Car Advice - What should I do?

moneysaver_77

Hi all,

I'm just looking for some advice on my situation. Any advice on where I stand legally or if this comes under the sales of goods act would also be appreciated.

I leased a second hand BMW 05 plate last year (3rd of June) with 12 months warrantry. I had a few problems with it so took it into their service deptarment to get it fixed. While there I was told that the brakes had about 50% wear to them and they are suffering from corrosion. There service dept told me to write in explaining that I was not happy with this and wanted them replaced. I got a letter back saying that this was quite normal and has no effects on the braking system.

Anyway I took my car for MOT on Monday and it failed. The rear disc was 'excessively worn'. I took it for repair and was told that the disc was corroded and that was why it failed it MOT. It was only one disc and not both which is what is normally expected.

I repaired the brakes passed the MOT and contacted BMW. They told me that I should have taken the car to them for its MOT, or shown them the car before I carried out the work. The reason I went elsewhere was due to the fact the MOT was a lot cheaper and the repair was also cheaper then BMW. I still have the replaced discs. They are refusing to even look in to the matter.

Can I recover my costs as I bought the car with the corrosion? I had to get the car repaired ASAP as I would have been driving a car without MOT which invalids my car insurance.

Any advice much appreciated.

Dicky2K

I dont know the Inns and Outs of these kind of things.. But in my own experience.. i got some bull about the warrenty being invalidated because the repair work hadn't been carried out by an "approved" mechanic or garage..

moneysaver_77

Anyone have any advice on what to do please!

vwjo

I'm afraid that brakes won't be covered by any warranty - particularly against corrosion.....Reason being, they are not actually defective - the metal in the disc has reacted to the atmosphere, and without regular use this will build up.....

vwjo

And whilst I'm here, may I just say: what would you do? If you sold a car, and a YEAR later, the chap reckons you should pay to replace the brakes he's been using for the last 12 months?

And to the previous respondent: why 'bull?' Why should it be ok to get work done at 'fred's shed autos' and expect somebody else to guarantee the work? Nonsense!

moneysaver_77

I hear what you are saying but fact I bought the car with the corrosion and made BMW aware that it had it and that it was only one brake pad not not both which is normally the case just makes me feel a bit ripped off.
I am happy to pay for the brakes to be replaced if it was down to normal wear and tear. I'm not that stupid to try and claim it under warrenty! Its because I got the car with the defects. Why should I have to pay for it when they should have sorted it out when I told them on their mechanics advice!

Crabman

You'd need to prove that any such defect was present at time of purchase in order to succeed in the small claims court. The fact you had them replaced at a different garage doesn't really help.

Perhaps, bearing in mind they documented the corrosion when you took the car back soon after purchase, ask for a contribution to the cost as a goodwill gesture?

I'll move this over to the Motoring Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Conor_3

Brake pads and discs are not covered under warranty as they are consumable items. Brake calipers are so if there was a fault with those, you'd be able to make a claim.

MX5huggy

moneysaver_77 wrote: »

I leased a second hand BMW 05 plate last year ........

If you leased it why are you doing any work on it? The point of leasing is that you don't have any hassle.

Hintza

Have a look at honestjohn he gets loads of questions similar to this.

The jist is: "Since asbestos was outlawed (erroneously in this case)the pads need to use different materials which are more abrasive and I think the discs are a bit softer (stand to be corrected on that though) so that in itself reduces the life. Also uif the car does not cocer a reasonable mileage and the brakes well used the surface corrosion is never cleaned off and eats the discs.

So to get the best out of pads and discs you need to have reasonably good mileage. Less miles = greater corrosion.

harveybobbles

MX5huggy wrote: »

If you leased it why are you doing any work on it? The point of leasing is that you don't have any hassle.

Depends. Some leasing companies offer non maintenance contracts.
And I second conor's comment - it's a consumable. Unless you can prove that the corrosion was there at point of sale, then youy don't have much grounds, sorry...