Following Advice From Motor Magazines Can Cost You Dearly
Monday, 9. May 2011
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I am very Mr Angry of Sussex. You see I get very frustrated when it comes to poor customer service, not helped by the fact that I’m the UK’s leading authority when it comes to vehicle finance so when I see a so called expert or an authoritative car magazine or national newspaper giving so called advice which is flawed I get bloody furious. Take a recent case in Auto Express for example, an Audi driver had a banging noise coming from one of his wheels. He contacted the dealer and had the car booked in on the Monday for investigation but the warranty ran out on the Sunday so the dealer refused to carry out the repair, that would have been a warranty claim, as the car was now out of warranty.
When Auto Express contacted Audi they stood firm and said that any car that was outside the 60,000 mile/3 year warranty period would not be repaired under the warranty. Whilst I think this attitude stinks and I will certainly avoid putting customers in Audis if I can avoid it, Auto Express seems to have shrugged and said ‘Oh well’.
In fact if the part in question was covered by the warranty up to the end of 3 years but failed at 3 years and one day I would suggest that the part was not fit for purpose. It was a warped disc brake by the way.
You see whilst the warranty provided by the manufacturer/dealer is very good and in most cases exceeds their legal obligations, or at least meets them, when the warranty runs out you must revert to your legal rights under the Sale of Goods Act and if you have finance on the car you can also revert to your rights under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act and complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Andrew and Miriam Gillick, the owners of the Audi, could have done so much more and I feel at worse received a contribution towards the cost of the repair from Audi had they been given some better advice in the first place.
A formal complaint to the Office of Fair trading could have strengthened their case. No wonder people don’t like dealing with car dealers! Have you had any similar problems? By Graham Hill
