I recently moved to the UK (Scotland) and purchased a car, and am now having some problems and would be greatly appreciative if the members on here could give me some advice on what they would do if in my situation.
I purchased a 2008 Vectra diesel 1.9 Sri on 21/03/2016. When I viewed it the previous Friday it seemed ok apart from a rattle on at low revs. The dealer said it was as the car hadn’t been driven in over a week and when it heats up it will be ok. He said he would MOT the car and fix up the bits and pieces and have it ready the Monday. I asked him to do the timing belt and water pump as well and after a bit of negotiating he agreed if I would pay the asking price (separate MOT centre would be carrying out the work). I arrived just before closing on Monday due to work and picked it up. However when I got home and checked through the documents there was no record of timing belt and water pump being done. I drove it to England the following morning for work and it was fine on the motorway, however driving in towns, at traffic lights etc there was a juddering at low revs and when engaging the clutch. I phoned the dealer to let him know about the missing documents and also informed him about the juddering which he said would be the clutch release bearing. Eventually the timing belt documents were posted out to me but I was still concerned about the noise.
I took the car to my local garage last week (6th April) to get the once over and put my mind at ease. Here is the list of items:
-three tyres cracked and worn below legal limit
-tracking out
-front bulb gone and number plate bulb gone
-Anti rollbar bushing gone in back
- DMF and clutch need to be replaced.
My worst fears were confirmed about the DMF and the clutch! I phoned the dealer immediately and his tone changed considerably. He said he would do his best to fit me in and have a look, however they would not be changing the DMF if it was noisy and not failed, and they don’t care what the other garages report says. He said they were busy in the next two weeks but he would give me a call back to see if he could fit me in. Needless to say no call, so I rang him again the next day and it went straight to voicemail I used my work phone to ring straight after and surprise surprise I got through. He began to make excuses as to why they couldn’t see the car next week as it was “Easter week and they were really busy”. My one month warranty will expire the week after along with my 30 day sale of goods act rejection period.
My thoughts are that I will write him a letter stating that he has to make good all the faults the other garage found or I will have to begin the process of reporting him to trading standards and rejecting the car under the sale of goods act, and I am considering reporting that MOT centre too. I have recorded all telephone conversations so far using an app for my phone so I have a record of exactly what was said and when,
Sorry for the length of post and any advice is greatly appreciated as I don’t really know much about cars (enough to get by) and anything above is what I’ve learnt from researching forums the last few days.
I purchased a 2008 Vectra diesel 1.9 Sri on 21/03/2016. When I viewed it the previous Friday it seemed ok apart from a rattle on at low revs. The dealer said it was as the car hadn’t been driven in over a week and when it heats up it will be ok. He said he would MOT the car and fix up the bits and pieces and have it ready the Monday. I asked him to do the timing belt and water pump as well and after a bit of negotiating he agreed if I would pay the asking price (separate MOT centre would be carrying out the work). I arrived just before closing on Monday due to work and picked it up. However when I got home and checked through the documents there was no record of timing belt and water pump being done. I drove it to England the following morning for work and it was fine on the motorway, however driving in towns, at traffic lights etc there was a juddering at low revs and when engaging the clutch. I phoned the dealer to let him know about the missing documents and also informed him about the juddering which he said would be the clutch release bearing. Eventually the timing belt documents were posted out to me but I was still concerned about the noise.
I took the car to my local garage last week (6th April) to get the once over and put my mind at ease. Here is the list of items:
-three tyres cracked and worn below legal limit
-tracking out
-front bulb gone and number plate bulb gone
-Anti rollbar bushing gone in back
- DMF and clutch need to be replaced.
My worst fears were confirmed about the DMF and the clutch! I phoned the dealer immediately and his tone changed considerably. He said he would do his best to fit me in and have a look, however they would not be changing the DMF if it was noisy and not failed, and they don’t care what the other garages report says. He said they were busy in the next two weeks but he would give me a call back to see if he could fit me in. Needless to say no call, so I rang him again the next day and it went straight to voicemail I used my work phone to ring straight after and surprise surprise I got through. He began to make excuses as to why they couldn’t see the car next week as it was “Easter week and they were really busy”. My one month warranty will expire the week after along with my 30 day sale of goods act rejection period.
My thoughts are that I will write him a letter stating that he has to make good all the faults the other garage found or I will have to begin the process of reporting him to trading standards and rejecting the car under the sale of goods act, and I am considering reporting that MOT centre too. I have recorded all telephone conversations so far using an app for my phone so I have a record of exactly what was said and when,
Sorry for the length of post and any advice is greatly appreciated as I don’t really know much about cars (enough to get by) and anything above is what I’ve learnt from researching forums the last few days.