Power steering failure on motorway, twice.

gemmamcl

New Member
Feb 14, 2011
1
0
0
Hi. In June last year I bought a ford fiesta style 08 from an arnold clark dealer for £6500 on a fixed-sum loan agreement. I also bought an extended warranty even though the car still had 8 months on the original warranty. The car was then put into a garage until I passed my test on december 29th 2010. I then insured the car and started driving. Within 3 weeks the tyres were bald and needed replaced. I knew that since I had the car over 6 months (despite it not being driven) then I couldn't really argue that arnold clark were at fault. But then the very next day my power steering failed on the motorway, causing me to almost crash into a barrier at high speed. Then the car completely turned off, rolling to a stop. However, when I turned the ignition the car started again and I drove it to the arnold clark garage, with the same fault happening 4 times on the way there. Arnold clark then took my car to be repaired under warranty. As I am only 17 I was not able to get a courtesy car. After two days the mechanic called me saying there was no problem with the car and asking if I could suggest what was wrong with it. Being a 17 year old girl, I had no idea about cars. Then after another 6 days with very little & vague communication (apparantly they couldn't find the fault), Arnold Clark told me they had fixed the car and gave me it back. In the logbook of repairs, it stated that the engine was "updated" and some values were reset. I didn't understand at all but trusted the car to have been fixed. Then, 4 days later I was driving with my 9 year old neice in the car when the fault happened again, causing me to lose control of the car, swerve into oncoming traffic and narrowly avoid hitting a van. Obviously, I was furious with Arnold Clark for giving me a dangerous car and endangering the lives of both my neice and myself. I called Arnold Clark and they came today to pick up the car. They say they will try again to fix the car but I do not trust them to properly fix it as it clearly didn't work last time. Would I be entitled to a replacement car and would the replacement car be of the value of the car when I bought it, or the value of the car right now? Thanks :)