Used car expensive breakdown whilst on finance Dacia

churchek

Hi All. I am looking for some advice please as I have been given a few different options. My partner purchased a vehicle back in Sep 22, due to his circumstances at the time he bought the used car on finance. In April 2024, the car broke down due to gearbox failure and had to be towed to a garage. In the meantime my partner spoke to the Renault dealership where he had purchased the vehicle (it is a Dacia Duster) and they advised that they could not assist unless he agreed to pay nearly 1k as the car needed to be taken apart for them to see what had happened. They advised my partner would be liable for these costs and then when we ran through what the costs could potentially be if also the clutch and flywheel were also gone, it could go up to nearly 7k in costs. The dealership said they would be the ones to decide if this was an issue with the car or driver error and would then decide if they would make a partial payment towards the cost.
This was a huge cost, we had no guarantee that they would pay anything as the car is out of warranty. He has only had the car around a year and a half.
We argued this with them and they would not back down saying they would not even look at the car unless we paid the 1k upfront. We also spoke to the finance company in the meantime, citizens advice (where we spoke about the consumer rights act 2015) and also the main Renault customer service.
Bottom line is after weeks of nothing happening and speaking constantly to the dealership, we eventually had to get the car fixed as my partner was borrowing someone elses car to get to and from work and we couldn't hold out any longer. The garage who were looking after the car for us found someone who could recondition the gearbox for us and they did so for thousands less than we could have ended up paying out, as we would have had to pay the 1k for someone even just to look at it! The garage were the ones who were shocked that a 2019 plated car that had done 50k miles had a faulty gearbox. After I googled it, it seems that this could be a Dacia Duster common issue.
So I spoke to Renault customer service, I told them we would have to get the work done elsewhere as we could not risk the extremely high costs they had quoted. They basically told me they would not assist unless we took the car in, and we went round in circles.
I am now looking to try and claim back some of the money which we have had to pay out, I have a report from the garage with the bill and they have stated on there that it is unusual to see this on a car of this age and mileage. I also have the report from the place that reconditioned the engine, plus numerous letters and emails from the finance company and Renault. Where is the best place to go to? On Money Saving Expert it states resolver, I have been advised of the Motor Ombudsman and also Citizens Advice. We do not want to speak to the customer service team again, as I said we have all the documentation for months but did not get anywhere. 
Any help would be so gratefully received.
Many Thanks
Kate

born_again

Has the car been serviced in line with Dacia recommended schedule?

Dacia only have a 3 year warranty, unless you extended it?

So @ 5 years old car, going to a main dealer is going to charge to strip car down to see what the issue is. They will not spend hours stripping a car down at no cost, for you to turn round & say no.
That is the norm for any dealer. Even if in warranty. Although if it turns out to be a warranty claim, that would be refunded.

Now you have gone elsewhere you have made life very hard to fight them. Did the garage that did the work give a report on the problem? or just swap the box over & send it off as a exchange. If the latter then you really have no case, as you have no proof.

Reported as in wrong section.

churchek

Thank you for the response. I can confirm that the car was bought used in 2022 (reg in 2019) yes literally serviced by the dealership in Feb 2024 and breakdown in Apr 2024. Car had one year warranty from the time of purchase, we were nearly 6 months over.

I understand that, we spent months mulling it over. But the 1k just to diagnose the issue was nearly a third of the whole repair which we ended up paying for! And they kept stating that as it was not under warranty, they were not likely to help with the costs of repair.

Yes I have a report from the garage and a report from the people who refurbished the gearbox and stated what the issue was. 

We did the best we could without paying out 1k for nothing, to then have to take it to another garage anyway as the dealership prices were so high at over 7k.

churchek

@born_again

Hoenir

churchek said:

We did the best we could without paying out 1k for nothing, to then have to take it to another garage anyway as the dealership prices were so high at over 7k.

That's your choice as a consumer. Main dealerships have always been more expensive than other garages etc. Why when cars are out of warranty people chose the cheaper option to maintain their vehicles. Mechanical things break. Unfortunately that's life. 

churchek

Could someone please let me know how to move this to the motoring board, I have tried to edit but it is not allowing me to move.

BikingBud

churchek said:

Could someone please let me know how to move this to the motoring board, I have tried to edit but it is not allowing me to move.

I have suggested it via the report flag.

born_again

churchek said:

@born_again

I reported to team to move to correct forum 👍
Hopefully they will do it today.