Warranty won't cover repairs, now what?

dizzymenace

I bought a 2009 corolla 1.4 diesel with 177,000km on the 10th of march. on the 21st of march (11 days later) I noticed an oil leak into the drivers footwell. The car came with a warranty with car protect (standard cover) so I phoned them and they gave me the contact info of a mechanic to bring it to.

He diagnosed the problem as a leak from the clutch master cylinder. This wasn't covered under warranty and cost me 274euro. He also said that the clutch pedal is too heavy and something else may need replacing, costing 600-700euro and if the fly wheel needs replacing as well it may be 1600-1700euro in total. I've yet to hear if this will be covered under warranty.

The car was advertised with a warranty and presumed anything mechanical within the 3 months would be covered. Do I have any consumer rights with the dealer I bought from? Advice would be really appreciated, Thanks.

P.s. I don't know if this is the right place to post, mods can move if needed.

Toyotafanboi

Another example of car protect warranties being nothing more than a tool for dealers to fill a legal obligation than to actually aid the customer. Generally I would say those style warranties are next to useless.

If the clutch is worn making the pedal "heavy" this could have and does make the master cylinder fail. If the master cylinder has fully failed, there's no way to know now if the clutch is heavy, bar fit a new master cylinder. If there's 177k kms on the original clutch you can be pretty sure you'll need one.

Unlike other stories on here consumer rights might have your back on this one as the car is not fit for purpose with a clutch that doesn't work.

Long story short is if the dealer is sound they will get you sorted swiftly without any coaxing as a clutch replacement in a Corolla is handy work. If the dealer isn't great you are in for a long hard slog to try and get any recourse and despite your entitlement to it, you may not actually get anything and the easiest thing to do may be to suck it up and get it fixed yourself.

biko

From CI site
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/motoring/advice_on_buying_a_used_car_in_ireland.html

In this situation you, as a consumer, are protected by the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980 as you are buying a car for your personal use from a person whose normal business it is to sell cars.
As a consumer you have the same rights if you buy an item second hand as if it is new.

Not legal advice of course.

MetzgerMeister

A lot of these kind of warranties (Mapfre from my own experience) only cover sudden failure items. Wear and tear is never covered.

rizzee

Had Mapre warranty for a year which just expired last week. Covered nothing with numerous jobs I've had done on my car. There is a premium service however, i'm only speaking for the basic one (Dealer told me it was 250 euro for the year)

colm_mcm

Dont these diesel corollas have a solid flywheel?

CiniO

IMO OP should bring car back to the dealer and state it's not fit for purpose.

TeaBagMania

Warranties aren't worth the paper they're written on.
I never purchase warranties as its not worth my time to fight with those people, they look for every possible way to deny the claim.
Ill just save the money and fix it myself

dr.fuzzenstein

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

A lot of these kind of warranties (Mapfre from my own experience) only cover sudden failure items. Wear and tear is never covered.

Personally I think it's ridiculous that anyone would by a 9 year old car with near enough 200k km on the clock and jumps up and down when the clutch fails.
Next they will want the brakes and shocks replaced free of charge.
With the exception that the shop knew the item was faulty, but otherwise the clutch is a wear and tear item.
I would expect a warranty to cover engine and gearbox and not much more.
If anyone wants more cover, they can always buy the kipper warranty, as in "gutted as..."

CiniO

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Personally I think it's ridiculous that anyone would by a 9 year old car with near enough 200k km on the clock and jumps up and down when the clutch fails.

But look at this:

I bought a 2009 corolla 1.4 diesel with 177,000km on the 10th of march. on the 21st of march (11 days later) I noticed an oil leak into the drivers footwell. The car came with a warranty with car protect (standard cover) so I phoned them and they gave me the contact info of a mechanic to bring it to.

He diagnosed the problem as a leak from the clutch master cylinder. This wasn't covered under warranty and cost me 274euro. He also said that the clutch pedal is too heavy and something else may need replacing, costing 600-700euro and if the fly wheel needs replacing as well it may be 1600-1700euro in total. I've yet to hear if this will be covered under warranty.

It's a different matter if you buy a second hand car, and clutch starts slipping after good bit of mileage and half a year use.

But if you buy a second hand car from the garage, and clutch master cylinder starts leaking a week later, and mechanic after fixing it claims that clutch pedal is too heavy, then surely garage which sold vehicle should have some responsibility.

Next they will want the brakes and shocks replaced free of charge.

To be honest, if I bought a car from a dealer and my pads worn within one week of normal driving and started rubbing metal to metal then I would be rightly annoyed.
It's a dealers obligation to sell used car in usable condition.
Brake pads having only 0.2mm left on them, or clutch with obvious symptioms of dying soon, is not usable condition.

With the exception that the shop knew the item was faulty, but otherwise the clutch is a wear and tear item.

dizzymenace

Thanks for all the advice everyone,

The mechanic called me today as car protect called him. They told him that he was to carry out the repair, document with photos, change the part and send them the part for inspection. I'm to pay for the repair and then car protect will decide or not to reimburse me.

I asked the mechanic about the flywheel and he said it wasn't a dual mass fly wheel as he thought so....

colm_mcm wrote: »

Dont these diesel corollas have a solid flywheel?

You're correct.

The parts and labour totals 606 euro.

When should I contact the dealer? Obviously I'll seek a reimbursement for the master cylinder but I don't yet know if car protect will pay for the clutch or not.

Del2005

dizzymenace wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice everyone,

The mechanic called me today as car protect called him. They told him that he was to carry out the repair, document with photos, change the part and send them the part for inspection. I'm to pay for the repair and then car protect will decide or not to reimburse me.

I asked the mechanic about the flywheel and he said it wasn't a dual mass fly wheel as he thought so....



You're correct.

The parts and labour totals 606 euro.

When should I contact the dealer? Obviously I'll seek a reimbursement for the master cylinder but I don't yet know if car protect will pay for the clutch or not.

Contact the dealer ASAP to say that the car wasn't of merchantable quality and list the issues that you have, then ask what are they going to do to rectify the issues Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act? Say that the warranty is in addition to your consumer rights and that you want either a repair, refund or replacement.

Don't let the other mechanic anywhere near the car till you hear back from the dealer.

dizzymenace

Del2005 wrote: »

Contact the dealer ASAP to say that the car wasn't of merchantable quality and list the issues that you have, then ask what are they going to do to rectify the issues Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act? Say that the warranty is in addition to your consumer rights and that you want either a repair, refund or replacement.

Don't let the other mechanic anywhere near the car till you hear back from the dealer.

Thanks very much, I did just that. knowing your rights is a very powerful thing.

He gave me the impression that this was the first time he had an issue with a car or warranty, he mentioned when i bought the car, and again today that he only ever had one problem with a bmw turbocharger and it was covered under warranty.

I mentioned how the vehicle wasn't at merchantable quality, that the warranty was in addition to my consumer rights and that he had a responsibility that wasn't covered under warranty because the car wasn't fit for purpose.

He said I had the premium cover car protect offer. I presumed it was standard.

I bought the car in limerick and I live in Cork. He said his mechanic would do it much cheaper but its too inconvenient to bring it there and I've to use the car protect mechanic to see if they'll cover it yet. I stated that I would agree to accept a reimbursement of the cost his mechanic would have done the repair for, he offered to pay half and I agreed, which I feel is more than fair.

We agreed that he will reimburse half the cost of the cylinder and if the warranty won't cover the clutch, he'll pay half of that.

I'm sending him an email of the receipt for the master cylinder now and to confirm what we agreed on over the phone as to have some proof.