Blown Engine for Lease car post warranty

imranladha

Hi, 
I have lease car which is now in its 5th year. I have just started renting the car (monthly) as the prolonged lease period is over through the lease company (Gateway 2 Lease). I was driving on good Friday and the engine stopped working and the car came to a stand still. The car has done 50,000 miles. i had it towed and was told by a mechanic that the engine has completely blown and i need a replacement. this will cost me £15,000 upwards. The lease company will not pay and said its manufacturers problem and the manufacturer is refusing to pay. This is not covered by general insurance. I don't have £15,000 to pay for the engine. I need help to understand who can pay for this as i'm still renting the car and should not have to pay for this. 
Thanks

born_again

Which brand?
As very few give more than a 3 year warranty.
Who pays for servicing of the car? has it all been done on time as per Manufactures specs?

LightFlare

wouldn't happen to be a 320d BMW would it ?

cymruchris

imranladha said:

Hi, 
I have lease car which is now in its 5th year. I have just started renting the car (monthly) as the prolonged lease period is over through the lease company (Gateway 2 Lease). I was driving on good Friday and the engine stopped working and the car came to a stand still. The car has done 50,000 miles. i had it towed and was told by a mechanic that the engine has completely blown and i need a replacement. this will cost me £15,000 upwards. The lease company will not pay and said its manufacturers problem and the manufacturer is refusing to pay. This is not covered by general insurance. I don't have £15,000 to pay for the engine. I need help to understand who can pay for this as i'm still renting the car and should not have to pay for this. 
Thanks

It depends what it says in your rental agreement in terms of maintenance and repairing broken things. It might also depend on how well you've kept to the service schedule. We'd need more detail to know best next steps.

The mechanic that told you it was completely blown - was it a dealer? a high end specialist? Or a local one man band operation?

You'd probably need to know more than 'the engine is blown' - for example has the timing belt snapped? There must be an underlying cause, and then see if the model of vehicle you have is 'known' for that specific problem. It may be that if the problem is common, you may be able to get a manufacturer contribution to the repair - but again without knowing a bit more detail it's hard to say.

Some 'problems' can be repaired by specialists at far less than the cost of a new engine.

motorguy

Leasing a car thats outside of manufacturers warranty is known to be problematic, for the very reasons you're finding.

It is a rental though, so not sure what happens there - assuming you've had it serviced to the manufacturers schedule.

Tricky one.

I'd be very surprised if the "actual" cost of repair was anywhere near that mind you.  A £15K new engine could easily be a £2K used one and £1000 fitting.

Lavendyr

Also bear in mind Gateway2Lease is a broker/agent and not who your lease contract is with. I know this as I have a lease contract brokered through Gateway2Lease and my lease contract is with a different company linked to the car manufacturer. So you really need to be speaking to the company with whom you have the lease contract. 

Did you take the car to the appropriate dealership as is required under the contract terms, and have you had it serviced as required under the lease contract terms?

flashg67

Only really to confirm comments already made - 

- Presuming you didn't take out inclusive maintenance on the lease, then it's pretty likely your problem to sort.
- If you have a full dealer history, ask a dealer to request goodwill from the manufacturer, although 5 years may be pushing it, depending on the manufacturer.
- Once you've confirmed the engine is unrepairable, and there's no goodwill, then find a used or remanufactured engine. Leasing companies do this on their maintained fleet so it's not an issue, but you'll still be in for big bill
- If it is a known issue, then you can try a complaint with the lease company (the finance provider detailed in your documents, not the broker)