Main dealer garage and a 2nd hand car..

thirdmantackle

My father bought a 2004 1.4 Octavia a few months ago from a main Toyota dealer.

he wanted a reliable car and doesn't do much driving and so i went along with him to the garage to check out the car.

it seemed clean enough, ran well and we were happy with the price. the salesperson (who was distinctly uninterested in talking to us btw) informed us that there was a 6 month warranty with the car. so my father bought it, out of his savings.

anyway a few things have gone wrong with car. radio shut off. remote central locking wouldn't work. wouldn't start a few times.

brought it back to them - alternator was shot to pieces - rusted etc.
they are claiming the warranty was for only 3 months (expired by two weeks, they infored my father) and they want €350 for a replacement. plus labour. wtf??? and also a charge for looking at what was wrong with it...

1 they changed their story about the warranty
2 they sold my father a faulty car
3 how do I get fair treatment for my father?

djimi

Did you not get the warranty in writing? Usually they write it on the receipt.

Most of the time the alternator can be replaced with a reconditioned one for a fraction of the price of a new one (which it looks like you got).

I had a big arguement with a mechanic about an alternator one time; basically he wouldnt give me a price to get it fixed and I told him I wasnt going to agree to any work without knowing how much it was going to cost. In the end he gave in and took it out and gave me an upper limit price and it ended up costing much less.

cooltown

I thought the octavia was the best car ever acording to the people on this!

Buffman

Op, Unless you got it in writing it's their word against yours.
If it turns out you have to pay for it, I wouldn't let them do it. Bring it to a local independent mechanic and you should get it done for less.

cooltown wrote: »

I thought the octavia was the best car ever acording to the people on this!

Not the 1.4.

cooltown

Buffman wrote: »

Not the 1.4.

Does that effect the central locking and radio?

thirdmantackle

basicaly the mechanic at the garage said the alternator was badly corroded - as water had got into it

my main frustration is that they sold my father a faulty car!!!

I'm trying to get onto the consumer association about this but their helpline is currently closed

They sound like crooked bastads, a good auto electrician would repair that for small enough money, not the point though. Tell the that according to their diagnosis the alternator is sh*gged due to corrosion (which sounds like horsesh1t to me anyway) but play along, tell the corrosion doesn't start and finish in 3 weeks, also argue the point about the warranty, insist they sort it all. There is no real agency or body to go to, just have to sort the c*nts yourself really. Best of luck with it, to me it sounds like they are taking you and your Dad for f**ktards, don't let them

mickdw

Firstly, forget the idea that they sold a faulty car. They didnt. The items you describe would be reasonable enough faults on an 04 car. The issue here is with the lies they are coming up with to avoid paying.
typically even if it was a 6 month warranty, it would only be engine & gearbox therefore the only one of your faults that would be covered would be the alternator.
I would make a bit of noise in the sales area of the garage & tell as many customers as you can that they have no word when it comes to warranty then take car to someone else & have the alternator reconditioned for small money while putting the whole thing down to experience.