Timing belt failure ....within mileage but out of warranty

Thehoodedclaw · 31-01-2014 9:33pm #1

Hey folks. Bought a second hand car with new timing belt (full kit) installed by Main Dealer. 17 months (and 30,000 km later) the tensioner fails unexpectedly and sends crap into rest of the engine. The garage reckon it's about 2,500 to fix.

However, the timing belt is out of warranty (1 year) so they reckon it's just bad luck and I have to bare full costs.

My question is, do I have any comeback on this?

(It's been serviced by the same main dealer since I got it)

Neilw · 31-01-2014 9:40pm

Was the tensioner changed at the same time?

Thehoodedclaw · 31-01-2014 9:43pm

Neilw wrote: »

Was the tensioner changed at the same time?

Yep. the whole lot. or at least that's what they told me.

Neilw · 31-01-2014 9:47pm

What car is it? Could be a two year warranty on the parts.

debabyjesus · 31-01-2014 9:48pm

Thehoodedclaw wrote: »

Hey folks. Bought a second hand car with new timing belt (full kit) installed by Main Dealer. 17 months (and 30,000 km later) the tensioner fails unexpectedly and sends crap into rest of the engine. The garage reckon it's about 2,500 to fix.

However, the timing belt is out of warranty (1 year) so they reckon it's just bad luck and I have to bare full costs.

My question is, do I have any comeback on this?

(It's been serviced by the same main dealer since I got it)

Do you mean the garage gave you a 1 year guarantee on the work? As its a main dealer I presume they used genuine parts.

Id be getting on to the manufacturer of the tensioner. Someone is at fault, and it's not you. Either it was poor work by the garage or a defect with the tensioner. Id be expecting more that 17 months and 30k from genuine parts fitted by a main dealer tbh.

Chimaera · 31-01-2014 9:55pm

Parts warranty should cover you here.

Thehoodedclaw · 31-01-2014 10:07pm

debabyjesus wrote: »

Do you mean the garage gave you a 1 year guarantee on the work? As its a main dealer I presume they used genuine parts.

Id be getting on to the manufacturer of the tensioner. Someone is at fault, and it's not you. Either it was poor work by the garage or a defect with the tensioner. Id be expecting more that 17 months and 30k from genuine parts fitted by a main dealer tbh.

Garage saying the parts only had a one year warranty .... I'm missing one service invoice where I'm almost sure they said they'd adjusted it .... could be just wishful thinking though :-)

puddinboxxx · 31-01-2014 10:10pm

Make and model?I'm predicting somethin European but not german

Thehoodedclaw · 31-01-2014 10:14pm

puddinboxxx wrote: »

Make and model?I'm predicting somethin European but not german

Sorry gents. It's a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 litre Diesel ......

puddinboxxx · 31-01-2014 10:28pm

And their famous 7 year warranty?

Bpmull · 31-01-2014 10:31pm

puddinboxxx wrote: »

And their famous 7 year warranty?

They didn't have that in 2007 it was 2 or 3 year warranty.

Stavros Murphy · 31-01-2014 10:52pm

Thehoodedclaw wrote: »

Sorry gents. It's a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 litre Diesel ......

Reknowned belt breaker. Sis has one and I have her head melted to change the belt and associated gear. Is it not water-pump failure or some-such that fouls the belt rather than the belt itself? Or the auxillary belt breaking? I forget.

JohnBoy26 · 31-01-2014 11:04pm

puddinboxxx wrote: »

And their famous 7 year warranty?

Hyundai never had a "famous 7 year warranty" in fact they never had any 7 warranty.

unkel · 01-02-2014 12:04am

puddinboxxx wrote: »

Make and model?I'm predicting somethin European but not german

Don't get me started on the TB failures on Korean cars. It's a bit sad that people are thinking they are saving themselves a bit of money (and expecting big catch all warranties), but in fact they are buying heaps of econosh1te

bucketybuck · 01-02-2014 12:15am

debabyjesus wrote: »

Id be getting on to the manufacturer of the tensioner. Someone is at fault, and it's not you. Either it was poor work by the garage or a defect with the tensioner. Id be expecting more that 17 months and 30k from genuine parts fitted by a main dealer tbh.

You can expect all you want, but I believe that European legislation mandates one years statutary parts warranty. There will be no manufacturers parts warranty on the parts fitted by the dealer.

OP, can you clarify something. Did you buy the second hand car from the dealer, or did you happen to buy a car that they had previously changed the belt on? The OP could be read either way.

Cogsy88 · 01-02-2014 12:17am

puddinboxxx wrote: »

Make and model?I'm predicting somethin European but not german

Cause German cars never ever break belts!!

bucketybuck · 01-02-2014 12:29am

Thehoodedclaw wrote: »

Hey folks. Bought a second hand car with new timing belt (full kit) installed by Main Dealer. 17 months (and 30,000 km later) the tensioner fails unexpectedly and sends crap into rest of the engine. The garage reckon it's about 2,500 to fix.

However, the timing belt is out of warranty (1 year) so they reckon it's just bad luck and I have to bare full costs.

My question is, do I have any comeback on this?

The fact that the timing belt was replaced previously is actually a bit of a red herring in all of this.

Heres the thing. You do not actually have any statutory rights with regards to that timing belt replacement, be it one years warranty or whatever. If there was 20 years parts warranty you still could not bring a warranty claim on that timing belt.

Why? Because you didn't pay for it. You did not hand over money for the replacement of that timing belt.

To claim parts warranty on anything, you have to first have bought and paid for the item in question. Do you have an invoice in your name for the replacement of that timing belt? No you don't. So just how can you claim parts warranty?

The dealer did pay for that timing belt, so they are the ones with the right to claim parts warranty. But the dealer knows that they have no claim as the one year statutory warranty period has expired, hence their response to you.

What you paid for was the car at a certain time and date. All of your statutory rights pertain to the vehicle itself, and as a second hand car your rights will be limited to the terms and conditions as agreed at sale. I would imagine you got 3 months warranty? Six months perhaps? Well that is the warranty that is relevant to you right now and I imagine it expired long ago.

ETA: Of course, this isn't really relevant if you did actually buy the car and then pay them to change the timing belt, but I'm unclear on those details from what you have posted so far.

bazz26 · 01-02-2014 1:12am

unkel wrote: »

Don't get me started on the TB failures on Korean cars. It's a bit sad that people are thinking they are saving themselves a bit of money (and expecting big catch all warranties), but in fact they are buying heaps of econosh1te

I know I shouldn't bite but as opposed to spending big bucks on certain premium German cars that need timing chains replaced.

debabyjesus · 01-02-2014 1:15am

bucketybuck wrote: »

You can expect all you want, but I believe that European legislation mandates one years statutary parts warranty. There will be no manufacturers parts warranty on the parts fitted by the dealer.

OP, can you clarify something. Did you buy the second hand car from the dealer, or did you happen to buy a car that they had previously changed the belt on? The OP could be read either way.

VW/Audi offer 2 years on their parts. Can't find anything online about a statutory 1 year coming from eu, not saying its not true but it's fairly lousy on the op if the garage did the work on his behalf and won't acknowledge a problem after such a short time/mileage.

JohnBoy26 · 01-02-2014 1:17am

unkel wrote: »

Don't get me started on the TB failures on Korean cars. It's a bit sad that people are thinking they are saving themselves a bit of money (and expecting big catch all warranties), but in fact they are buying heaps of econosh1te

A nonsense of a post if there ever was one :rolleyes:

noelf · 01-02-2014 4:41am

What would you do if this happened to you fix the car E2500 or scrap it ??

bucketybuck · 01-02-2014 10:19am

debabyjesus wrote: »

VW/Audi offer 2 years on their parts. Can't find anything online about a statutory 1 year coming from eu, not saying its not true but it's fairly lousy on the op if the garage did the work on his behalf and won't acknowledge a problem after such a short time/mileage.

I can see both sides of the issue to be honest. Garages and Part sellers both have to draw a line somewhere, they cannot be held liable for goods and services for the rest of their existence, its just not feasible to operate like that. Parts fail, its a simple fact of life, and it would close businesses down if they continually had to pay for and deal with issues regarding parts they sold years ago. Even criminals don't have to worry about conviction after a certain period of time, so why should a simple garage have to continually worry that customers are going to come back years later and demand money?

The question then becomes how long is too long? And for parts warranty, the EU has decided that the minimum should be one year. Thats now in Irish law I believe (and will try to dig out the relevant statute now). Some companies may offer two years but thats their decision, they are only legally obligated to offer one year. After one year, a business can reasonably go on with their existence without the shadow of customers coming back with demands.

Please note that this is all regarding parts warranty, and is not specific to the motor industry but to all consumer products. Your TV and Ipod has the same one year warranty also, which is why I never buy insurance for those things at the time of sale.

It not be the OP's fault that his timing belt tensioner failed after 17 months and I do have sympathy, but I just wanted to explain the other side.

Timing belt failure ....within mileage but out of warranty

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