Dealer not playing ball.

JustJoe7240

Just looking for some advice here;
My partner bought a car from a dealer in Dublin in the 2nd week of February, She had the car checked by an independant third party,a mechanic, who was with her when she was making the deal, The salesman promised her a full 3 month warranty, which she clarified was a full warranty rather than just engine and gearbox, to which the 3rd party can verify.

Now she's having some major electrical issues with the car windows, has had it looked at by a family friend, an auto electrician who can't find the fault, i.e not switches or regulators, who has told her it could come in to quite a bit of money to fix.

She contacted the dealer who has told her the salesman has since left the company, and that "they'd never offer a full warranty on a used car", she was misinformed, Despite having a 3rd party clarify what he said.They fobbed her off for a week or so, promising a call back etc, But it seems like they have had enough of her calls as today one guy blatantly told her it was a used car and to expect problems, Tough Luck essentially.

Is there anything we can actually do here, We spoke to the CCPC who told us if we don't feel like the product is fit for purpose, We're entitled to a repair, We can also make a complaint to the SIMI, which we will be doing, and can make a claim in the small claims court. Anyone have any advice on how to proceed? This has pissed me off, as it's scummy from the dealer, Will say anything to make a sale and then once it's sold, Off with you!

Thanks

JC01

Unless you have the warranty in writing then you have no warranty. Generally they are third party warranties sold with the car and usually they are flimsy to say the least, I have never heard of a garage offering a full warranty on a used car, it can be hard enough to have manufactures cover warrantys on brand new cars!!

Unfortunately SIMI are a waste of time, you may need to jot this down to experience.

On the plus side the windows may not be that big an issue, unless it's a very high end car then the windows will be a simple enough system and can most likely be repaired on the cheap. What model car is it and what are the problems?

bazz26

Did you get the warranty terms in writing? Without that then it's your word against theirs and your only avenue of potential recourse is probably through the SCC. I'd also probably pay a visit in person to the garage unannounced to have a nose around in case the story about the sales guy leaving is just a tall tale to get rid of you.

doherlisa

Not a nice experience. Hope you get it sorted

beertons

Call round and see if he's still there.

JustJoe7240

bazz26 wrote: »

Did you get the warranty terms in writing? Without that then it's your word against theirs and your only avenue of potential recourse is probably through the SCC. I'd also probably pay a visit in person to the garage unannounced to have a nose around in case the story about the sales guy leaving is just a tall tale to get rid of you.

Got warranty in writing, But it doesn't specifically say 3 months full warranty, It just says "3 months warranty", which one could argue isn't 3 months engine and gearbox either.

Will pop down to see if he's actually gone, But if he is, it sounds like he was just saying anything to make the sale.

It's an 08 polo so nothing fancy, But need to get it sorted anyways.

Alanstrainor

As annoying as this is, I wonder if just focusing on fixing the problem would be better. Chasing a cowboy is never an easy thing, and it'll stress you know end.

There's a few threads online about window issues with this year polo:

https://uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?t=66892

UPDATE - PROBLEM RESOLVED

Took door card apart and unplugged all connections to check everything was ok and more sure there was no corrosion which there wasnt.

I then held the window switch down whilst my brother wiggled all the connection points. When wiggling the point where the wires connect to the window motor the window started to go down! After wiggling each individual wire we traced it to one particular black wire which was slightly longer than the others and kinked. We bunched the wires together and cable tied them so that they were all straight. This has resolved the problem and the window now works fine .

Its possible that the black wire may be frayed internally and so if it stops working again I will replace it but everything is fine so far.

JustJoe7240

OSI wrote: »

Doesn't sound like a very good auto-electrician. What fault is she having?

Sorry, meant to clarify, turns out it was mechanic that took a look at it rather than an auto spark.

Fault is the windows will go down but only intermittently go back up, normally switching it off and then back on again would resolve issue, But won't do so any more, and the windows are stuck down, as they have been since last Friday.

Alanstrainor

JustJoe7240 wrote: »

Sorry, meant to clarify, turns out it was mechanic that took a look at it rather than an auto spark.

Fault is the windows will go down but only intermittently go back up, normally switching it off and then back on again would resolve issue, But won't do so any more, and the windows are stuck down, as they have been since last Friday.

Reads exactly like the fault in that thread I posted... I'd be taking the door card(s) off and having a look for that black cable they are talking about.