Clutch problems on a just 2 year old car

DevilsAdvocate1

I hope someone can help me.

On 26th of June last year MR. DA and I bought a one year old Citroen C8 from a Citroen dealer with 2 years warranty left on it. It had 12000 miles on the clock. I've done just under 10000 miles in it and it hasn't been used a great deal over the last 3 months because I had an operation at Easter and was quite poorly afterwards.

On June 18th of this year, nearly one year later, we were driving to Devon on holiday when the car broke down. Luckily, we were members of Citroen Assist who were fantastic. They got an RAC man to us within an hour, towed us to a Citroen garage and then hired us a car for 2 days (the garage then gave us a courtesy car for most of the rest of our holiday).

It turns out that the clutch had gone. It was so badly worn that the flywheel had hot spots on it and had to be replaced too. Citroen refused to cover it under the warranty saying that it was wear and tear. The Citroen garage told us that it was highly unusual for a clutch to go after just 22000 miles and suggested that we contact the dealer we purchased the car from once we got home. It cost us £1200 to have the car fixed. We had our last car for 6 years and did 80,000 miles in it and never had any problems with the clutch (or anything else really). The car before that we had for 3 years, before that 3 years and before that 4 years. Never have we had a problem with the clutch and 2 of the previous cars were old bangers.

We paid £16500 for the car in the first place and I would expect trouble free motoring for a good couple of years at least. We've already had to replace the break pads and all of the tyres. I have to say I'm starting to wonder if the mileage on the car was genuine. Citroen used the car as a demo before we bought it (only just found this out, we had been led to believe it was a private owner).

Would cause of action should I take? What should I put in a letter? How many miles would you expect to get out of a clutch?

Thanks, D.

flea72

there is no hard and fast rule for how long a clutch should last, it all depends on driving style, so yes it would come under general wear and tear, and not be covered by warranty

again with tyres, i tend to find pepole carriers get through them alot quicker than your average family car - ususally need replacing yearly

i would question it being an ex-demo car though, with the mileage on it - most demos are only used for a couple of months, before they are replaced, that would be heck of alot of demos to clock up 12000 miles

also how can you only have just found out the car wasnt privately owned before yourself, the logbook states who the last owner was, so you can see straightaway who had it before yourself and how many owners before that

DevilsAdvocate1

You going to think I'm really stupid here, but I didn't read the log book when it arrived. I seem to remember we got it in the post a week or two later - we filled in something in the garage and they sent it off for us. I had no reason to look really.

It was the garage who fixed the clutch. They told us that they'd looked it up on their computer and seen how many times we'd had it in the garage. They too said it must be down to our driving style, but we've always kept cars for several years (our last car we had for 6 years) and have never had a problem with the clutch on any car. They then said that Citroen themselves had used it as a demo and perhaps some of the drivers had wrecked the clutch. Shouldn't the clutch be more hard wearing? The clutch should be covered with this papery stuff (not very techincal!) and on one side it had completely disintegrated. There was black stuff all over the flywheel we were told this indicated that the clutch had been going for some time. We had reported a burning smell to the garage and were told this was normal (they had the car for 3 days to check it over). This was exactly the same smell as when the clutch went.

We don't tow anything, we've never carried anything heavy in the car and I'm quite a light handed female. I can't see how it can be normal wear and tear. But I'm not sure what I can do about it.

D.

isayoldchap

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote:

I hope someone can help me.

On 26th of June last year MR. DA and I bought a one year old Citroen C8 from a Citroen dealer with 2 years warranty left on it. It had 12000 miles on the clock. I've done just under 10000 miles in it and it hasn't been used a great deal over the last 3 months because I had an operation at Easter and was quite poorly afterwards.

On June 18th of this year, nearly one year later, we were driving to Devon on holiday when the car broke down. Luckily, we were members of Citroen Assist who were fantastic. They got an RAC man to us within an hour, towed us to a Citroen garage and then hired us a car for 2 days (the garage then gave us a courtesy car for most of the rest of our holiday).

It turns out that the clutch had gone. It was so badly worn that the flywheel had hot spots on it and had to be replaced too. Citroen refused to cover it under the warranty saying that it was wear and tear. The Citroen garage told us that it was highly unusual for a clutch to go after just 22000 miles and suggested that we contact the dealer we purchased the car from once we got home. It cost us £1200 to have the car fixed. We had our last car for 6 years and did 80,000 miles in it and never had any problems with the clutch (or anything else really). The car before that we had for 3 years, before that 3 years and before that 4 years. Never have we had a problem with the clutch and 2 of the previous cars were old bangers.

We paid £16500 for the car in the first place and I would expect trouble free motoring for a good couple of years at least. We've already had to replace the break pads and all of the tyres. I have to say I'm starting to wonder if the mileage on the car was genuine. Citroen used the car as a demo before we bought it (only just found this out, we had been led to believe it was a private owner).

Would cause of action should I take? What should I put in a letter? How many miles would you expect to get out of a clutch?

Thanks, D.

I would be more annoyed at the charge of £1200.Surely you say they have replaced a clutch and flywheel.Was this in gold?Pray tell
You may take some comfort from this http://www.tiscali.co.uk/motoring/roadtests/whatcar/citroen/c8mpv/208192/full.html
It does say that the C8 have a sticky clutch problem.You would be better to put in C8 clutch problems in google and see if there is a forum about these just clutches.Try also http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/index.php?url=/carbycar/index.htm

flea72

its normal wear and tear, because its a part that needs replacing after some use

even if the clutch was getting worn when you bought it, if you didnt notice any fault at the time of test drive and purchase, youre just going to have to grin and bear it - because you didnt have a prob with the clutch until you had owned the car a year, there is no way the garage who sold it to you, would have detected the clutch needed replacing

as for the citroen garage trying to palm you off back to the dealership you bought it from - a manufacturers warranty is valid at any of the franchise garages, they should really have tried to help you, when you first took the car in - but again, as its a clutch, there was little anyone could do

the only way to know if there was some fault with the clutch is to to see how long your new one lasts. if its around 22000 miles then you know thats just how that particular vehicle drives - not much help for getting any compensation, but it might mean you decide to get rid, and try a different make, rather than have to pay that expense every 2yrs

DevilsAdvocate1

isayoldchap wrote:

I would be more annoyed at the charge of £1200.Surely you say they have replaced a clutch and flywheel.Was this in gold?Pray tell

Definitely not in gold, but they knew they had us over a barrel. We were 400 miles from home, clueless regarding cars and did not have access to phone book, internet to ring around and get other quotes. I usually always get at least 3 quotes for everything I do. Don't know how we would have been able to move the car anyway even if another gararge had quoted less.

They initially quoted £1000, but when we collected it it had gone up to £1233. It was mainly labour costs - they said it took a day and a half to do the job. They had the car for nearly 2 weeks. On the plus side, at least we didn't have to pay for car hire for the 2 weeks.

Guess I've been had in more ways than 1.

D.

flea72

no real clutch faults showing anywhere online - but that could be because the car isnt that old, and clutch problems arent starting to show up yet

C8 seems to mainly have electrical faults on most reviews

isayoldchap

flea72 wrote:

no real clutch faults showing anywhere online - but that could be because the car isnt that old, and clutch problems arent starting to show up yet

C8 seems to mainly have electrical faults on most reviews

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/motoring/roadtests/whatcar/citroen/c8mpv/208192/full.html
Look half way down the page under quality

flea72

but a sticky clutch doesnt result in a worn out clutch, it just means you feel a delay in take-up when changing gears. something ive tended to find across the citroen range - its more a nuance, than a fault

isayoldchap

flea72 wrote:

but a sticky clutch doesnt result in a worn out clutch, it just means you feel a delay in take-up when changing gears. something ive tended to find across the citroen range - its more a nuance, than a fault

Spend all that money and buy a Citroen.We will just never know....and being lumped with a huge bill for repairs.

Twopints

flea72 wrote:

its more a nuance, than a fault

Is that the same as an unadvertised design feature ?