Help Broken lease car - no notification of safety recalls

greeny-babe

We are in a bit of a predicament with our car and could do with some advise.

 

Essentially we have a lease agreement with Hyundai Finance.   On the way back from our holiday in Easter, the engine seized leaving all four of us ( 2 small kids) on the M25 fast lane, with no hard shoulder extreme dangerous .

 

we got towed to the dealership.   On inputting our details on the system, whilst we had the car serviced, it was circa 2 months late the 2nd time which apparently, unbeknownst to us invalidates the warranty.   We have just been told today, despite the car being in the dealership for well over 6 weeks, that it will require a new engine at a cost of potentially £7k ☹️.

 

The only thing with this is that there were a number of recalls which were on the dealership’s system which had not been notified to us. One of them was the exact reason that the car failed I understand and was a safety recall. Hyundai finance are saying they are not the legal owners but we can’t be? We give it back next June. 

 

we don’t have the money to pay the bill.   The car is only 3 yrs old 

 

Any thoughts/help would be much appreciated.

Mildly_Miffed

Yes, failing to service the car on time will always void warranties. There's usually a little bit of leeway - but not two months.

The recall would have been notified to the registered keeper. Ownership isn't recorded anywhere. Do you have the logbook for the car in your name?

Have you checked at https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-recall or https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history to see if the recalls actually apply to your EXACT car? Not just model, but your VIN within the affected range.

What car, what recall, what caused the seizure? I'm not seeing anything within the last four years in the "all models" recall spreadsheet that covers engine seizure. Any recall predating the last service SHOULD have been dealt with at that service.

m0bov

If its a lease, it would go to the legal owner such as the leasing company. (if you don't pay the road tax and don't have log book).
The recalls should have been picked up in the service, but if its safety it should have been an immediate invite. When were the recalls made and should they have been done at its first service?

born_again

If Hyundai are like Kia (fully expect they are)
Recalls are only service advisories & will be done when car is taken for a service. A notifiable safety recall would be listed on Gov site listed above. Bet there are none. 

Exactly which Hyundai was this?

Mildly_Miffed

born_again said:

If Hyundai are like Kia (fully expect they are)
Recalls are only service advisories & will be done when car is taken for a service. A notifiable safety recall would be listed on Gov site listed above. Bet there are none. 

Every manufacturer and importer works in broadly the same way. Hyundai and Kia's UK importers are separate companies, despite the shared ownership of the two manufacturers and the commonality of the cars.

SAFETY recalls go through DVLA and are notified to registered keepers. There is, of course, no register of ownership.

Other recalls/technical bulletins/call-them-what-you-will are raised when cars go back into the dealer chain for servicing. Dealers may or may not notify whoever they have on record for the car.

Stateofart

Most companies stipulate servicing within 500 miles or a month of the due date.  Service after that and you're asking for trouble. Saying you didn't know, is the same as saying you didn't know to insure it, or MOT it.  Just because you haven't been personally told, doesn't mean it's not in the handbook.

flashg67

I suspect they're service bulletins/updates rather than official recalls. Do you know if the engine related one was issued/dated before your service, and therefore should have been actioned by the dealer at that service? That might be your only get out. As others have said, late servicing usually voids the warranty. Hyundai Tucson/Kia Sportage is it?