New Lease Car Problems

RafasPeggys

Hi all,

First time post to get some advice on a nightmare I am having with a new lease car. 

On 8th July 2025, I took delivery a new Nissan Qashqai, which was arranged via Lex Autolease and brokered by Carparison. 

I genuinely loved the car and was delighted with it, until 22nd July when I was on my way home from work and the clutch completely failed. 

I had only driven 240 miles in the car and my typical journeys were to drop my daughter off at school, go to work and then come home. All just regular city driving, with about 3 miles of motorway driving a day. 

The AA attended and recovered the vehicle. They provided the following breakdown report:


Clutch slave cylinder failed.

No signs of excessive wearing or smell of clutch being burnt.

Possible faulty component or not bled off correctly from factory. Recovery required.

The car has been with my local Nissan dealership since and I am in a stale mate. The dealership say they won't press ahead with the work required to diagnose the problem unless someone authorises the work. I am refusing to do so because I don't accept any liability for costs whatsoever. 

Nissan are saying it needs my authority to do the work to establish whether it is covered under warranty. I have raised my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, given the vehicle is less than 30 days old, but they ridiculously insist that Nissan cannot agree to cover the work.

I have also raised a complaint with Lex Autolease and registered a formal refusal of the vehicle, in line with my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I have given them the option of giving me a new car and continuing on the same lease terms, but they have been useless and not done anything. The dealership have told me they have spoken to the Lex Service Team, who have said they will not authorise the work because I don't have the maintenance package with them. 

I am now starting to question myself and whether it's me who is being unreasonable. The car was 2 weeks old and had less than 300 miles on it, I just don't see any scenario where any of the parties involved should treat this as a regular repair rather than a car which is faulty or not of satisfactory quality. It's a complete stalemate at the moment. I have also just cancelled by direct debit with Lex after serving them with written notice of the refusal and giving them time to act. 

Can anybody offer any advice on any other steps I could take on this? I am going mad. 

Cheers

 

visidigi

Firstly reinstate your DD. That only does one thing for you being cancelled and none of that is good.

Secondly, I do think you are being somewhat unreasonable - in the sense you can authorize the investigation work and then discuss it with all parties once the root cause is known. The problem with your current approach is that any potential goodwill from Nissan (should it be needed) is likely being destroyed by your refusal to authorize.

RafasPeggys

I appreciate your comment. Can I ask you why I should be depending on goodwill? Why is it unreasonable for me expect Nissan or the lease company to agree to the work up front, when I already have an independent report, from the time it broke down, confirming it wasn't anything to do with me?

Firstly reinstate your DD. That only does one thing for you being cancelled and none of that is good.

Secondly, I do think you are being somewhat unreasonable - in the sense you can authorize the investigation work and then discuss it with all parties once the root cause is known. The problem with your current approach is that any potential goodwill from Nissan (should it be needed) is likely being destroyed by your refusal to authorize.

Grumpy_chap

RafasPeggys said:

a new lease car. 

I have raised my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, 

 

Is this a true lease?
If so, is it a company purchase in any way?
Lease cars for private individuals are not common (but not impossible).

RafasPeggys

Grumpy_chap said:

RafasPeggys said:

a new lease car. 

I have raised my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, 

 

Is this a true lease?
If so, is it a company purchase in any way?
Lease cars for private individuals are not common (but not impossible).

Yes, it's a private lease

visidigi

RafasPeggys said:

I appreciate your comment. Can I ask you why I should be depending on goodwill? Why is it unreasonable for me expect Nissan or the lease company to agree to the work up front, when I already have an independent report, from the time it broke down, confirming it wasn't anything to do with me?

Firstly reinstate your DD. That only does one thing for you being cancelled and none of that is good.

Secondly, I do think you are being somewhat unreasonable - in the sense you can authorize the investigation work and then discuss it with all parties once the root cause is known. The problem with your current approach is that any potential goodwill from Nissan (should it be needed) is likely being destroyed by your refusal to authorize.

That's just it, you don't have proof its nothing to do with you.

The AA attended and recovered the vehicle. They provided the following breakdown report:

Clutch slave cylinder failed.
Possible faulty component or not bled off correctly from factory. Recovery required.

No signs of excessive wearing or smell of clutch being burnt.

What you have is a statement saying its possibly faulty, so to confirm if its faulty or not investigations have to take place, those investigations are chargeable in the event that it is proven to be your fault.

As it stands this could be anything...for example, your last journey could have thrown something against a pipe/cylinder and punctured it, that's not a manufacturing fault, nor something covered 'just because the car has only done 300 miles'.

Would you want to work for free when a consumer could be to blame?

No, so its fair that they want authorisation to investigate prior to commitment. In all likelihood its going to be faulty, but that's not 100%. 

And abandoning a car in a dealership for three weeks, cancelling the DD and throwing consumer rights at them is not going in your favour here.

I would recommend you authorise the investigations, await the outcome and then come back if the outcome is not found in your favour (without fair reason).

born_again

Note here. You may not be dealing with direct with Nissan. The dealer is more than likely a franchise. So they (it's the norm with franchises) As they do not get paid for investigation work. If it turns out to be a warranty claim & Nissan approve(which a failed cylinder will be) then you get the fee back.

Isthisforreal99

Agree with all of the above, get the issue identified and take it from there.

In the meantime get that DD reinstated before you get a missed payment reported on your credit file.

You went for the nuclear option way too soon.

Keep_pedalling

As far as damage is concerned, you basically have the same responsibilities with a leased car as you do one you purchased. There is a 99% chance that this is going to be a warranty claim, but in the unlikely event this was caused an external factor such as an object in the road then it will fall on you to cover the costs, which is why they need your authority to investigate.

This is why you have the option to pay more to add cover the cost of damage to alloys, tyres or paintwork, the thinks that are most likely to be damaged while you are driving the car. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Don't know much about cars, is this a contract for the supply of goods, a service of "hiring" a car or a mixed contract?

If a supply of goods and OP wants to reject then burden of proof is upon them but if seeking a repair or replacement burden of proof should fall on the trader. 

Worth a note there is no obligation to use the dealership to obtain this proof any garage can inspect the car to determine whether it is a "fault" or user error/etc. 

Also is this some kind of finance with S75, or 75A, cover? If so I'd raise a complaint with the finance company as well.

If this is a service then again burden of proof is upon the party marking the claim.