Car repair through warranty did not work, how do I get them to fix the issue

f.castle

Hello,

I bought a 4.5year old used Honda civic in January 2023 on finance from a second hand car dealer (Not Honda), which came with a 3rd party 3 month warranty. 6 weeks in I changed my finance provider as I found a better rate.
In month 3 (April), there was an issue so I told the car dealer. The car dealer told me to use their warranty provider and the dealer would reimburse me any costs outside of the warranty for the issue. I took it via the warranty company to Honda to diagnose and repair a so called faulty wheel speed sensor. The issue was all my warning lights would come up (apart from the engine light), so abs, steering, tyre pressure monitor, a few others, and the lane assist and cruise control were disabled wit the steering going very light too.

I paid for the £155 diagnosis and £280 repair from Honda main dealer, which I could claim most through the warranty company. I paid Honda with my credit card, and sent the receipt to the warranty company who reimbursed me minus an excess. The dealer then reimbursed anything else that would have caused me to be out of pocket such as the excess and labour above the warranty rate.

Now the same issues have come back.

Clearly the repair did not work, but I am out of the 3 month warranty now, it is month 4.

What do I do? Do I say the repair was not satisfactory and I should not have to pay for another diagnosis and fix?

I gave them one chance to fix the issue.

thanks,

Alderbank

You don't say, but can we assume, that the trader you bought the car from is not the Honda dealer who did the warranty work?

When you bought the car in January how did you pay?

What outcome would you like? Do you want to return the car (less a deduction for 3months use) or do you like it and want it fixed?

f.castle

Alderbank said:

You don't say, but can we assume, that the trader you bought the car from is not the Honda dealer who did the warranty work?

When you bought the car in January how did you pay?

What outcome would you like? Do you want to return the car (less a deduction for 3months use) or do you like it and want it fixed?

I'll edit my post for clarity. You are right, the original trader was not Honda. They offered a warranty through a 3rd party company, and when I raised the issue with the dealer they said go through the warranty as that is their repairer and I have it in writing that the dealer told me to do this. 

I bought the car on Finance, and switched to a different finance provider 6 weeks in as I found a significantly better rate.

Ideally, I want it fixed, though I am not opposed to returning it less 3 month deduction.

Could I say, lets try fix it one more time and if not, I can return it?

How does one go about valueing fair deduction assuming cosmetically there is no damage.

tightauldgit

First thing obviously would be to go back to the dealer that sold you the car and see what they say. If it's definitely the same fault then yes it looks like the repair hasn't worked. But obviously nobody would know for sure if its the same fault until they look at it and diagnose the fault.

If they've had their one chance to repair then you are within your rights now to reject the car and ask for a refund less a deduction for your usage. 

macman

As above. You are still within the 6 month limit for rejection under CRA 2015, and the dealer has has their one chance to repair the defect.  So, if it's the same fault, then you can now invoke your right to reject outright, subject to a reasonable deduction for the use you've had from it.

f.castle

tightauldgit said:

First thing obviously would be to go back to the dealer that sold you the car and see what they say. If it's definitely the same fault then yes it looks like the repair hasn't worked. But obviously nobody would know for sure if its the same fault until they look at it and diagnose the fault.

If they've had their one chance to repair then you are within your rights now to reject the car and ask for a refund less a deduction for your usage. 

macman said:

As above. You are still within the 6 month limit for rejection under CRA 2015, and the dealer has has their one chance to repair the defect.  So, if it's the same fault, then you can now invoke your right to reject outright, subject to a reasonable deduction for the use you've had from it.

My priority would be to get it fixed and keep it. My worry is this is a never ending nagging issue. 
I will contact the dealer and explain what has happened, and am taking the car to Honda again to try fix it (they said they would look at it at zero cost to me this time). 
However, if the issue comes back / they say it was something else (so basically misdiagnosis), as I am sure I did not do anything to create a new issue, then I would ask to reject the car.

I take it the dealer will be annoyed and try to persuade me to keep the car? Is this a challenging process to amicably agree a return of a car with a finance agreement and fair usage deduction? 

Alderbank

OP, you are overthinking this.

Any cars can break down, and they all do sooner or later, but Honda are always high up in the reliability charts. You are unlucky; I had a Honda for many years without the slightest concern.

You can return it after one failed repair but you can accept further repairs then still reject if it has not been fixed. You don't forfeit that right.

It is true that dealers hate having cars returned. It is expensive for them.
I would see that more positively than you - they might be privately annoyed but they will try to sweet-talk you into keeping it. Once it's fixed see if they will extend that warranty to 6 months or even a year.