Ssangyong Warranty farce

bensoneb

Hi,

Our car recently broke down (1 year old Kyron) and it turns out that the engine has to be replaced. The garage are charging us €10,000 as they say that we didn't look after the car!!! It was due a service a month ago and my hubbie had to go away urgently so this didn't happen.

A couple of questions:

If he didn't get his car serviced when they recommended, does this mean that the warranty is null and void?
Should have engine blow after a year, I think not!!

If anyone has some words of wisdom on this, I'd be really grateful as it's a hell of a lot of money to pay for 'nothing'.

Thanks.

Alanstrainor

That's crazy!
Do you have the documntation the went along with that warrenty? I think they're trying to pull a fast one tbh.

ShayK1

what mileage is on it and how much mileage was put on it after the service was due?

R.O.R

How far over the recommended service interval did it go? Warranty probably states vehicle must be serviced within 1000-2000km of the recommended intervals to keep warranty valid.

Was the oil ever checked? Probably the most common cause of engine failure would be lack of oil. Oil is a consumable (like fuel) and is the drivers responsibility to ensure there are suitable quantaties (sp?) in the engine.

Jip

Unfortuantely car warranties usually have the condition that the car has to be serviced to the manufacturers recommendations and if you didn't it gives them a bit of wiggle room.

Zube

Nonetheless, this is outrageous. Write to the garage, then to SSangYingYong Ireland and threaten them with public humiliation in letters columns, Joe Duffy etc. Try writing to SIMI too.

Ferris

bensoneb wrote: »

If he didn't get his car serviced when they recommended, does this mean that the warranty is null and void?

Maybe, the warranty is probably conditional on you servicing the car in accordance with their recommendations. I.e. service intervals etc

bensoneb wrote: »

Should have engine blow after a year, I think not!!

No it shouldn't, but it depends on the circumstances, how many miles was it over the service interval? Was it that you had to service it every X amount of miles or every year, whichever comes first.

Either way I would contact a solicitor. The engine failure is probably not your fault (1 month is not significant unless there was no oil in the engine) but you have voided your warranty, this means that you have a fight on your hands and you will need legal assistance.

Also I would recommend getting an engineers investigation into the cause of the engine failure.

alexmcred

Same thing happened a mate of mines rexton a couple of years ago. Still not resolved and it looks like heading for courts. would be off to a solicitor if I were you and be prepared to wait unfortunately.

oleras

bensoneb wrote: »

Hi,

Our car recently broke down (1 year old Kyron) and it turns out that the engine has to be replaced. The garage are charging us €10,000 as they say that we didn't look after the car!!! It was due a service a month ago and my hubbie had to go away urgently so this didn't happen.

A couple of questions:

If he didn't get his car serviced when they recommended, does this mean that the warranty is null and void?
Should have engine blow after a year, I think not!!

If anyone has some words of wisdom on this, I'd be really grateful as it's a hell of a lot of money to pay for 'nothing'.

Thanks.

Unless your oil warning light was on i doubt it was lack of oil that caused the failure, and if it was, without a warning light, that may be there fault also.

Also, 10k for an engine !! that sounds a bit steep

quattro777

10k for an engine!! are they replacing it with a Ferrari motor?

As previously stated, get lawyered up and show the dealer and the distributor you mean business early on. It should save time and money in the long run.

Redjeep!

Get an independent assessor to examine the car and find out why the engine blew.

If he (or she) can say that it was due to a defect in the engine and nothing to do with the lack of service then you're probably in the clear and can then fight the garage.

If the assessor says it's because you ran the car for a month with no oil/ water/ whatever, and this is what caused the problem you're probably in trouble, but at least you'll know why it failed and that it was actually your fault. As it's probably unlikely that you'd have ran it with the warning lights on for a month, I'd guess this maybe not be the issue.

If there's any doubt what caused the failure then you should still be able to get the garage to stump up something as the onus of proof is on them to prove that it was due to a lack of maintenance..

Finally, Google engine failures on your particular car to see if this is a known problem and if there's been other instances - this will give you far more power to negotiate a settlement.

The bottom line is that warranty is ONLY meant to cover manufacturing/ assembly defects and not lack of maintenance or wear and tear so you need to know exactly what caused the problem.

BTW I'm the warranty manager for a large manufacturing company (but not SanaLanaSingSong) so do have some experience in this area.

bensoneb

Thanks to everyone for your advise! We'll definately take legal advise on this one.

It also turns out that they did €8700 worth of work on the car before telling us that we owed them €10k. I'm sure they should have quoted us before starting any work on the car!!!!

Nonoperational

This sounds unbelievable! 8700 worth of work!? No garage should spend that repairing an engine full stop. Not to mind without getting approval. I'm shocked they did to be honest. Most places wouldn't even change a tyre without ringing you.

I know its no help now but although it probably had nothing to do with it, always always get your car serviced on time. Especially when its under warranty. It is a condition of the warranty and can be an easy out for them.

King Kelly

ShayK1 wrote: »

what mileage is on it and how much mileage was put on it after the service was due?

I note the OP still has not answered this important question.

Redjeep!

Without your authorisation to do the work they don't really have a leg to stand on. They can't just do the work and then try and claim it back from you as you have the choice as to whether you want them to do it, or get somebody else.

They should have done what was necessary to assess the damage, find a root cause of the failure and estimate the repair bill. If they were expecting you to pay, they shouldn't have done anything else until they got your clear approval.

I'd bet Biffos cancelled payrise, that what they've done is replaced the engine expecting it to be a warranty job and SY have knocked their claim back saying that it's your fault. Typically they'd expect to recover a large portion of any warranty jobs back from the manufacturer (see my comments above - warranty is meant to cover manufacturing defects only).

You should now ask them for a root cause as to why the engine failed and ask for the car back as they've performed work they weren't authorised to do.

You may want to take legal advice, and if it starts to get nasty you may want to make sure that the garage haven't/ won't dispose of the old engine before it's all settled as you may be needing somebody to check it. I think that it may still legally be your property as well until the issue is resolved (get that bit checked).

By the way, you shouldn't just get it serviced on time, you should also make sure that the routine maintenance activities are done - like checking the oil and water from time to time - these aren't just meant to be done when the cars serviced....check the handbook.

If it's proven that the fault was due to poor maintenance & lack of servicing then you may still have to pay a portion of the bill, which is probably only fair as lets face it, you were a contributing factor.

It all depends upon the history of the car - I know it's only a year old but has it been used to tow trailer loads of blocks around the country, done 50k and nobody ever lifted the bonnet or has it only done 5k and only ever used to ferry the kids to school and been regularly serviced.

If it gets to a fight it will come down to this.

It's still worth your while to get independent engineering advice from a specialist who will talk to the garage and may look at the engine to assess the reason for failure. If nothing else it will show that your serious.

Finally, the one other thing that may be worth taking into account it that SY probably haven't sold too many cars in Ireland as yet and so presumably don't want a lot of negative press about poor reliabilty and bad customer service.

You may be able to think of a way to use this to your advantage (but I couldn't possibly suggest any).

Renegade_Archer

8700eur worth of work? Jaysus, a complete engine rebuild wouldn't be half that..

Redjeep!

In reality, Euro 8700 probably isn't too far of the mark for an engine replacement on a brand new car.

Not if you factor in a couple of days labour at the full rate, possibly for more than one mechanic and we don't know what else had to be replaced as well. There's probably all sorts of other charges included as well (such as shipping charges for the new engine, disposal charges, recovery of the car etc)

I think the point is who should pay for it.

Perhaps if the OP could explain the full stage of events as they happened - i.e. how did it go from breaking down to 'here's a bill for E8700, and it'll cost you more by the time we've finished'.

I'm confused how it happened without anybody's consent as it's just not something that could happen in a few hours. Didn't anybody question what was happening whilst the car was off the road ?

I'd doubt that SY would even have a full replacement engine in Ireland for instance, so there'd be a day or two while they got one shipped in.

bensoneb

Hi Redjeep,

You've been a great help, thank you. The reason we didn't question what was happening was because my other half is away on business and it's his car. Also, having spoken to him yesterday, I've found out that no warning lights ever came on while he was driving it.

We'll take your advise and hopefully the situation will come to a successful resolution.

Regards,

ismynametoolong

bensoneb wrote: »

Hi Redjeep,

You've been a great help, thank you. The reason we didn't question what was happening was because my other half is away on business and it's his car. Also, having spoken to him yesterday, I've found out that no warning lights ever came on while he was driving it.

We'll take your advise and hopefully the situation will come to a successful resolution.

Regards,

Op as far as I can see you have still not told us why warranty was refused I am sure there is a reason why your not telling . No reputable car company or distributor would deny warranty without good reason which I am sure you were informed of .

miju

have to agree with ismynametoolong TBH, is there a particular reason for not giving full details?

bensoneb

Again Redjeep, I can't thank you enough for your help with this. I really appreciate the time you've taken to share some very valuable advise. Personally I've dealt with alot of different dealerships over the years and have never encountered a situation where even a window wiper was replaced without my consent. These guys are way out of order by carrying out the work without giving us a quotation or even without communicating with us.

King Kelly, don't actually find your comment very helpful! I'm only asking for advice and in doing so giving you the information I have. If I had this information, I would have answered the question! My other half works away, it's his car so I haven't a clue what the mileage is. I would imagine that it is low as he works away and is only back 1 weekend in every two.

Ismynametoolong & Miju: Again I don't have the reason as I haven't been speaking with the garage. I'm merely asking for advise to help my other half out as he's away at the moment. He hasn't gone into alot of detail with them over the phone as he will do so in person when he gets home and of course after he has taken legal advise. The reason I posted was to get some information for him before he spoke any further to them. Sometimes the reason for not answering is because people don't have the answer. Silence is not always as sinister as you infer.

To the sceptics, not really interested in what you have to say as it's not relevant to my query.

To all those who have helped, I'm very grateful to you. Thanks.

Ferris

OP, until you state what the mileage was on the original motor and how many miles (or how long) it had gone past its service mileage (or date) you won't find much better advice than whats been posted.

bensoneb

Ferris,

Have you not read my previous post? I don't know what the mileage is! Bearing this in mind and the limited information I have, I have got fantastic advise from most members and I'm very grateful. End of!

Ferris

Sorry, missed that bit. Your whole case against the garage is likely to hinge on that information however, that and the cause of the engine failure.

Defo an inspection by an automotive engineer is a must as is legal advice. Also I would document (send yourself emails to date stamp maybe) calls and communications with the dealer. Make sure you record the names etc.

Run_to_da_hills

A short block for a Ssangyong would hardly cost half that.

I know a guy that took the former Kawasaki Ctr in Dublin to court over a brand new motorbike that siezed due to a lack of oil. Although it siezed before the first major service was due the judge said that it is is up to the owner of the vehicle to check the oil level according to the service manual that came with the bike. The case went 50/50 against costs.

LegacyUser

Hi bensoeb,A warranty is given under certain conditions. Distributors would never be bothered about giving you a new engine provided it can be approved by the factory. If there is a genuine fault with the car, you get a new engine or what ever parts are required, dealer gets money and labour back from Distributor for said engine or parts etc and then Distributor gets money back from Factory for what it paid out.It is a fairly simple and logical process.In saying that most distributors will do there utmost to fix things provided people are not taking the proverbial. Like doing 34,000 k and never having had a service. I have seen it happen.If you say your vehicle is only a year old, does little milage and only slightly passed its service schedual, I cannot see why any distributor would refuse to do the job under warranty.Either there is more to this or there are crossed wires somewhere