Garage and warranty company won’t pay for repairs!

Pengu72

Car purchased June 2022. Part ex and bank transfer. Total cost £10,000.

Six month free warranty given from garage when car purchased. 

Problem developed with car within 3 weeks of ownership. DPF (diesel particulate filter) warning light came on. Car returned to garage and returned as having the DPF cleared. DPF warning light continued to come on. Told by the garage to drive the car a certain way to clear the filter and told that this would need doing approx. twice a week. Car taken to a different garage that was registered with warranty company and numerous checks/tests over two/three months carried out. Final result being that the DPF filter needs replacing and not to drive the car in the meantime. Car had also developed a further fault. Garage and warranty company in regular contact over this 2/3 month period and warranty company fully aware of fault. Mid December 2022 warranty company informed us that they will not pay cost of repairs as it’s classed as wear and tear. 

As per advice from Citizens Advice Bureau, letter before court claim sent to garage 09/01/2023 as no reply from letter sent 21/12/22. Letters sent by registered delivery. 

Does anyone know if we would be entitled to consequential losses due to having to hire a car?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!!

Aylesbury_Duck

You have a duty to minimise your losses, so you'd have to show that you only hired a car because and when it was strictly necessary.  Keep records of this.

I can see why the warranty company is disputing it, because a DPF could be considered a wear item.  Does your driving pattern conform to the requirements of the DPF cycle, for example?  A lot of local tootling about in a diesel with a DPF will not take the filter through its cleaning cycle.  The warranty company's argument will be that your driving style/pattern has caused the DPF to fail and therefore isn't covered.  At least you've started the formal process to possibly take it court, so await their response and pursue the claim if needs be.

What's the cost of replacing the DPF?  It would be daft to run up hundreds of pounds of car hire charges if replacement of the filter costs less.  You could still dispute the cost without running up further consequential losses.

DullGreyGuy

Pengu72 said:

Does anyone know if we would be entitled to consequential losses due to having to hire a car?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!!

So you accept its not covered by the warranty and is a CRA issue with the garage?

Isnt the DPF a consumable? Certainly looking at a few warranty companies they all exclude the DPF from cover. 

At the end of the day you can have your day in court, the CRA does allow you to add on direct consequential losses but you have the standard duty to mitigate your losses so may have to explain the need for the chosen hire car rather than getting a courtesy car from the repairer etc.

You'll need to show it was unreasonable for a consumable part like a DPF to be so close to end of life at point of sale and that you havent caused its demise. It ultimately was a secondhand car and inevitably consumables will have been part worn... obviously for tyres thats easy to judge but lightbulbs or DPFs is difficult for anyone to. 

born_again

Which car & mileage?
How many miles do you do?

Pengu72

It’s a VW Tiguan that’s done 55k. The warranty company and level of cover does mean we were covered, they were fully aware of what the problem was and at the last minute they declined the repair costs. Citizens advice have said it’s an issue with the garage. Sent the recommended letters and have had no reply. Next stage would be to take garage to small claims court. In the meantime we still don’t have a car and court costs won’t be refunded due to being under 10k. 

The situation is causing a great deal of stress and my already fragile mental health is affected. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Pengu72 said:

It’s a VW Tiguan that’s done 55k. The warranty company and level of cover does mean we were covered, they were fully aware of what the problem was and at the last minute they declined the repair costs. Citizens advice have said it’s an issue with the garage. Sent the recommended letters and have had no reply. Next stage would be to take garage to small claims court. In the meantime we still don’t have a car and court costs won’t be refunded due to being under 10k. 

The situation is causing a great deal of stress and my already fragile mental health is affected. 

Why don't you pay to have the DPF replaced so you can use the car?  It doesn't stop you pursuing the claim.

DullGreyGuy

Pengu72 said:
In the meantime we still don’t have a car and court costs won’t be refunded due to being under 10k. 

The situation is causing a great deal of stress and my already fragile mental health is affected. 

Why dont you have a car? Is not a long repair and its the part that costs the money not labour

Court costs can be included in small track cases, its lawyer fees that can't. 

km1500

agreed - get the DPF fixed

Then you have a car, and also will know the amount of money to ask for

DPFs, like batteries, are replaced all the time it's not a big deal.

You certainly won't be able to claim consequential.loss eg car hire for something as easily fixed as a DPF - the judge will simply ask why you didn't replace it and claim from the garage.

Or even clean it ..

https://dpfcleanteam.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIv-m8sL_W_AIVAtTtCh24Vgp2EAAYAiAAEgJiuvD_BwE

Alderbank

DullGreyGuy said:

Pengu72 said:
In the meantime we still don’t have a car and court costs won’t be refunded due to being under 10k. 

The situation is causing a great deal of stress and my already fragile mental health is affected. 

Why dont you have a car? Is not a long repair and its the part that costs the money not labour

The OP also said, 'Car had also developed a further fault.'
Perhaps this further fault is preventing the car from being driven?

I agree this further fault should not prevent the DPF from being replaced. The part costs about £700 for a Tiguan.

55k miles is on the low side but quite feasible for a car that has done short journeys or if a low ash oil has not been regularly used.

macman

What is your annual mileage, and what sort of journeys do you do? Lots of short run low-speed local trips will quickly clog a DPF if you don't do some regular motorway/high speed runs as well. The garage told you this-did you comply?
You may have bought an unsuitable vehicle for your type of driving usage if it's clogged within 3 weeks of purchase.
You can forget about the insurance-based warranties, they invariably have so many exclusions as to make them worthless. They are simply a marketing ploy.

Ectophile

The six month warranty is worth what you paid for it.  These warranties are intended never to pay out on anything.  Everything is either wear-and-tear or a pre-existing fault not covered by the warranty.

Garages offer them to distract you from your consumer rights against the garage.  All the time you spend fighting against the warranty company is time you're not spending hassling the garage, who are the ones legally responsible.