engine warranty??..anyone else a victim??

dos19881999

Hi guys,

First and last time buying a car without a proper mechanic checkover...

without being arrogant, i know a bit about cars(do my own oil and plug and pads changes etc) but not at mechanic level by any means

put my heart before my head and saw a car i really was after for a long long time,a saab 9-5 Aero with 128000 miles on it,nct,with a warranty offered from the OPEL main dealership which it was in...got bus from cork to dublin then on to letterkenny..took it for test drive,no warning lights or any rattles etc

he assured me over the phone the car had been looked at thoroughly by his mechanic and he has given me a 3 month warranty on engine and transmission

drove down okay,literally the day after i started driving it around,it started giving trouble with a constant engine light popping up,paid for a new crank sensor (120 + labour)....

4 days after that,whilst driving normally,the car began to stop accelerating followed by a flashing engine light...brought it up to my mechanic who literally stripped down everything(throttle body,plugs,d.i,airflow,fuel pump,sensors,even a brand new turbocharger!!) and STILL could not find the problem which was caused the problem...(cost me 600 euro(let me off a good few quid infairness)...my mechanic informed me that it is a possible internal engine fault and also said it has developed a rattle coming from the timing chain,which is about a 10 hour labour job

the car drives again but now check engine light constantly on and the car feels so lumpy with only about 70% power especially for a car that i bought in the 1st place for the bit of performance aswell and takes a good 10 minutes to start after being left for over an hour..



i am so infuriated,i am requesting the main dealership i bought it off either fix the engine problem or give me a refund of the money i paid for labour and parts for the engine...have spent nearly 800 euro in my first week of ownership

i have the warranty on official dealership paper and it simply says full engine warranty provided except normal servicing...

what i find appalling is the attitude of the dealership i bought it off, i informed them of the initial sensor that was replaced and didnt worry about paying that but they were infuriated after i demanded them paying some bit of the bill if i posted up the original invoice from my mechanic,as i only have the car a week...

does anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences??

should i demand that the engine be repaired by the opel dealer??

it really is hard to take,especially after owning the car only 9 days and with it being a big main dealer,i would have thought that some compassion could have been shown, with regard to the money i have spent...

i am absolutely disheartened that this has happened me and can imagine how this has happened to another poor person at some point...any help appreciated please guys,thanks

h3000

First off sorry to hear of your trouble with the car. I'd love one myself.

Did you try to bring the car back to the dealer for repair? In fairness to the dealer the warranty would normally cover any repairs they carry out on the car, I don't really think its really meant to cover third party repairs unless agreed by both parties.


Not trying to be a bollix but buying a high performance Saab without someone who really knows them is a bit silly?

Guy:Incognito

dos19881999 wrote: »

what i find appalling is the attitude of the dealership i bought it off, i informed them of the initial sensor that was replaced and didnt worry about paying that but they were infuriated after i demanded them paying some bit of the bill if i posted up the original invoice from my mechanic,as i only have the car a week...

I can understand why they wouldn't be happy. The warranty is provided by them. They sort any issues. It's not that they will pay some other garage to fix it. If they are fixing the issue, their own mechanic is working on it and the cost to them is parts at trade prices. Paying for the work to be done elsewhere and they are paying full whack for the lot.

djimi

Generally speaking I would say your first port of call should have been with the dealer with whom you have the warranty. It's very unlikely that anyone would reimburse you for work carried out by another mechanic, nor will they commit to a whole lot without seeing the car first.

Also the fact that a third party has done so much work on the car might make it trickier; I can't see the dealer wanting to stand over someone else's work.

Sorry to hear of your troubles though; I hope that you can get it sorted.

Syllabus

u bought a saab.............................

u actually paid someone real life money for a saab!!!!!!!!!!!!


hope u have deep pockets

dos19881999

dos19881999 wrote: »

...........with a warranty offered from the OPEL main dealership which it was in.............brought it up to my mechanic who literally stripped down everything(throttle body,plugs,d.i,airflow,fuel pump,sensors,even a brand new turbocharger!!) and STILL could not find the problem which was caused the problem...(cost me 600 euro...............

I'm intrigued how an apparent adult would have no idea how a warranty works tbh.

mathepac

Well in fairness it's only an Opel / Vauxhall Vectra re-badged, which is both the good news and the bad news. The good news is most indys can work on them and parts are as cheap as chips, the bad news is well you already know the bad news.

OP you had no business allowing your mechanic to work on the car. The warranty was offered by the vendor; now a 3rd party has done extensive work on the car. How are they supposed to know what he did?

IMHO your warranty is now void unfortunately.

bazz26

The warranty is with the dealer you bought the car from so it should have been brought back to them to be diagnosed and fixed unless pre agreeing with them that they will cover the cost of repair done by another garage/mechanic. The reason for this is that they can fix it alot cheaper by using their own mechanics and buying parts at trade prices.

So imo if the car still has an issue I would expect they sort it under the terms of the warranty but I think there is little chance they will cover the money you have already spent on it by bringing it somewhere else.

mathepac

mathepac wrote: »

......... the bad news is well you already know the bad news..........

The bad news is also that engine faults on them are often more or less fatal and unique to Saab model, the Opel 2.0 wouldn't be at all as fragile

3DataModem

You have voided the warranty by not returning the car to the dealer who gave you the warranty when the problem arose.

That's what a warranty is... it's not an insurance policy.

bazz26

Infamous oil sludge?

mickdw

Why oh why would you undertake a major strip down when you had a main dealer offering you warranty cover on the engine. Your thread title also appears to place blame on the warranty as you seem to see yourself as a victim.
There are a lot of people who bought Saabs with engine problems that would be singing with joy if they had a main dealer to look after the repair.

Our man in Havana

I think the problem is the distances involved.

shawnee

Okay you bought the car in Letterkenny and you are in Cork. You appear to have a bit of knowledge about cars so I don't see where the problem is with you buying this car atall. I quite like the Saabs and regularily think of buying one. However I am often put off (by non Saab owners and other reviews) from buying one. They appear to be finicky when they go wrong. I don't see how having the car worked on would invalidate the warranty. You were in Cork , car gave problem , not sure what it was , you're hardly going to drive to FECKIN Donegal are you ? However at this point I think you should put the car on a transporter and hand it back to the dealer to fix it. I don't think you are entitled to the third party money but you are certainly entitled to have a running car . You did get a warranty , insist on it and tell them if they don't fix it you will publicize it and take them to court Best of luck and hey put it down to experience... I have :rolleyes:

TRS30

By the sounds of it even having it checked before you bought it wouldn't have discovered the issue if your mechanic spend hours stripping the engine and still didn't find anything.

Best of luck as I have has my problems with my Saab as well.....

Henry Ford III

Unfortunately it seems you've created a real messy situation OP. Consider it from the sellers perspective - car sold and warranty purchased. Next thing they know is claims of serious engine problems and that an unauthorised and unknown mechanic has been working on it, and for all they know possibly making things worse.

djimi

shawnee wrote: »

I don't see how having the car worked on would invalidate the warranty.

Because the dealer was not given a chance to assess the nature of the original problem, and now there are issues after a third party has done extensive work on the car. For all the dealer knows the third party caused the issues trying to repair the car. There is absolutely no way that they can be expected to stand over someone elses work.

djimi

Our man in Havana wrote: »

I think the problem is the distances involved.

It is of course, but in fairness you dont buy a car from the other side of the country unless you are prepared to drive back up to where you got it if you have any issues.

shawnee

RoverJames wrote: »

I'm intrigued how an apparent adult would have no idea how a warranty works tbh.

Helpful or what :eek::D:p

Surely if you can't help ..... could at least remain silent....:D;):eek:

Mossess

I think you have voided the warranty by getting your mechanic to look at it. However, it is not reasonable to think that your course of action wasn't the right thing to do. Phone the dealer you bought it from, get them to repair it, soak up whatever you spent on it. If they refuse to repair the damage done by your mechanic (They can say that because for all they know he did it) then sue them for the price of the car and the repairs. But don't waste any time.

bucketybuck

bazz26 wrote: »

So imo if the car still has an issue I would expect they sort it under the terms of the warranty but I think there is little chance they will cover the money you have already spent on it by bringing it somewhere else.

shawnee wrote: »

You were in Cork , car gave problem , not sure what it was , you're hardly going to drive to FECKIN Donegal are you ? However at this point I think you should put the car on a transporter and hand it back to the dealer to fix it. I don't think you are entitled to the third party money but you are certainly entitled to have a running car . You did get a warranty , insist on it and tell them if they don't fix it you will publicize it and take them to court Best of luck and hey put it down to experience... I have :rolleyes:

Of course he is expected to drive back to Donegal. Did he think he was getting European cover on a second hand car?

The selling dealer is perfectly entitled to claim that the warranty is now void. As far as they know some random guy has stripped the engine for some reason, how do they know if the mechanic knew what he was doing? Its perfectly feasible to claim that any original fault may have been a simple fix, but that some guy messing around has now caused more harm than good.

There are plenty of good independent mechanics (my father is one ) but there are also plenty of complete idiots. There is no way I would entertain a reported engine fault after hearing that some other random bloke had actually just stripped and rebuilt the engine.

There is a reason opening up an Ipod or a laptop voids the warranty...

kirving

Mossess wrote: »

If they refuse to repair the damage done by your mechanic (They can say that because for all they know he did it) then sue them for the price of the car and the repairs. But don't waste any time.

Sue them for not standing over the work of another garage whose quality of work they know nothing about?

Unfortunate as the OP was, he should have only dealt with the original garage. Remember, it was his choice to travel the length of the country, which has proved a problem when it comes to repairs.

h3000

Mossess wrote: »

I think you have voided the warranty by getting your mechanic to look at it. However, it is not reasonable to think that your course of action wasn't the right thing to do. Phone the dealer you bought it from, get them to repair it, soak up whatever you spent on it. If they refuse to repair the damage done by your mechanic (They can say that because for all they know he did it) then sue them for the price of the car and the repairs. But don't waste any time.

Why should the dealer be responsible? The dealer offered a warranty and the OP decided to go to a third party and then try to get the dealer to pay for the repairs. It's not really the dealers problem that the OP lived at the other end of the country.

I'm sure the OP could try to sue but I really could not see them getting anywhere.

Anan1

Lads, I don't think the OP is coming back.

djimi

Anan1 wrote: »

Lads, I don't think the OP is coming back.

Yeah something tells me this didn't go as they had expected it to :pac:

bucketybuck

shawnee wrote: »

You did get a warranty , insist on it and tell them if they don't fix it you will publicize it and take them to court Best of luck and hey put it down to experience... I have :rolleyes:

Mossess wrote: »

then sue them for the price of the car and the repairs. But don't waste any time.

OP, please please don't listen to these people. You will throw good money after bad and then the case would be thrown out of court. The seller will simply state that some unauthorised person stripped the engine causing the fault, and that they cant be held liable for some DIY job.

Thats what they will say, and the judge will agree with them.

Our man in Havana

OP has closed their account. No point continuing this.