Faulty vehicle and unhelpful garage

that_other_guy

Hi All,

Sorry if this should be posted in the consumer issues forum but I think I will get more knowledgeable responses from this forum. Please mods move if you think it is in the wrong forum.

I am posting for a relation who is having an issue with a vehicle purchased from a dealer. I will try to provide as much info as I have :

My relation traded in a Transit Connect for a Nissan Navara of the same year plus cash. He was given a 3 months or 3000 km engine & gearbox warranty only (written on the receipt). After about about 6 weeks he noticed it was losing power and not going as it should. When he called they said bring it in and they'll have a look at it. Since he is working very far from his home and only travels home at weekends he was not able to organise time off work to bring it in to them. After less than 2 months after buying the van (but more than 3000 km on clock since the purchase) , the engine went in the van (head gasket). Since this happened the garage are refusing to answer any calls from him and want nothing to do with it, even though he reported the problem prior to the 3000km being passed.

To replace the engine will be over €2000 parts and labour which is a large amount of money given what has already been spent on the purchase and only getting 2 months out of it.

I have checked and it doesn't look like the garage is a member of SIMI . Can anyone comment on what if any entitlement he have from the garage, and what if any responsibilities the garage have in this case?

I will try to get any additional info required as soon as I can contact my relation and post back here. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

that_other_guy

bazz26

First of all a dealer being a member of the S.I.M.I. adds no benefit to a consumer so forget about that notion.

Secondly I'm not a legal eagle so this is just my personal take on it. The terms of the warranty were 3 months or 3000 km, which ever came first. While your relation reported an issue within the terms of the warranty he was asked to drop the van in by the garage so that they could check it. Since your relation didn't or couldn't have it looked at by garage for whatever reason, the warranty expired in the mean time by continuing to drive the van over the 3000 km threshold.

Again this is just my opinion, I really don't see how the garage have anything to answer for here since they asked your relative to bring the van to them. Even though your relative could not get the van to them I don't see how it's the garage's fault now or how they would be expected to fix it under warranty. Given the miles that your relative clocked up surely he knew that a 3000 km warranty would not last very long and maybe should have parked the van up until he could got it to them?

Also while I understand that your relative is working far from home and could not get the van to the garage in a timely manner would he not have known this at the time of purchase and agreement with the warranty? Another thing did he continue to drive the van even with the problem, this could also have contributed to further damaging the engine? I do have sympathy for your relative's situation but he must not have really understood the terms of the warranty at the time when he purchased the van or the practically of having to bring it back in the event of an issue.

colm_mcm

Who continues to drive a van knowing there's something wrong?

Stheno

bazz26 wrote: »

First of all a dealer being a member of the S.I.M.I. adds no benefit to a consumer so forget about that notion.

Secondly I'm not a legal eagle so this is just my personal take on it. The terms of the warranty were 3 months or 3000 km, which ever came first. While your relation reported an issue within the terms of the warranty he was asked to drop the van in by the garage so that they could check it. Since your relation didn't or couldn't have it looked at by garage for whatever reason, the warranty expired in the mean time by continuing to drive the van over the 3000 km threshold.

Again this is just my opinion, I really don't see how the garage have anything to answer for here since they asked your relative to bring the van to them. Even though your relative could not get the van to them I don't see how it's the garage's fault now or how they would be expected to fix it under warranty. Given the miles that your relative clocked up surely he knew that a 3000 km warranty would not last very long and maybe should have parked the van up until he could got it to them?

Also while I understand that your relative is working far from home and could not get the van to the garage in a timely manner would he not have known this at the time of purchase and agreement with the warranty? Another thing did he continue to drive the van even with the problem, this could also have contributed to further damaging the engine? I do have sympathy for your relative's situation but he must not have really understood the terms of the warranty at the time when he purchased the van or the practically of having to bring it back in the event of an issue.

Agree 100% with this, he knew there was something wrong, was asked to bring the van in, didn't, then the warranty expired and the engine went.

If he'd taken it in within the warranty period of 3k miles he might have a case.

As it is, he doesn't.