. we can't afford a repair over £3k for a PCP car

I won't disagree with others that it is worth pursuing Honda for more support.  That may not be successful.

I am not sure on the comments about pursuing consumer rights.  To prove a fault "present or developing" at the time of sale 3 years ago would be difficult.  Any claim on those lines would also require a demonstration that nothing done while the car was owned by the OP's BF contributed to the premature failure.  

SO, this might come down to getting the best price to repair the car.  Who gave the £4k quote?  If that was Honda, what is the quote from local independents?  What is the quote from engine specialists?  A new (replacement / reconditioned) engine might be somewhat less than £4k (even after Honda made the £1k contribution).

The comments about "not worth repairing" don't make sense - a 67 plate Civic is worth much more than £4k