CRA and refund (car)

HalloweenJack

Hi, so my son bought a car in may of 2022. The car developed a serious fault within 3 weeks (4th june) and was collected by the dealer for repair (against my advice but my son loves the car). The dealer took until the 8th july to repair and return the car. 29th october EML comes on, and a strong burnt diesel smell in the cabin was reported. It gets progressively worse until 23rd  november  (so another 3 weeks) when it went into a garage for fault diagnosis, with a ream of engine related faults. The finance company were contacted who sent their own mechanic who didnt find anything wrong and reset the ecu. The car is used for the next 5 weeks until the start of this year when it broke down. The car now doesnt even start and was recovered by the AA to a garage for inspection.  What can he do? Its broken down at least twice in 8 months, and he didnt even have it for 1 month of that time

Alderbank

Your timeline is good but you're a bit light on basic facts.

What is the make and model of car, and the age and mileage?
What was the 'serious fault' which was repaired in July?
What was the 'stream of engine-related faults' discovered by a garage which were not confirmed by the finance company?
Were any of those alleged faults fixed?
What is the fault this year which stopped the car starting?

How did he acquire the car - private sale, small garage, large dealership?
In addition to their statutory duties, many dealers give some kind of warranty. Anything like that?

Sorry about all the questions!

HalloweenJack

BMW 420D 2104 and about 100,000 miles with stamped service history

Serious engine fault was timing chain related, it `slipped` and the engine stopped . Car had to be recovered. Garage said they `repaired` the engine, but i suspect a different one was fitted instead; i asked my son to find the engine number, it doesnt match the log book engine number. Have asked him to try and find out from the finance company what work was actually done.

Engine faults found in October were EGR and DPF related and something about a central gateway module?

No the faults were wiped and not fixed, but came back immediately

The fault this year is being investigated, he was driving in town, and the dashboard lit up with `drivetrain error` and `engine error` and he stopped, put into park and now it wont start at all. Currently at a garage , dont have the latest report to hand.

Was bought from a dealer, they are not interested in talking to him.

born_again

Who is the finance co?

If dealer is not interested then it looks like a S75 via the finance co is the way forward. Make sure the issue of exchanged engine is raised to them.

HalloweenJack

motonovo is the finance company

macman

Was the car sold with any kind of dealer or insurance-based warranty? 100K on the clock and 9 years old (2014)?

born_again

HalloweenJack said:

motonovo is the finance company

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0010X00004JB1p4QAD

Going to have to push for S75 claim on them. Might have to complain if they keep pushing back.

HalloweenJack

Thank you.

There was no confirmation the engine was changed as my son was informed it was repaired, and he said he asked then for confirmation of the repair work (and transcripts of all calls made) but they rejected his request for the work done on the car.

HalloweenJack

So ive got an update, after finally chatting again with him ; he neglected to mention a few small details about the new failure, but clarified alot of other information.

The engine has seized.

The car was reported October 29th as running roughly with a burnt diesel smell, the finance company sent there own inspection, who put , in writing not to have an independent inspection!

The finance company sent an inspector 6 weeks later (12/12) , who said it ran roughly (and my mistake in the OP) he couldnt access the ECU with his equipment.

However he concluded that whilst faults were present, and it needed a full workshop inspection, it wasnt the libaility of the finance company.

HalloweenJack

And motonovo are now saying go to the Ombudsman not willing to talk.

born_again

Wonder if it has had a 2nd engine prior to purchase?