Car fire after buying from used garage

ALCHROSS

Hi. After some advice. My son bought a used car from garage less than 3 months ago. It went back as water pump had packed up and they fitted recon engine. Had it back month, and car set on fire when driving with his gf and kids in car. Fortunately they got out in time. Fire crew report says electrical or engine fault. Is garage responsible as only had it back a month. ?

tacpot12

Was the engine sold to him with any kind of warranty? Often reconditioned engines will come with a short warranty, perhaps one or three months. He might be able to make a claim under this warranty, but I would expect that the warranty would only cover the cost of the engine. (The warranty almost certainly excludes consequential losses). 

Does he have a copy of the fire crew report?

Does he own his own home? If he does, he might have Home Insurance, and so might have legal expenses cover. With legal expenses cover he might have a legal helpline he can call to advise him. He might also have legal expenses cover on his motor insurance policy.

BTW: Garages don't normally fit reconditioned engines when a water pump needs replacing. They would only do this if the old engine was damaged when taking the old water pump out. While this seems unlikely, it doesn't seem to have any bearing on whether the garage is liable for his losses.  

ALCHROSS

Thank you for response. He has copy from fire crew that states suspected electrical /engine fire.  He does have legal cover on insurance, he's phoning them tomorrow. He bought the car, problems as heater blowing cold and engine shaking. They reported water pump had packed up, they identified more probs when doing it and replaced engine with reconditioned one. He bought the car end November, he got it back after work end December. They said months engine warranty. But now they're saying it's down to insurance. 🫣🥺. 

ALCHROSS

There words were it's an accident. Don't know what planet he's on, but that was no accident. He didn't hit anything. Smoke filled car. They pulled over as saw flames through floor. Got kids out and it just took over with flames. Complete rite off. 🫣

Alderbank

His motor policy covers the vehicle for fire and theft so we assume he has informed his insurers and started a claim on the policy?
He should leave it to them to investigate and decide whether they want to offset part of the claim against the garage or any other insurance in place. I suspect they will not bother.

The main thing is that everybody is safe.

mgfvvc

tacpot12 said:

... he might have Home Insurance, and so might have legal expenses cover.

Legal expenses cover on a home policy would typically exclude motoring related issues. If he has legal expenses with his motor cover, or a separate motor legal policy, that would apply.

ALCHROSS

mgfvvc said:

tacpot12 said:

... he might have Home Insurance, and so might have legal expenses cover.

Legal expenses cover on a home policy would typically exclude motoring related issues. If he has legal expenses with his motor cover, or a separate motor legal policy, that would apply.

He does have legal cover on the car. Thank u guys for help. He will get onto them today.   It sickens me, car under warranty until end January, bought car less than 3 months ago, had it back 3 weeks ago. contacting citizens advice as looking into "sale of goods act". He's going to be way out pocket as premiums now going to sky rocket. 

facade

ALCHROSS said:

Hi. After some advice. My son bought a used car from garage less than 3 months ago. It went back as water pump had packed up and they fitted recon engine. Had it back month, and car set on fire when driving with his gf and kids in car. Fortunately they got out in time. Fire crew report says electrical or engine fault. Is garage responsible as only had it back a month. ?

The garage are liable if you can prove that the fire was because of something that they did wrong.

"electrical or engine fault" is not proof of that. (I could have written that based on "saw flames through floor", but I'd suggest more likely electrical unless the car has huge holes in the floor to see the engine) You want a report that says exactly what caused it, and it is something the garage did, along the lines of "fire caused by fuel line detaching as clip missing", and the garage worked on the fuel line.

There was a time that Vauxhalls used to set on fire a lot ultimately because of a design problem with rainwater draining into the heater motor, you rarely hear of it now, so either they have all burnt out or they have been fixed.

It could be a warranty issue as it must have been a fault with the car if it wasn't down to negligence by the garage.

The fault could have existed at the time of sale (e.g. the Vauxhalls had a water seized heater motor and a third party speed controller fitted as a replacement)

Read the warranty T&Cs to see what is covered.

The best option may be to claim on the insurance, and let them try and recover their outlay from the garage.

BTW, what car was it?

Keep_pedalling

It is going to be impossible to prove the garage were negligent so there is little he can do other than claim on his insurance. 

HillStreetBlues

Technically you can return the car as within 6 months  (like any other faulty item), and up to the garage to show you caused the fault.
It's the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as that superseded Sales of Goods Act.

mexican_dave

I agree this is a consumer issue see: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/buying-and-running-a-car/your-rights-if-something-is-wrong-with-your-car#:~:text=The Act states the car,of purchase in most cases.