Car engine cap issue

Accalia16

Hoping someone can help as I’m rather clueless when it comes to cars!

I bought a Hyundai Tuscon from motorpoint back in Feb along with purchasing 1 year extra warranty.

I took it for a service & MOT last week and was told by the garage that he had to replace the engine cap as there was a Kia cap on the engine.

When collecting the car I was informed that someone had used duck tape around the engine cap to make it fit (as it obviously wasn’t the right cap for the car). Said duck tape had unravelled when taking the cap off and the garage couldn’t confirm whether any had made its way into the engine (picture attached). They had mentioned they could hear a slight knocking sound when revving the car.

I’m wondering what my rights are with this- I’m assuming either the car was sold to motorpoint like this and they didn’t do the proper checks, or their garage has done this to save costs/ cut corners.

Im wondering as I have the 1 year warranty if I’m in my rights to be able to return the car?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

tacpot12

The Warranty won't give you any rights to return the car. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 might give you rights, but you need to show that there is a fault and that it was present at the time the car was sold to you. I think Motorpoint might reasonably expect you to find out whether the engine is knocking or not. 

Do you have legal expenses insurance as part of your home insurance? If so, you have access to a legal expert who can help you figure out if the engine is damaged in a way that will allow you to take legal action against Motorpoint. 

I am inclined to ignore the cause of the knocking (if the tape is the cause, it will have melted in the oil and the oil's ability to lubricate the engine impared. The severity of the impairment will depend on how much tape was ingested. (If the cap was very ill fitting, it suggests more tape will have been necessary to make it fit)

If the engine is knocking, you need to show that this fault was present when you bought the car. You almost certainly can't do this, so you may have to rely on the warranty to get the engine repaired. Step 1 is to confirm if the engine is knocking.   

paul_c123

Duct tape around an engine oil cap is cosmetic (so long as it actually worked, more or less) and as such, you should have checked it before purchase.

Any duct tape that was unravelled and dropped into the engine is 100% the garage's issue, and they are the ones to pursue for any subsequent claim.

It is not Motorpoint's fault, they presented a car to you and you decided to buy it.

I suspect the engine knocking is an entirely different issue, for which you might want to start reading the warranty T&Cs

paul_c123

Accalia16 said:

 I’m assuming 

You had an opportunity to inspect the car. 

Mildly_Miffed

Kia and Hyundai are the same company, using the same engines.

Goudy

What engine is this?

The GDi engine can suffer some top end rattle/knock.
The HP fuel pump is ran off the camshaft and it's follower can wear down causing a noise.