Car has been a nightmare from new
Discussion
Hi all,
Would appreciate your thoughts, comments and advice please. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that.
I got a brand new car 19 months ago. I won't tell you what make the car is in case I break any "name & shame" rules, but it's a £20k diesel engined family hatchback from a reputable brand.
For the first 12 months, all was good - it's a lovely car to drive, very smooth, powerful, well equipped and had no issues whatsoever.
Then 6 months ago a few niggling issues started to crop up. The automatic windscreen wipers would suddenly stop working in the rain, the alarm would go off occasionally in the night and the central locking started playing up, the odd warning switch broke, the steering kept going out of alignment. Nothing major but damn annoying - though despite repeated visits to the dealer, most of these niggles are still unresolved.
In November it went in for it's routine service. I got a call from the garage saying that they had discovered the timing chain tensioner was faulty and that the part was on back-order and would take around 3 months to arrive. Meanwhile I wasn't allowed to drive the car as the chain could "let go" and destroy the engine, which wouldn't be covered under warranty. In the event they got the part in 4 weeks not 3 months, they fitted it and all was well again....... for a few days.
Then the the auxilliary drive belt started squealing over the Christmas and the only place open was the local independant garage round the corder. They took a look and they told me the belt would need replacing. They said it had probably got contaminated with oil when they changed the timing chain. I called the dealer early January and booked it in for a new belt to be fitted.
I dropped the car off as planned and got a call later that day to say they would need to order the belt in and it would take a week!!!! (no explanation was given as to why they didn't order the belt when I booked it in!!).
A week later it went into the dealer again for the belt to be fitted and got another call telling me a new tensioner was needed and that it would be 2 days for that part to arrive. So back into a courtesy car (which smelt of vomit!) for another 2 days.
That was fitted and all was well again.... until this morning when I discovered that it's now leaking engine oil from the timing chain side of the engine (looks like it's coming from the cam chain cover so possibly related to the repair that was done in November) and has dripped dirty engine oil all over my brand new block paved driveway.
I am at my wits end with this car. The lease company (it's a company car) have already approached the manufacturer on my behalf but they rejected any request for goodwill compensation as all the problems had "been covered under their extensive warranty" (oh that's ok then!!). Bearing in mind I am seriously out of pocket now as a result of all the trips back and forth to the dealers, plus the cost of doing several thousand miles in less economical hire/loan cars, plus the sheer inconvenience of it all.... and now it's damaged my £4000 driveway.
Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts or advice please. What you would do in my circumstances. The car has covered 34,000 miles now and is 19 months old.
Thanks in advance.
Would appreciate your thoughts, comments and advice please. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that.
I got a brand new car 19 months ago. I won't tell you what make the car is in case I break any "name & shame" rules, but it's a £20k diesel engined family hatchback from a reputable brand.
For the first 12 months, all was good - it's a lovely car to drive, very smooth, powerful, well equipped and had no issues whatsoever.
Then 6 months ago a few niggling issues started to crop up. The automatic windscreen wipers would suddenly stop working in the rain, the alarm would go off occasionally in the night and the central locking started playing up, the odd warning switch broke, the steering kept going out of alignment. Nothing major but damn annoying - though despite repeated visits to the dealer, most of these niggles are still unresolved.
In November it went in for it's routine service. I got a call from the garage saying that they had discovered the timing chain tensioner was faulty and that the part was on back-order and would take around 3 months to arrive. Meanwhile I wasn't allowed to drive the car as the chain could "let go" and destroy the engine, which wouldn't be covered under warranty. In the event they got the part in 4 weeks not 3 months, they fitted it and all was well again....... for a few days.
Then the the auxilliary drive belt started squealing over the Christmas and the only place open was the local independant garage round the corder. They took a look and they told me the belt would need replacing. They said it had probably got contaminated with oil when they changed the timing chain. I called the dealer early January and booked it in for a new belt to be fitted.
I dropped the car off as planned and got a call later that day to say they would need to order the belt in and it would take a week!!!! (no explanation was given as to why they didn't order the belt when I booked it in!!).
A week later it went into the dealer again for the belt to be fitted and got another call telling me a new tensioner was needed and that it would be 2 days for that part to arrive. So back into a courtesy car (which smelt of vomit!) for another 2 days.
That was fitted and all was well again.... until this morning when I discovered that it's now leaking engine oil from the timing chain side of the engine (looks like it's coming from the cam chain cover so possibly related to the repair that was done in November) and has dripped dirty engine oil all over my brand new block paved driveway.
I am at my wits end with this car. The lease company (it's a company car) have already approached the manufacturer on my behalf but they rejected any request for goodwill compensation as all the problems had "been covered under their extensive warranty" (oh that's ok then!!). Bearing in mind I am seriously out of pocket now as a result of all the trips back and forth to the dealers, plus the cost of doing several thousand miles in less economical hire/loan cars, plus the sheer inconvenience of it all.... and now it's damaged my £4000 driveway.
Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts or advice please. What you would do in my circumstances. The car has covered 34,000 miles now and is 19 months old.
Thanks in advance.
Under no circumstances stop paying the leasing company, in all likelihood it will jeopardise your ability to lease in the future.
It's unlikely that the leasing company will act for you, yes they are supposed to supply you with a car that works but sadly you are just a number and they are unlikely to help. I work in the leasing industry and it's becoming ever more call centre-ised which is unfortunate, but true.
I had a Z4 which was an absolute nightmare from new. Find out who is in charge of customer relations at the manufacturer concerned and write a good letter detailing all of your problems. BMW Customer Relations and David Holmes BMW handled my complaints very well indeed and while the numerous problems with the car were a pain in the backside I was never left without transport and everything was put right in the end. BMW even sent me substantial compensation for my troubles which was unexpected and very welcome. Unfortunately you sometimes get bad cars, I did and it sounds like you have - it happens.
It's unlikely that the leasing company will act for you, yes they are supposed to supply you with a car that works but sadly you are just a number and they are unlikely to help. I work in the leasing industry and it's becoming ever more call centre-ised which is unfortunate, but true.
I had a Z4 which was an absolute nightmare from new. Find out who is in charge of customer relations at the manufacturer concerned and write a good letter detailing all of your problems. BMW Customer Relations and David Holmes BMW handled my complaints very well indeed and while the numerous problems with the car were a pain in the backside I was never left without transport and everything was put right in the end. BMW even sent me substantial compensation for my troubles which was unexpected and very welcome. Unfortunately you sometimes get bad cars, I did and it sounds like you have - it happens.
The car is from a manufacturer that regularly features in the top 10 in reliability surveys (which was part of the reason I bought it). It's Mondeo shape/size (but it's not a Mondeo). I won't say any more than that until the matter is resolved because I don't want to compromise discussions with the leasecompany or the manufacturer.
The courtesy cars have been supermini size. One was even a Ford Ka!. Another car smelt of vomit inside which I had to do a 500 miles journey in. Nice.
When mine was off the road for 4 weeks the manufacturer paid for a hire car because they weren't able/willing to provide me with one of their own cars. It took some considerable discussions before they begrudgingly agreed to pay for an equivalent sized car (an Insignia). Only problem was it was damn thirsty compared to mine.
The courtesy cars have been supermini size. One was even a Ford Ka!. Another car smelt of vomit inside which I had to do a 500 miles journey in. Nice.
When mine was off the road for 4 weeks the manufacturer paid for a hire car because they weren't able/willing to provide me with one of their own cars. It took some considerable discussions before they begrudgingly agreed to pay for an equivalent sized car (an Insignia). Only problem was it was damn thirsty compared to mine.
Is it just me that's confused? The title of this thread is 'car has been a nightmare from new' then OP says 'the car was fine for the first 12 months....
That sounds a bit like those adverts that say 'new and improved' it's either new, in which case it can't be an improvement on anything, or it's improved, in which case it can't be new
And why so secret squirrel about what car it is? That information alone isn't breaking naming and shaming rules, and it's hardly like the lease company will be bothered about what you right on PH
That sounds a bit like those adverts that say 'new and improved' it's either new, in which case it can't be an improvement on anything, or it's improved, in which case it can't be new
And why so secret squirrel about what car it is? That information alone isn't breaking naming and shaming rules, and it's hardly like the lease company will be bothered about what you right on PH
Superhoop said:
Is it just me that's confused? The title of this thread is 'car has been a nightmare from new' then OP says 'the car was fine for the first 12 months....
That sounds a bit like those adverts that say 'new and improved' it's either new, in which case it can't be an improvement on anything, or it's improved, in which case it can't be new
And why so secret squirrel about what car it is? That information alone isn't breaking naming and shaming rules, and it's hardly like the lease company will be bothered about what you right on PH
Ah, fair point about the subject. I re-worded it from "having a nightmare with a xxxx which I bought from new". That sounds a bit like those adverts that say 'new and improved' it's either new, in which case it can't be an improvement on anything, or it's improved, in which case it can't be new
And why so secret squirrel about what car it is? That information alone isn't breaking naming and shaming rules, and it's hardly like the lease company will be bothered about what you right on PH
Regarding the make - does it make any difference what the car is? It's more the principle I'm asking about. I just don't feel comfortable stating the manufacturer in case they read it and it affects the outcome.
There not going to read it and the make would help because some will go alot further than others but for one i would change dealer cos they sound crap and two don't give up. get the customer service number and call them with everything that has happened and keep pushing it. its hard but try and get the lease company to help cos if they get involved it will help
How is it going to affect what the manufacturer are likely to do? You have no vehicle specifics (reg no etc) and unless your name really is msxyz, it's not like there is any direct link to you anyway.
Besides which, do you really think a manufacturer would penalise a customer because they used an Internet forum?
You also haven't said how miles the car has done, which is a huge factor - if it's done 5k in 19 months, it's a very different issue to a car that's done 90k in 19 months
Besides which, do you really think a manufacturer would penalise a customer because they used an Internet forum?
You also haven't said how miles the car has done, which is a huge factor - if it's done 5k in 19 months, it's a very different issue to a car that's done 90k in 19 months
Similar thing happened to my friends 207 GTI recently. Chain tensioner was not right, he had it replaced but it turned out they had over-torqued the bolt they replaced and a few months later the engine really really destroyed itself!! Car needed virtually everything mechanical replacing (including the whole engine).
I'm confused as to why you've been left out of pocket.
If it's a company car, then all extra expense of taking it to dealers, driving a less economical car etc, should be claimed back.
Also, if it's a company car, then you should be getting your company to hire you a suitable replacement car if the dealer can't provide one. If they're not willing to do that, speak with the lease company who will be able to turn the heat up on the dealer to get you a car suitable for your business use.
But it would help if we knew what the car was - I don't believe name and shame applies in this case - only naming the dealer / lease company would fall foul of the N&S rules.
If it's a company car, then all extra expense of taking it to dealers, driving a less economical car etc, should be claimed back.
Also, if it's a company car, then you should be getting your company to hire you a suitable replacement car if the dealer can't provide one. If they're not willing to do that, speak with the lease company who will be able to turn the heat up on the dealer to get you a car suitable for your business use.
But it would help if we knew what the car was - I don't believe name and shame applies in this case - only naming the dealer / lease company would fall foul of the N&S rules.
VeeFour said:
I'm confused as to why you've been left out of pocket.
If it's a company car, then all extra expense of taking it to dealers, driving a less economical car etc, should be claimed back.
Out of pocket for several reasons : as a result of doing several thousand personal miles in less economical petrol engined courtesy/loan cars.... + the trips to/from the dealers aren't considered business journeys so aren't reimbursable... + some of the loan cars have too small (Ford Ka) so when we've had to go out as a family we've had to use my wife's car.If it's a company car, then all extra expense of taking it to dealers, driving a less economical car etc, should be claimed back.
hornetrider said:
My money says 407.
Funny you should say that, I had a Pug 406 as my first company car 13 years ago. It was a model of perfect reliability compared to this car - 120,000 miles without any major issues. Also had a Citroen company car which I took to 115,000 miles without anything major going wrong.
Then I fell for the reliability myth associated with cars from this part of the world and am beginning to regret it ;-)
ms38911 said:
Out of pocket for several reasons : as a result of doing several thousand personal miles in less economical petrol engined courtesy/loan cars.... + the trips to/from the dealers aren't considered business journeys so aren't reimbursable... + some of the loan cars have too small (Ford Ka) so when we've had to go out as a family we've had to use my wife's car.
I'd certainly be having words with your company about that - my last 2 employers consider mileage covered taking the company vehicle to and from dealers to be business mileage.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff