Car Purchase Issue

ayers

Hello,

Can you help? I purchased a car from a well known car supermarket company on Friday the 16th of February. While I was driving home from purchasing it, I got two warning alerts: Front assistant sensor impaired (yellow/orange central warning light) and Fault in the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.

I got in touch with the After Sales team and they have offered to have my car checked out. However, their earliest next appointment is the 29th of May which is three months from now. The After Sales team have said I have the option of contacting the Warranty company (I took out a 12th month warranty policy at the time of the car purchase) to see if my car can be checked by them. However, they have stated that with this option, I will need to pay for a diagnosis charge. In normal circumstances, paying a diagnosis charge would be understandable but not in this situation in my opinion. 

I contacted the Warranty company through email cc'ing the After Sales team explaining the situation and asked if they could both come to some arrangement for me to get back the diagnosis charge due to the three month wait time. Unfortunately, the Warranty company simply stated that if they look at the car, I will need to pay the diagnosis charge.

It seems unfair that I have to pay the diagnosis charge but I understand that this is Warranty company's policy. Really, the company I purchased the car from should pay for the diagnosis as waiting three months is not an acceptable time frame.

Do I have any grounds or can I make a complaint to a recognised body?

Kind regards,

Grumpy_chap

These might be operator-addressable issues.

ayers said:

Front assistant sensor impaired (yellow/orange central warning light) 

Are the sensors clean?
Was it raining heavily / fog / spray?
Some sensors can also be "blinded" by sunlight or artificial light / oncoming headlamps.

ayers said:

Fault in the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.

Did anyone drive over a bump?  Kerb?  Pothole?
Has the tyre pressure been checked?  Tyres inflated?
Has the temperature changed since last reset?
Some TPMS systems are overly sensitive and require re-setting following such events.  There will be a reset process in the manual for the car.

born_again

Any diagnosis charge will be refunded if it's a warranty claim.
But do check the above, as if it is any of them. You will not get a refund.

sheramber

The tyre pressure light came on as I drove home. I just went to the fuel staton and inflated it to the correct pressure.

Veteransaver

Does "front assistant sensor" possibly refer to radar? Do the errors mention Radar being blocked or anything?
Radar could be damaged or out of alignment. If it is then it is arguably a safety issue if it isn't functioning correctly. Often errors only come on after a few miles of driving.

born_again

sheramber said:

The tyre pressure light came on as I drove home. I just went to the fuel staton and inflated it to the correct pressure.

Depending on the TPMS system.

Direct, which has a sensor in all the 4 valve/tyre & will require driving to reset, but often will need a bit over the required pressure to reset.
Indirect, which uses a sensor to measure wheel rotation. These have a reset switch, which will usually require holding in for a few seconds.
OP handbook will tell them which they have & how to reset.

Grumpy_chap

Veteransaver said:

Radar could be damaged or out of alignment. If it is then it is arguably a safety issue if it isn't functioning correctly. 

AIUI, such systems would not create a safety issue as any error would fail safe to simply say "adaptive cruise control not available"