Should the garage honour the warranty on my used car?

[cbr600rrr]

I bought a car (Peugeot Partner 2005 Diesel) on the 05.11.2013. The garage told me that I had 12 months warranty. I went to Ireland for my holidays and my friend stayed in my house and I gave him the use of the car. On the 30.12.2013 my friend drove the car to Mercadona in Las Chafiras. When he came out of the shop he went to start the car at approximately 11:30am and the car would not start. He then got the car towed to the garage I bought it from.The garage then rang me and told me that the car was run without water as there was a leak in a pipe. They said that if this was the case then I would have to pay for the repairs. He said he would open the engine up to find out what the problem was. He was supposed to do this on the 2nd of January and my friend rang him today and he is now saying he is going to get an engineer to check the car next Tuesday. I return to Tenerife on the 9th of January and I need my car as I drive from Abades to Taco to work. I am unsure where I stand legally on this situation and would appreciate any advise. Should he give me a replacement car? It also seems to be that after 7 weeks a problem like this should not happen and they should fix this at their cost. Some advise would be great. Really stressed.

[Greg]

Maybe if you name the garage other members can compare their good and bad experiences with this garage. It may even shame the owner into action!

[cbr600rrr]

I am just worried about the legal implications of naming them.

[timmylish]

I just cannot see the problem in naming the garage especially since you have named the make of car!!!!!!!!!!! The garage could be the "Peugeot Garage" afterall. The very first thing you must do is to have someone read the T & C,s of the 12 month warranty. There may be some exclusions which would have a direct bearing on your problem. In the meantime you really have to find out the level of damage to your car since you clearly need it for work. Be prepared that you might have to repair the car before taking action against the garage.
Aside of that there is no doubt that any sensible person would expect the car to last more than 12 weeks. How many Kms. have you done since buying this car?

[delderek]

There is also the fact that certain regular checks should be carried out by the driver. Oil, Water, Tyres, etc. (most people don't) and even on new cars, manufacturers can use this to get out of paying for "consequential damage" i.e. they would pay to fix the water leak, but if you cooked the engine they may not play ball.

[cbr600rrr]

Its not the Peugeot garage. I would estimate around 5-6000km. Del the water when I am driving would be checked. After 7 weeks for this to happen seems a bit ridiculous. I bought this car and paid more than I would pay a private seller so as if something went wrong I wouldn't be in this situation. I don't want to name the garage because if they do put it right I don't want to adversely affect their business. I am now going to a lawyer.

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Also does anyone know what the laws are in relation to warranty on second hand cars? Because I know in Ireland its at least 3 months legally on everything except perishables.

[kez1000]

OK you need a professional to help you confront the garage. I don't think it's fair to name the garage until you have established all the facts and given them the opportunity to put things right, I am with you on this position.

Key questions for your driver friend;

Was there any warning lights on?
Did the temp gauge go high?
Any funny noises/signs of over heating? e.g. steam, banging etc

The hose may have burst after he parked as the engine temp generally rises for a few minutes. The other side to this could be a faulty head gasket which cause the car to boil over after parked and subsequently split the pipe due to intense heat and pressure from the engine, when the pipe busts, water can fall back into the cylinders causing it not to start. This situation I would not describe as common but in my own life working with cars have seen many times. Think seek to understand the garage story first and get an accurate diagnosis to get it fixed right.

In any event, 7 weeks is not reasonable to expect you with no pre-warnings to have taken the car to the garage, if your friends answer to all the questions is genuinely no. Many modern cars store extreme values as faults in their ecu's to report back to service technicians, did they read out the ecu's or are they just guessing what the problem is?

Good luck.

Regards


KeZ

[cbr600rrr]

Hi Kez. I really appreciate the reply. The driver of the cars answer is no to all the questions. I am hoping that when the technician comes the garage put it right. I hope that the people in the garage do the decent thing. They don't know whats wrong with it and are just guessing.

[kez1000]

They need to do a structured diagnosis to eliminate the original cause, it may not be as simple as a burst pipe;

1. Get engine to fire & run if possible, if it even turns over!
2. Cylinder compression test and inspection
3. Coolant system pressure test (obviously after mending burst pipe)

This is not really difficult and any competent technician should be able to diagnose. A good tech will also use their sense of smell on overheating of coolant system / engine to diagnose if this was a prolonged overheat causing to the failure or no sign would indicate instant failure. To be honest, for the engine to not start after overheating with a burst pipe would indicate overheat to point of failure, sometimes engines lock with heat and once cooled can re-turn over and be re-filled and seem ok, but the cause of the problem goes undetected leading to further failures. The overheating itself can often lead to head gasket failure.

Again, good luck but I think there are some renowned techs on this forum who may be able to visit the shop with you, it might well be worth paying for a couple of hours of their time to look at the car and give their professional opinion.

Good luck & Regards


KeZ

[bulldog]

when I bought a secondhand car from a garage it had a 6 months warranty or 5000 km.which ever came first
it had a basic service i.e. oil change ,filter etc.before I picked it up 9[so they said] .I think this is a legal requirement
here in Spain.I asked what the warranty covered they said only major problems not tyres,or things I could break.
hopefully you will be covered,good luck ,lets know how you get on.

[cbr600rrr]

Ok the current situation is the garage say the technician is not coming until tomorrow. They say it will be a technician from the local government. They said this is this person has the final say. Can anyone shed any light on this. I contacted my lawyer and he is not going to come back to me until Friday. I arrive back in Tenerife on Friday. I recently lost my licence it fell out of my pocket while driving my motorbike. Applied for a replacement one here in Ireland apparently this will take 5 weeks before I get new one. So now I cant even rent a car. Disaster. Can anyone shed any light on this situation?? Can you rent a car with a certificate stating your qualification from the Irish government. I have got a spanish certified copy of my old expired licence. Really in the **** at the moment and need help!

[northernlass04]

Hi I hardly ever post just stalk! but how did you pay for the car? We have had a similar situation here in the UK with a car we bought for my son (it showed faults within hours of us buying it). The garage kept promising to fix it but never showed any true signs of doing so. I paid on my Visa card and dispite Barclaycard saying initially we were not entitled to any help from them they have now agreed to give us a full refund I presume they will persue the garage now.

[cbr600rrr]

Unfortunately I paid by bank transfer.