Second hand car and consumer rights

Saruman

I got a car from a dealer at the end of September. It was a 2006 Peugeot 407.
It came with 3 months warranty on engine and gearbox.

On Friday I had catastrophic engine failure. Turbo blew, oil all disappeared and it turns out some chain that is in some way connected to the cam shaft is fecked.

Anyway the garage it was towed to (main peugeot dealer) said he cheapest option is a reconditioned engine and the price quoted was a colossal €5800 which means in my opinion the car is beyond economical repair. I borrowed 7k and traded in my own (car was 10k).

So I know the warranty is up but do I have any comeback with consumer rights? This sort of thing should not just happen, I have reservations that they even serviced the car before they gave it to me.


The other question is, assuming I am fecked (probably am) and I have to just buy a new car, is there anything I can do with my 407? Are there places that will buy it off me and scrap it or are dealers likely to take it as a trade in since they can fix the car up for a fraction of the cost for me to have them do it. Any ideas?

mickdw

You will get an engine far cheaper than that from breakers here or uk. That would be the best bet.

Mc Love

Stay well clear of Peugeot garages!

ronanc15

That is a ridiculous quote, I would be very very surprised if that was a realistic figure. Do a bit of research with breakers.

But to answer your question no, no comeback there

Saruman

The problem I have is time. I can't keep renting a car until I get it resolved and I have to have a car to get to work etc, public transport is not an option for me.

I will probably have to buy a car.

Anyone know do breakers yards buy in cars? Apart from the engine, the rest of the car is in excellent condition.
As usual, plenty of places on google from the UK that advertise they buy cars for scrap but nothing for Ireland that I can see.

Drummerboy08

There's no comeback from the selling dealers point of view - in 4 months it could be something that you caused rather than the dealer. And your out of warranty, so you'll have to fork out for this one yourself.

What mileage was on the car? I'm assuming it was either a 1.6HDi or a 1.8 petrol? The timing belt was due on the 1.6 at 144,000 miles, and on the 1.8 at 80,000 miles. If the mileage is above this, then that could be your problem.

If its under this mileage, and this is what caused the problem in the first place, then I'd speak to Peugeot for goodwill.

Saruman

Mileage was high and the timing belt had been done at 100k I think, according to a note on the engine anyway but it was before my time.

Unfortunately the dealer had no service history. Only reason I actually bought the car was because I was familiar with the engine (1.6hdi) as being reliable. I had the same one in a Focus previously.

Hellrazer

ronanc15 wrote: »

But to answer your question no, no comeback there

I`d disagree.If it was me I`d contact the dealer you bought it from and ask them if they can do anything for you.

If that fails I`d contact my solicitor.Under the sale of goods act a product should be fit for the purpose it was bought for--Obviously this isnt the case if it packed up after 6 months.

In my opinion a 3 month warranty is crap--at the very least you should be looking for 6 with a used car.

hobochris

Id say you could get another engine put in for 2k, going on the estimates I got before from local mechanics.That's 1k for the engine and 1k to fit it.

Drummerboy08

Hellrazer wrote: »

I`d disagree.If it was me I`d contact the dealer you bought it from and ask them if they can do anything for you.

If that fails I`d contact my solicitor.Under the sale of goods act a product should be fit for the purpose it was bought for--Obviously this isnt the case if it packed up after 6 months.

In my opinion a 3 month warranty is crap--at the very least you should be looking for 6 with a used car.

I think your wrong there. This could have easily have been caused by the OP in the almost 5 months he's had it. The dealer stands by their three month warranty, and nothing goes wrong. At the end of month 4, something goes wrong and the dealer is expected to repair it? That aint how it works unfortunately.

There has to be line somewhere - what stops me 6 months down the line complaining that the car isnt fit for purpose if it breaks down? Madness.

Hellrazer

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

I think your wrong there. This could have easily have been caused by the OP in the almost 5 months he's had it. The dealer stands by their three month warranty, and nothing goes wrong. At the end of month 4, something goes wrong and the dealer is expected to repair it? That aint how it works unfortunately.

Maybe so but Ive seen judges order a car to be put right for less.In the OP`s case its 2 months out of warranty and in my opinion he has some sort of comeback.And I doubt that he did anything to make a turbo fail for example if he didnt check the oil levels or service it,but why would you service a car that the garage serviced 4 months ago.

The last case I went through was when an owner of a car filled a diesel with petrol and did in the injectors,fuel pump etc to a cost of over 3k.

The owner took the dealer I was in at the time to court and despite us having photos of the 3 places it was marked on the car that it was diesel--fuel flap,fuel cap and also under the cap inside the fuel flap the judge ruled in the owners favour and we had to pay out.

The next one was over a broken timing belt which was advised at a service but the owner decided against getting the job done and again the judge ruled in the owners favour.

Sam Kade

Try a few dismantlers.
http://www.partfinder.ie/cgi-bin/scripts/search.pl

Saruman

Great link thanks.

ronanc15

Hellrazer wrote: »

Maybe so but Ive seen judges order a car to be put right for less.In the OP`s case its 2 months out of warranty and in my opinion he has some sort of comeback.And I doubt that he did anything to make a turbo fail for example if he didnt check the oil levels or service it,but why would you service a car that the garage serviced 4 months ago.

The last case I went through was when an owner of a car filled a diesel with petrol and did in the injectors,fuel pump etc to a cost of over 3k.

The owner took the dealer I was in at the time to court and despite us having photos of the 3 places it was marked on the car that it was diesel--fuel flap,fuel cap and also under the cap inside the fuel flap the judge ruled in the owners favour and we had to pay out.

The next one was over a broken timing belt which was advised at a service but the owner decided against getting the job done and again the judge ruled in the owners favour.

Still I'd be very very surprised if the OP got anywhere. I know if I was the dealer I'd be inclined to just advised that its out of warranty and thats that. Dealers are under massive financial pressure these days, the last thing they're going to want to have to do is a nearly 6k job at their own cost

Scruff

You might find this interesting but it may not be applicable to you seeing as you were given a warranty:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motors/2010/0106/1224261723440.html

guil

hobochris wrote: »

Id say you could get another engine put in for 2k, going on the estimates I got before from local mechanics.That's 1k for the engine and 1k to fit it.

a grand to fit an engine, are ya mad

Drummerboy08

Hellrazer wrote: »

Maybe so but Ive seen judges order a car to be put right for less.In the OP`s case its 2 months out of warranty and in my opinion he has some sort of comeback.And I doubt that he did anything to make a turbo fail for example if he didnt check the oil levels or service it,but why would you service a car that the garage serviced 4 months ago.

Depends on the mileage the OP has done in the last 4 months I suppose, but it is possible that it was due a service. HE may not have checked his oil levels regularly either. Lots of different variables.

The last case I went through was when an owner of a car filled a diesel with petrol and did in the injectors,fuel pump etc to a cost of over 3k.

The owner took the dealer I was in at the time to court and despite us having photos of the 3 places it was marked on the car that it was diesel--fuel flap,fuel cap and also under the cap inside the fuel flap the judge ruled in the owners favour and we had to pay out.

The next one was over a broken timing belt which was advised at a service but the owner decided against getting the job done and again the judge ruled in the owners favour.

Now that sounds like typical Irish judges alright.

Hellrazer

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Now that sounds like typical Irish judges alright.

Yep 2 straight cut cases that were clearly the owners fault and we still had to pay out.

As you said a lot of variables--My main concern would be the 3 month warranty--I really thought 6 was the minimum offered nowadays--Do you think the dealer could have known there was something wrong and only offered 3 months??

R.O.R

Hellrazer wrote: »

Do you think the dealer could have known there was something wrong and only offered 3 months??

He might not have known anything was wrong, but we've had a shed load of 407 1.6HDi's back in the past couple of years. I think there was one issue or another with the majority of them, so a smart dealer would suspect there was an issue - especially if the mileage was on the high side.

Drummerboy08

R.O.R wrote: »

He might not have known anything was wrong, but we've had a shed load of 407 1.6HDi's back in the past couple of years. I think there was one issue or another with the majority of them, so a smart dealer would suspect there was an issue - especially if the mileage was on the high side.

Sounds about right to me. Funny how a 1.6TDCI Focus is reliable, but a 1.6HDi 407 isnt.

Saruman

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

Sounds about right to me. Funny how a 1.6TDCI Focus is reliable, but a 1.6HDi 407 isnt.

Extra sensors in the 407 that cause issues from what I have read.
I was very unlucky in that I got an actual engine fault and not just sensor errors.