What to do with a faulty car when the warranty is just up?

shamlynch

Hi lads,

My brother recently bought a VW Golf from a dealership and got a 3 month warranty with it. Literally a few days after the 3 month mark the car started giving trouble and now won't start. It looks like a big problem and he has brought it to a few different places to get it fixed, hasn't got a definitive answer on the problem yet but it;s going to be very expensive to fix! More importantly in looks like the guys in the dealers may have turned off lights on the dash before it was sold as the car was really low on oil and that light didn't come up, the oil may be leaking somewhere in the engine. Anyway what I want to know is what rights does he have against these boys? They won't do anything as the warranty is up but clearly they sold him a dodgy car! All comments appreciated thanks in advance lads.

Eric Cartman

the oil should be checked regularly regardless of lights working or not. You have no way to prove that the previous owner didn't do it before selling it to the dealer. a small oil leak that took 3 months to leak oil from a car would be a small gasket or something that could go any time. if it was caught earlier it would have been fine.

You could ask the dealer out of good will to perhaps contribute some cash to a repair, but accusing them of doing something dodgy , i think is a bit of a stretch.

realistically always check a used car before you buy and perform basic checks like oil level regularly.

don't think you'd have much comeback.

Toyotafanboi

What year and engine is the Golf?
What is the nature of the fault?
What kind of dealer was it bought from?

Not really much info to go on at present.

shamlynch

Well it wasn't actually the low oil that did any damage because he checked it a while back and saw the oil was practically out and topped it up. I was just using that as an example that something wasn't right and that the oil light wasn't coming on when it should have. So are there other lights that have been turned off too?

The garage he took it to most recently says there are wires that look corroded so at the moment the car is getting rewired. If that fixes it then great, but if it doesn't he's been told it will cost him a small fortune to fix.

shamlynch

07 VW Golf, the car started losing power the weekend and when parked up it wouldn't start agin but kept turning over. The engine management light and battery light came up on the dash when he had the keys in. And it was bought from a new dealers that opened they sold a range of cars, VW Audis etc.

Toyotafanboi

I think you are jumping to too many conclusions with the oil light. I don't know if the mk5 has an oil level warning light, but if it does, it really wouldn't come on until "crisis point". If the dipstick was getting wet at all, the light wouldn't come on i'd say.

I'd get that car to someone handy with VW's, this could well be a simple fix. "Corroded wires" are unlikely to shut a car down all of a sudden with no onset symptoms over time. If it's turning over but not starting it's likely a fuelling issue, but it's all speculation on here really.

What mileage is on the car?

shamlynch

That's fair enough about jumping to conclusions, either of us are far from mechanics so all this is speculation. At the same time though the brother brought the car to 2 mechanics since the weekend and both have thrown in the word dodgy which is why I've been saying the same thing. The first mechanic looks after bmws and couldn't figure out the problem so the brother brought it to a VW mechanic last night who decided to try rewiring it. This mechanic also changed injectors pumps hybrid pump and nothing seemed to work, this is what I was told this evening. I'm not sure about the milage I'll find out when I can from him what it is but i think it was just over the 100k mark

savagethegoat

Warranty expired? your only hope is to talk to the dealer and see if he'll do something to help. He doesn't have to though, so talk nicely to him.

bear1

Bring it to a proper mechanic. You can see already they are just trying to change anything to see if it will fix it.
Get a diagnostics done too.
The belt wouldn't have snapped by any chance would it?

Atlantic Dawn

When you turn the key in the ignition before you start the car and the dashboard lights up, does the oil light symbol light up with the others...

Trojan

I think that with any car you buy, for the first few months you should be checking coolant and oil levels at least weekly. Just get used to pulling the bonnet every so often and dipping & checking the float. Not a lot of hassle but could save you literally thousands.

struggling1

MkV Golf certainly has a low oil level sensor. Checking the oil on dipstick, for light to go on the oil will be lower than the lowermost indentation towards the end of the dipstick.

Your best option is to try and stay onside with the garage where car was bought and see if they will play ball. It's in their interest to keep happy customer especially if a new garage. If they don't then time to look at either main dealer (never cheap) or recommended independent garage.

bb12

if it's turning over but won't start could be something as simple as a crank position sensor

9935452

I assume the car is a 1.4 petrol.
They were known as an oil burner. I had a 02 that burnt 1 litre in 4k miles .
He needs to take the car to someone who can find out exactly whats wrong with it.
As people here are saying it might just be a dodgy sensor.


How often did he check the oil level in the car?
If he never did and it turns out to be the underlying cause of the car not starting, i would say the garage who sold it wouldnt be at fault or admit fault as they would claim negligance in not checking the oil level.