Hello,
My wife is a registered keeper of a lovely little 2008 (58) Plate Citroen C2 1.4 VTR in Silver which we purchased a little over a year ago as an Approved Used Car from a Citroen main dealer in Cheltenham.
Despite being 4 years old the car currently only has 24,000 miles on the clock but having owned the car for a year we gave the car a service when its MOT was due in October at our local Citroen dealer. The car flew through its MOT.
Approx. 15 days after the service and MOT, on a fairly major 4 lane roundabout at ~4:45pm near our home my wife experienced complete loss of power in the car and was challenged with the prospect of safely exiting said roundabout whilst confronted with a thick wall of steam and burning oil from the car’s engine! Although understandably shaken up, fortunately no physical harm to my wife or sister (who was a passenger at the time) was done and my wife managed to coast the car to a safe spot off of the roundabout.
Since the car had just come to end of its Citroen Approved Used Car Warranty (I’d shredded the Warranty renewal just days before) we’d not yet arraigned Breakdown Covericon so the next morning I towed it back down to the local Citroën main dealer for them to diagnose the problem.
The Main dealer in Bristol phoned me to tell me they weren’t sure what had happened but there was a hole in the engine block where the water pump was supposed to be. The long and short of it is the car needs a complete new engine. I asked them to quote for this and they returned an estimate of £3203.94 (coincidentally almost the exact private resale value of the car in A1 condition).
The car would have been originally sold with a 3 year/60,000 mile warranty. The car might be older than 3 years old but the mileage of the car isn’t even half of the mileage covered under its original manufactures warranty. In addition to this we purchased the car with an Approved Used Car Warranty which had just expired some 10-15 days before in incident. The Sale of Goods Act says that goods should be of 'satisfactory quality', and in practice, they should last a reasonable amount of time before developing a problem. In this respect is it reasonable for an internal combustion engine/water pump to catastrophically fail given the age/low mileage of the car?
I've had an independent automotive engineer look at the car and he's confirmed the findings of the main dealer in Bristol. Furthermore he's ascertained that it was the water pump that blew up and took the side out of the engine block out in the process. I've written to the Main Dealer in Cheltenham from whom we purchased the car little over 13 months ago. I am claiming that there was a manufacturing fault with the water pump which was present at the point of sale but has only now become apparent. On this basis I am looking for the dealer to foot the bill for the fitment of a new engine under the Sale of Goods Act. I am also claiming that the car was not of satisfactory quality since the water pump did not last a reasonable amount of time (The pump should last longer than the timing/cam belt which drives it!).
On the basis of the SOGAicon and this article: "guardian.co.uk/money/2011/apr/17/consumer-rights-refunds" do you think it’s reasonable for me to look to the dealer pay for the full cost of repairing my wife’s vehicle?
I have transported the car up to Cheltenham at my own expense for the Dealer to inspect the car. The dealer has approached Citroen UK for a contributionicon towards the cost of repairs. Citroen UK have offered to pay for approx. 50% of the gross cost of the parts, leaving me to pay for the remainder, labour and VAT.
I have again written to the Dealer in Cheltenham telling them that I am appreciative of their efforts but this simply isn't good enough.The dealer in Cheltenham as written back to me basically telling me that they will fix my car but I will have to find £1577.40 inc VAT to cover the balance else I can get lost and take them to court.
I believe that the dealer is shirking their responsibility under the SoGA. What do others think to this situation? Do I have a good enough case to go to the Small Claims Court? Thanks in advance for your pointers and advice.
Regards
Ben
My wife is a registered keeper of a lovely little 2008 (58) Plate Citroen C2 1.4 VTR in Silver which we purchased a little over a year ago as an Approved Used Car from a Citroen main dealer in Cheltenham.
Despite being 4 years old the car currently only has 24,000 miles on the clock but having owned the car for a year we gave the car a service when its MOT was due in October at our local Citroen dealer. The car flew through its MOT.
Approx. 15 days after the service and MOT, on a fairly major 4 lane roundabout at ~4:45pm near our home my wife experienced complete loss of power in the car and was challenged with the prospect of safely exiting said roundabout whilst confronted with a thick wall of steam and burning oil from the car’s engine! Although understandably shaken up, fortunately no physical harm to my wife or sister (who was a passenger at the time) was done and my wife managed to coast the car to a safe spot off of the roundabout.
Since the car had just come to end of its Citroen Approved Used Car Warranty (I’d shredded the Warranty renewal just days before) we’d not yet arraigned Breakdown Covericon so the next morning I towed it back down to the local Citroën main dealer for them to diagnose the problem.
The Main dealer in Bristol phoned me to tell me they weren’t sure what had happened but there was a hole in the engine block where the water pump was supposed to be. The long and short of it is the car needs a complete new engine. I asked them to quote for this and they returned an estimate of £3203.94 (coincidentally almost the exact private resale value of the car in A1 condition).
The car would have been originally sold with a 3 year/60,000 mile warranty. The car might be older than 3 years old but the mileage of the car isn’t even half of the mileage covered under its original manufactures warranty. In addition to this we purchased the car with an Approved Used Car Warranty which had just expired some 10-15 days before in incident. The Sale of Goods Act says that goods should be of 'satisfactory quality', and in practice, they should last a reasonable amount of time before developing a problem. In this respect is it reasonable for an internal combustion engine/water pump to catastrophically fail given the age/low mileage of the car?
I've had an independent automotive engineer look at the car and he's confirmed the findings of the main dealer in Bristol. Furthermore he's ascertained that it was the water pump that blew up and took the side out of the engine block out in the process. I've written to the Main Dealer in Cheltenham from whom we purchased the car little over 13 months ago. I am claiming that there was a manufacturing fault with the water pump which was present at the point of sale but has only now become apparent. On this basis I am looking for the dealer to foot the bill for the fitment of a new engine under the Sale of Goods Act. I am also claiming that the car was not of satisfactory quality since the water pump did not last a reasonable amount of time (The pump should last longer than the timing/cam belt which drives it!).
On the basis of the SOGAicon and this article: "guardian.co.uk/money/2011/apr/17/consumer-rights-refunds" do you think it’s reasonable for me to look to the dealer pay for the full cost of repairing my wife’s vehicle?
I have transported the car up to Cheltenham at my own expense for the Dealer to inspect the car. The dealer has approached Citroen UK for a contributionicon towards the cost of repairs. Citroen UK have offered to pay for approx. 50% of the gross cost of the parts, leaving me to pay for the remainder, labour and VAT.
I have again written to the Dealer in Cheltenham telling them that I am appreciative of their efforts but this simply isn't good enough.The dealer in Cheltenham as written back to me basically telling me that they will fix my car but I will have to find £1577.40 inc VAT to cover the balance else I can get lost and take them to court.
I believe that the dealer is shirking their responsibility under the SoGA. What do others think to this situation? Do I have a good enough case to go to the Small Claims Court? Thanks in advance for your pointers and advice.
Regards
Ben
