Car Finance

allyb15

My friend has car finance on a car that is in the garage and needs anywhere between £2000 (to get it roadworthy enough to sell) and £4500 to get all the problems fixed. She can’t really afford either of these options . Does anyone have any suggestions for how she can come out of this with something more than a car left sitting in the garage and approx £8k left on the finance? Thanks Ally

TadleyBaggie

What type of finance? 

Grumpy_chap

What age of car?
What is actually wrong with the car?

allyb15

The friend had credit issues and took out the finance on an expensive hp deal at 22% apr, 

the car is a 14 plate and it’s a one series diesel manual,

the timing belt has snapped and damaged the valves, and whilst taking the engine out it was also found that the fly wheel needs replacing along with the clutch,  

allyb15

She only bought the car in February this year 

TadleyBaggie

I was under the impression that there hadn't been a BMW engine produced in the 20+ years with a timing belt, pretty sure they all have timing chains which generally don't snap.

allyb15

Ok, but the belt has snapped, so that’s where she’s at…

Dave_5150

Is the car covered by any warranty?

allyb15

Nope, obviously that would have helped  

Ebe_Scrooge

When was the belt last changed, and when does the service schedule say it should be changed?  If it was close to being due for a change when she bought the car, she should have got the dealer to change it as part of the deal, or else get it done herself as a matter of priority.

Timing belts do need changing at the prescribed intervals - if this was not done, then I'd be mightily surprised if she has any recourse to either the dealer of the finance company.  Of course, if it was replaced and has snapped after just a few months/miles, that's a different matter - she'd have some recourse against whoever changed the belt.

The clutch is a wear & tear item, highly unlikely to be covered by any warranty.

Edited to add ... Which garage has given the quote for the repairs?  If it's a main dealer, they tend to charge very high labour rates.  Any decent independent mechanic should be able to do the repairs for a lot less.  A snapped cambelt and resultant valve damage is never going to be cheap, but it's worth asking a decent independent for a quote.

1931modela

Just to add some clarity, the BMW 1 Series has a timing chain which is at the back of the engine, it is not a serviceable item (chains are not replaced unlike cam belts)
However, this is a known problem on this engine, the chain would have been noisy for some time, then broke causing bent valves etc. The dual mass flywheels do wear as does the clutch, there are specialist out there that do these sorts of repairs but it still won't be cheap unfortunately