Faulty vehicle - bought as new but 2.5 years old

generationgavin

paul_c123 said:

generationgavin said:

paul_c123 said:

Are these warranty fixes you've had done already?

All of the repairs so far are warranty fixes, but essentially the last 4 have all failed and they cannot guarantee another one will work (or how many would be needed) leaving me with an inherently dangerous vehicle.

Have dealership A (the original one you bought it from) ever looked at it?

VW dealers are franchises, they are effectively competitors to each other and they generally dislike warranty work because it pays less and is more restrictive than charging the customer. So its possible dealership B haven't done that well but have no interest to do it better. In theory, VW should have oversight over all their dealers and hold them accountable to poor workmanship etc but in practice, your claim is with dealership A, not VW or dealership B.

How far in distance is dealership A from you?

Dealership A is around 100 miles away. dealership A have said they won't cover the towing costs (even though that is in breach of CRA2015) and the cost would be around £500. But they suggested they would try repairing one fault and then the issue might reoccur so we'd have to return it again. 

generationgavin

Baldytyke88 said:

generationgavin said:

It's also worth pointing out that my car insurance said my car won't be covered (but it would be third party) if an accident happened due to the fault unless I had a guaranteed fix. 

Not sure how a mechanical issue could affect your insurance, how did they find out?

Citizens Advice Bureau suggested it could invalidate my insurance and that I should query, which I did. 

generationgavin

Markdavid1962 said:

I had something similar with another manufacturer (also German) involving 2 dealers and the car was in the workshop numerous times, eventually I emailed the MD of the manufacturer and cc'd the Worldwide CEO. I asked was the level of service acceptable and this is my last option to resolve this escalating to MD & CEO before I have to use social media to publicise what has gone on with a new car still under under warranty.

Within 2 days i was being called by the dealerships and the manufacturer got involved, in fact I was getting multiple calls a day

 It was then in for a month but they sorted it and also didnt charge me, I was outside the warranty at this stage.

If you decide to email, these are the VW email addresses that you need, I would also cc the two dealerships in to the email. Be polite and stick to the facts, state you are escalating to Rod as you have no other options. Remember the brown stuff rolls down hill, expect the manufacturer to get involved.

Rod Mccleod (UK Director)

executive.office@volkswagen.co.uk Volkswagon Group CEO oliver.blume@porsche.de In VW car club (owner groups) has anyone else reported the same issue, may be worth mentioning that if it has .

Thanks. My case is already with the executive office and I've emailed Oliver Blume to no response. My next steps is to try and blow this up as big as I can over social and see if I can get any press coverage to be honest.
I honestly think if I drive this vehicle it could kill somebody...that's what it comes down to. 

generationgavin

Grumpy_chap said:

generationgavin said:

So I've requested a refund or replacement from the selling dealership, brand and finance.

What have you actually asked for?
If you have asked for a refund of the original price paid or a replacement with another brand new car, that is not realistically going to happen after 2.5 years of having the use of a car.
The very best you could aim for is a refund less some deduction to reflect the extent of beneficial use you have received to date.

If changing the car is your objective, it can be pragmatic to understand first the value the car will realise if sold in the open market place - online car buying services can give a guide very simply.

Honestly what I've asked for at the moment is a refund of my PCP deposit and a refund of my monthly payments since the fault occurred. This puts us in a neutral position to replace the vehicle. And after extensive reading this is what the financial ombudsman often offers.
I've got 18 months left on my PCP and currently in negative equity, so voluntary termination would be my only other option and would put me in a financially difficult position and means me losing out. 

ThorOdinson

generationgavin said:

Baldytyke88 said:

generationgavin said:

It's also worth pointing out that my car insurance said my car won't be covered (but it would be third party) if an accident happened due to the fault unless I had a guaranteed fix. 

Not sure how a mechanical issue could affect your insurance, how did they find out?

Citizens Advice Bureau suggested it could invalidate my insurance and that I should query, which I did. 

Indeed, if there is an accident due to a known fault many won't offer full coverage.

Mildly_Miffed

generationgavin said:

Hi - I'm after any advice, comments, hints or anything else.


June 2023  - I purchased a brand new vehicle, a VW ID.4 from official VW dealership A. All repairs and work since then have happened at VW dealership B
March 2024 - I had a fault where the doors would open themselves. Took a few visits but was fixed.
Feb 2025 - I started getting error messages due to 12v electrical faults. Took it in and no faults found
May 2025 - Had my car in for a service, they wiped the faults should fix my battery issues. Battery tested OK
August 2025 - More issues, took my car in, they found faults and reflashed the software.
August 2025 - Broke down and vehicle wouldn't start and needed recovering 
August 2025 - Needed jump starting again
August 2025 - Dealership B replaced the 12v battery.
November 2025 - Driving along, vehicle switches off and e-handbrake comes on. Recovery is required taking 6 hours to move the vehicle as it will not move.
November 2025 - Dealership B has vehicle for 2 weeks. Eventually find the issue replacing the DC-DC inverter. Car is test driven and returned.
November 2025 - I pick up the car and make it *2* miles before the car completely shuts down and cannot be moved.

At this point, I obviously do not trust the vehicle or any repairs at all. The dealerships have said they cannot guarantee a fix, and the vehicle stops without warning, so if this happens on a motorway it could honestly kill somebody, including my kids. 
It's also worth pointing out that my car insurance said my car won't be covered (but it would be third party) if an accident happened due to the fault unless I had a guaranteed fix. 

So I've requested a refund or replacement from the selling dealership, brand and finance.

So far I've come to a pretty much dead end, the selling dealership say they haven't seen the car and won't refund, they would require around £500 to have it towed to them to look at and they would only make multiple repair attempts and not be able to guarantee a fix.

VWFS have essentially said the brand and dealership have said no, so they cannot do anything (I know this isn't completely true)

I know under CRA2015 the burden of proof is on me to show the fault was there since the start, I've spoken to two garages and one investigator who all say that proving this would be impossible if VW cannot find the fault. 

There is much more to this, but for the complaint I've put together a 14 page document for the dealership, VW and VWFS outlaying all of the facts.

Next steps will be to go to the financial Ombudsman for a long drawn our process, but does anybody have any advice on anything I can do to help my case, speed things up or just generally what my chances might be.

Also should I ask the dealership to repair my vehicle at this point, or would this weaken my overall case as I'm giving them another chance to repair it (I honestly don't think I can drive it though)

All of these faults would still fall under the manufacturer's original warranty.

As you say, proving the faults were present at purchase is impossible - the car had some minor issues within the first year, but outside the first six months. There were some minor issues before two years. The major issues have started after two years.

It sounds very much as if your recent woes have been in two main categories.
February/May/August, caused by the failing 12v battery, replaced in August.
November, incorrectly diagnosed as inverter, still outstanding.

Insist on them putting some miles on it (a member of dealership staff using it for their own commute etc, not just a single test-drive) before returning it. That'll show if the issues have been fixed.
If you don't trust the car once the dealership have returned it, sell it.
If you don't trust the dealership it's at, ask them for a price to buy it as if the issues were not present. They may say no, they may say yes. But if you really don't trust this dealership, this is your main option unless you're willing to pay to get it transported to a different one.

dnpark38

What about your Breakdown cover?
I had a car which acted like that, 3 times it went completely dead and unmovable, 3 times my Breakdown recovered it to dealer. 3 times dealer said nothing wrong.
So I part exchanged it for a new car.

generationgavin

dnpark38 said:

What about your Breakdown cover?
I had a car which acted like that, 3 times it went completely dead and unmovable, 3 times my Breakdown recovered it to dealer. 3 times dealer said nothing wrong.
So I part exchanged it for a new car.

To be honest, breakdown have been the only good bit of this so far - when I broke down on the road with the handbrake on the AA guy stayed for 5 hours whilst the tow truck was arranged, in that time he tried doing as much diagnostics as possible and tried to get me moved somewhere better but no no avail. 

generationgavin

Mildly_Miffed said:

It sounds very much as if your recent woes have been in two main categories.
February/May/August, caused by the failing 12v battery, replaced in August.
November, incorrectly diagnosed as inverter, still outstanding.

Insist on them putting some miles on it (a member of dealership staff using it for their own commute etc, not just a single test-drive) before returning it. That'll show if the issues have been fixed.
If you don't trust the car once the dealership have returned it, sell it.
If you don't trust the dealership it's at, ask them for a price to buy it as if the issues were not present. They may say no, they may say yes. But if you really don't trust this dealership, this is your main option unless you're willing to pay to get it transported to a different one.

The 12v battery errors reoccurred and they admitted themselves that the 12v battery was testing OK at the time, it's been explained to me (unfortunately not in writing) that these issues are actually related and the battery wasn't faulty in the first place.

I'm on a PCP, currently in negative equity on the car, if I sell it then I will owe finance money. If I return it under voluntary termination then I will end up with nothing, putting me in a financially difficult situation where I cannot afford a suitable car.

If I get it repaired and the dealership cannot guarantee the fix then the vehicle will essentially not be insured, I would suggest this makes it not fit for purpose.

Mildly_Miffed

generationgavin said:

I'm on a PCP, currently in negative equity on the car, if I sell it then I will owe finance money. If I return it under voluntary termination then I will end up with nothing, putting me in a financially difficult situation where I cannot afford a suitable car.

How much longer on your PCP? Next June?

There's absolutely zero promise of having any equity in it at that point, anyway.

Such is the issue with getting on the PCP treadmill - it looks attractive, low monthlies and a little gamble on whether the balloon will be too low, giving you back some of what you overpaid during the term. But amortise the up-front across the term...

Have VW given you a loan vehicle while it's in?