Electric Hybrib Car lease

wilkesy1979

Hi All, 

Just wanted to ask about the issues on my car that i currently lease. I have a hybrid car and its just coming towards the end of its 4 year lease. I dont have an option to buy the car so its going back in December. Recently i had a letter come through saying that there was an urgent recall and i need to contact my garage asap. I was then told that there has been an issue detected with the batteries following on from a previous recall in which sensors were changed on the batteries. It has been mentioned that the batteries are faulty and need to be replaced ASAP. 

Am i entitled to go to my leasing company and question whether the car was fit for purpose or whether i have been leasing a faulty car for the past 4 years? 

Appreciate your help

Paul

WellKnownSid

What was the impact on the car? Was it undriveable? Multiple breakdowns? Were you given a courtesy car when the car broke down?

born_again

wilkesy1979 said:

Hi All, 

Just wanted to ask about the issues on my car that i currently lease. I have a hybrid car and its just coming towards the end of its 4 year lease. I dont have an option to buy the car so its going back in December. Recently i had a letter come through saying that there was an urgent recall and i need to contact my garage asap. I was then told that there has been an issue detected with the batteries following on from a previous recall in which sensors were changed on the batteries. It has been mentioned that the batteries are faulty and need to be replaced ASAP. 

Am i entitled to go to my leasing company and question whether the car was fit for purpose or whether i have been leasing a faulty car for the past 4 years? 

Appreciate your help

Paul

Well it will give the lease staff a good laugh..

Has it done what you expected a car to do in the nearly 4 years you have had it?

In reality no. 

wilkesy1979

WellKnownSid said:

What was the impact on the car? Was it undriveable? Multiple breakdowns? Were you given a courtesy car when the car broke down?

None of the above. The car has never charged to anywhere near the estimated mileage. I would always get 26-28 miles of the batteries on a good day in the summer, down to 13-15 miles in the winter, where as the manufacturer stated 38 miles. So i only ever really got between 60-70% of the manufactures stated battery mileage. I was always told that this was due to 'Other Factors' but I'm beginning to wonder. 

Keep_pedalling

Maximum range advertised my manufacturers are rarely achieved in real works driving ant there are many factors effecting it. It is particularly inaccurate in hybrids because they are equipped with small batteries and they rarely get up to optimum condition due to the small distance covered. 

Car_54

OP, cars develop faults every day, and the manufacturer or dealer fixes them free of charge, either under warranty or as goodwill.

Are you seriously suggesting that none of those cars were fit for purpose? Or is yours somehow different?

MeteredOut

Personally, I'd be embarrassed to even ask, but please let us know how you get on.

wilkesy1979

Car_54 said:

OP, cars develop faults every day, and the manufacturer or dealer fixes them free of charge, either under warranty or as goodwill.

Are you seriously suggesting that none of those cars were fit for purpose? Or is yours somehow different?

Its the difference between developing faults and having a fault from brand new? If something breaks and goes wrong then yes i would just accept the repair but curious as to whether the batteries have been faulty/incorrect from the start which means i have been paying fro something that hasnt worked properly from day one. 

MattMattMattUK

wilkesy1979 said:

Car_54 said:

OP, cars develop faults every day, and the manufacturer or dealer fixes them free of charge, either under warranty or as goodwill.

Are you seriously suggesting that none of those cars were fit for purpose? Or is yours somehow different?

Its the difference between developing faults and having a fault from brand new? If something breaks and goes wrong then yes i would just accept the repair but curious as to whether the batteries have been faulty/incorrect from the start which means i have been paying fro something that hasnt worked properly from day one. 

How much money are you after?

Mildly_Miffed

wilkesy1979 said:

WellKnownSid said:

What was the impact on the car? Was it undriveable? Multiple breakdowns? Were you given a courtesy car when the car broke down?

None of the above. The car has never charged to anywhere near the estimated mileage. I would always get 26-28 miles of the batteries on a good day in the summer, down to 13-15 miles in the winter, where as the manufacturer stated 38 miles. So i only ever really got between 60-70% of the manufactures stated battery mileage. I was always told that this was due to 'Other Factors' but I'm beginning to wonder. 

It's illegal for anybody to give range figures other than the official ones - which are generated using the same NEDC cycle as fuel economy figures from petrol and diesel cars.

Nobody drives that exact cycle, of course. So different people's figures can vary widely. My diesel 4x4 gets ~35mpg at most if I use it locally - short journeys, low speeds, steep hills, lots of acceleration and deceleration. But if I use it on a long motorway run, 50mpg is fairly easy.

Same for hybrid range.

But what's your actual complaint? They've identified a problem, and are recalling the car to fix it.
Are you even experiencing the fault identified? What car are you talking about?

You want four year's worth of payments back? Not going to happen.
Even if there was grounds for return due to problems, you'd still have to make a contribution based on a fair rate for the use you've had from the car.

Bigphil1474

OP, I'd ask them. I think you make a fair point. If the manufacturers are saying there's a battery fault from manufacture, and you raised a query about what you thought was a fault with the battery but were fobbed off, then you haven't really got what you paid for. Some form of financial recompense could be due, although obviously only a small proportion of what you've paid out as you have enjoyed the majority of the use of the vehicle. If the lease company contact the manufacturers, there may be something that can be sorted.