Repeat Repair Under Warranty - Advice Needed

Initialr3

Evening all,

I'll try be as concise as possible. 

My mother bought a brand new 72 plate Dacia Duster (in 09/2022) from our local Dacia dealer in Scotland. The car was purchased outrite and was my mum's third Dacia from the same dealer. 

On the 27/07/2024 the car broke down in the outside lane of the M8 in traffic and had to be towed by Dacia Assistance to our local dealer. 

Our dealer had it for over a month and then gave it back apparently fixed. The issue follows the same pattern, engine management comes on with a "check injector" message. This starts intermittently and eventually goes on permanently. Then the car starts getting performance issues. The first time it completely stopped (as above), the other five it's kept functioning. 

Since the initial episode, the vehicle has been back at the same dealer on the following dates;

29/08/2024
13/11/2024
30/12/2024
13/01/2025

All for the same occuring issue. Each time the dealer has given it back and said 'its been road tested and works'. 

For the last three of five occasions, the dealer has had to go directly to Dacia for technical advice. I am in contact with Dacia customer services but they are all but useless. We've had some compensation from them - but not much. 

The issue has reoccurred again and it's due back in to the dealer again next week. (03/03/2025)

This will be the sixth time for the same issue. 

I am fully aware Dacia cannot take the car back - however my mum understandably doesn't want the car anymore. 

I'm looking to see if anyone knows what options my mum has - specifically what consumer rights she has. The dealer is keeping their cards close to their chest and not really giving us any options.

Happy to provide any further details. Thank you in advance. 

DrEskimo

Why not try another dealer?

Initialr3

I did consider this however as it's now with Dacia directly for technical advice I dont know what difference it would make. 

Plus it's a significantly longer journey to get to the next dealer. 

DrEskimo

My experience is that there is massive variation in dealers and competence dealing with issues. once it’s clear one dealer is poor communicators and struggle to fix the issue I no longer use them and try another. Did it with Audi and Renault. So far had good experience with local Tesla dealer. 

Appreciate it may be longer but may be worth a call with them to see if at least they are enthusiastic and willing to help you. Remember that it’s in their interest to win you over as you may start buying from them or using them for servicing, especially if they are from a different group. 

born_again

Initialr3 said:

Evening all,

I'll try be as concise as possible. 

My mother bought a brand new 72 plate Dacia Duster (in 09/2022) from our local Dacia dealer in Scotland. The car was purchased outrite and was my mum's third Dacia from the same dealer. 

On the 27/07/2024 the car broke down in the outside lane of the M8 in traffic and had to be towed by Dacia Assistance to our local dealer. 

Our dealer had it for over a month and then gave it back apparently fixed. The issue follows the same pattern, engine management comes on with a "check injector" message. This starts intermittently and eventually goes on permanently. Then the car starts getting performance issues. The first time it completely stopped (as above), the other five it's kept functioning. 

Since the initial episode, the vehicle has been back at the same dealer on the following dates;

29/08/2024
13/11/2024
30/12/2024
13/01/2025

All for the same occuring issue. Each time the dealer has given it back and said 'its been road tested and works'. 

For the last three of five occasions, the dealer has had to go directly to Dacia for technical advice. I am in contact with Dacia customer services but they are all but useless. We've had some compensation from them - but not much. 

The issue has reoccurred again and it's due back in to the dealer again next week. (03/03/2025)

This will be the sixth time for the same issue. 

I am fully aware Dacia cannot take the car back - however my mum understandably doesn't want the car anymore. 

I'm looking to see if anyone knows what options my mum has - specifically what consumer rights she has. The dealer is keeping their cards close to their chest and not really giving us any options.

Happy to provide any further details. Thank you in advance. 

As this happened after 6 months then you need a 3rd party independent report before you can go further.

While maybe not the answer you want, but would P/X the car for another be a quicker & easier option, although not with dealer it has been back to, unless they would be prepared to offer this as a way to keep your mum happy.

Mildly_Miffed

I'd be pushing the dealer for buy-back at a price that ignores the issues.

Do the franchise chain sell any other brands that she might be interested in?

Arunmor

born_again said:

Initialr3 said:

Evening all,

I'll try be as concise as possible. 

My mother bought a brand new 72 plate Dacia Duster (in 09/2022) from our local Dacia dealer in Scotland. The car was purchased outrite and was my mum's third Dacia from the same dealer. 

On the 27/07/2024 the car broke down in the outside lane of the M8 in traffic and had to be towed by Dacia Assistance to our local dealer. 

Our dealer had it for over a month and then gave it back apparently fixed. The issue follows the same pattern, engine management comes on with a "check injector" message. This starts intermittently and eventually goes on permanently. Then the car starts getting performance issues. The first time it completely stopped (as above), the other five it's kept functioning. 

Since the initial episode, the vehicle has been back at the same dealer on the following dates;

29/08/2024
13/11/2024
30/12/2024
13/01/2025

All for the same occuring issue. Each time the dealer has given it back and said 'its been road tested and works'. 

For the last three of five occasions, the dealer has had to go directly to Dacia for technical advice. I am in contact with Dacia customer services but they are all but useless. We've had some compensation from them - but not much. 

The issue has reoccurred again and it's due back in to the dealer again next week. (03/03/2025)

This will be the sixth time for the same issue. 

I am fully aware Dacia cannot take the car back - however my mum understandably doesn't want the car anymore. 

I'm looking to see if anyone knows what options my mum has - specifically what consumer rights she has. The dealer is keeping their cards close to their chest and not really giving us any options.

Happy to provide any further details. Thank you in advance. 

As this happened after 6 months then you need a 3rd party independent report before you can go further.

While maybe not the answer you want, but would P/X the car for another be a quicker & easier option, although not with dealer it has been back to, unless they would be prepared to offer this as a way to keep your mum happy.

Looks like it was still under manufacturers warranty when this issue started.

Initialr3

Evening all, apologies for the delay. I have written a rather large complaint to the dealer which went in this morning. I am going to go with my mother on Monday to speak to the service manager and sales manager to try reach an agreement. 

In response to some of the points raised (and thank you for them)

• The dealer is multi-brand and my mother is interested in one of the other brands which is good. 
• I agree a P/X would probably be the better option however I assume the dealer will try low-ball the offer based on the issue. 
• The vehicle is still under warranty until 09/2025.
• The other Dacia dealer is still an option, however I will give the current one a chance to respond to my email. 

I was also looking to see if anyone on the forum had any experience with the Motoring Ombudsman in issues like this? Thank you all again for your assistance. It is greatly appreciated. 

WellKnownSid

I would agree with getting a second opinion from another dealer.  Not all dealers have a master-tech qualified for this level of diagnostics, so perhaps phone around until you find out which site near you has one.

The trouble is the dealer will be following the repair instructions and Dacia won't want to pay to replace random parts if they can avoid it.  What you have is a pretty generic fault - but it also sounds intermittent enough that it probably goes away after some tinkering however the fix is never positively confirmed.  As you say - they've just road tested rather than actually replicating the problem, which is a bit wing and a prayer.

Your warranty is up to 09/2029 by the way, although this no use to you if you don't want to keep the car because it spends so much of its time at the dealership!  See if you can sweet talk them into some goodwill on the part-ex front.

born_again

Arunmor said:

born_again said:

Initialr3 said:

Evening all,

I'll try be as concise as possible. 

My mother bought a brand new 72 plate Dacia Duster (in 09/2022) from our local Dacia dealer in Scotland. The car was purchased outrite and was my mum's third Dacia from the same dealer. 

On the 27/07/2024 the car broke down in the outside lane of the M8 in traffic and had to be towed by Dacia Assistance to our local dealer. 

Our dealer had it for over a month and then gave it back apparently fixed. The issue follows the same pattern, engine management comes on with a "check injector" message. This starts intermittently and eventually goes on permanently. Then the car starts getting performance issues. The first time it completely stopped (as above), the other five it's kept functioning. 

Since the initial episode, the vehicle has been back at the same dealer on the following dates;

29/08/2024
13/11/2024
30/12/2024
13/01/2025

All for the same occuring issue. Each time the dealer has given it back and said 'its been road tested and works'. 

For the last three of five occasions, the dealer has had to go directly to Dacia for technical advice. I am in contact with Dacia customer services but they are all but useless. We've had some compensation from them - but not much. 

The issue has reoccurred again and it's due back in to the dealer again next week. (03/03/2025)

This will be the sixth time for the same issue. 

I am fully aware Dacia cannot take the car back - however my mum understandably doesn't want the car anymore. 

I'm looking to see if anyone knows what options my mum has - specifically what consumer rights she has. The dealer is keeping their cards close to their chest and not really giving us any options.

Happy to provide any further details. Thank you in advance. 

As this happened after 6 months then you need a 3rd party independent report before you can go further.

While maybe not the answer you want, but would P/X the car for another be a quicker & easier option, although not with dealer it has been back to, unless they would be prepared to offer this as a way to keep your mum happy.

Looks like it was still under manufacturers warranty when this issue started.

Warranty & consumer rights are 2 separate things. Warranty is over & above your consumer rights. So if Op wants to go down the consumer rights path. Then they need a independent report after 6 months.

In effect under warranty, they can keep repairing as long as they want.

Grey_Critic

I would be talking with the manufacturer if it was mine. I agree the quality of some dealers differs but any ongoing problems outside warranty can only be approved by the manufacturer