Car warranty repair - 'reasonable' length of time and compo?
Discussion
Hi all, first post on the forum, I'm a pretty active member over on the Focus ST OC forum (same username) but figured on more general advice, it was worth reaching out here.
Car: Sep 2015 Focus ST3, 4500 miles, owned from new by me
Summary: car alarm sounder (no lights, just noise) going off since Jan 1st, in dealer in Glasgow since Jan 2nd. Car returned twice as being fixed, both times not, so essentially been in dealer for the last 7 weeks.
Have been provided a courtesy car for roughly 5 of the 7 weeks (Fiat 500 then Astra 1.0).
Question: do people think there is a ground for claiming for some of lost PCP payments? And/or a goodwill gesture towards lost time and effort co-ordinating the 8 trips to the dealer, 45 phone calls and car pick-ups, etc? Without going into gory details, i'm realistically £500 down, excluding insurance and tax, but also excluding taxis to dealer and other incurred costs.
Granted, they've given me a car, but it's nowhere near like-for-like, so figured there is a case for something back. Have got a case with Ford CRC, Ford Finance and checked with the Ombudsman to see what to do if they come back with nothing.
Don't want to take the Michael, but also don't want to lie back and be ridden. All thoughts welcome, and thank you in advance for any wisdom or thoughts
Car: Sep 2015 Focus ST3, 4500 miles, owned from new by me
Summary: car alarm sounder (no lights, just noise) going off since Jan 1st, in dealer in Glasgow since Jan 2nd. Car returned twice as being fixed, both times not, so essentially been in dealer for the last 7 weeks.
Have been provided a courtesy car for roughly 5 of the 7 weeks (Fiat 500 then Astra 1.0).
Question: do people think there is a ground for claiming for some of lost PCP payments? And/or a goodwill gesture towards lost time and effort co-ordinating the 8 trips to the dealer, 45 phone calls and car pick-ups, etc? Without going into gory details, i'm realistically £500 down, excluding insurance and tax, but also excluding taxis to dealer and other incurred costs.
Granted, they've given me a car, but it's nowhere near like-for-like, so figured there is a case for something back. Have got a case with Ford CRC, Ford Finance and checked with the Ombudsman to see what to do if they come back with nothing.
Don't want to take the Michael, but also don't want to lie back and be ridden. All thoughts welcome, and thank you in advance for any wisdom or thoughts
Thanks all for advice, really appreciated.
Have since got the car back, with a total break-down of communication between the dealer and the CRC - dealer confirmed that the car alarm was going off and that they attempted to fix it by replacing components, etc however Ford CRC suggested they weren't in a position to give me anything for it as it was a non-fault problem. This begs the question, what were the dealer doing with the car for 7 weeks?! Also, big difference between "non-fault" and "we can't find what's causing the fault"...
Got a follow up call on Monday to resolve, as the rep couldn't get in touch with the service manager to confirm what was going on.
Free servicing is unfortunately moot as i purchased 3 services up-front when i bought the car. Can understand complacency when it's a mickey mouse Fiesta at the bum-end of the warranty, but this is a £28k car, with 4k miles...
Not looking for betterment, but certainly an acknowledgement that i've sunk £££ into the car since new year and have nothing to show for it other than the bill for 2 months PCP.
Have since got the car back, with a total break-down of communication between the dealer and the CRC - dealer confirmed that the car alarm was going off and that they attempted to fix it by replacing components, etc however Ford CRC suggested they weren't in a position to give me anything for it as it was a non-fault problem. This begs the question, what were the dealer doing with the car for 7 weeks?! Also, big difference between "non-fault" and "we can't find what's causing the fault"...
Got a follow up call on Monday to resolve, as the rep couldn't get in touch with the service manager to confirm what was going on.
Free servicing is unfortunately moot as i purchased 3 services up-front when i bought the car. Can understand complacency when it's a mickey mouse Fiesta at the bum-end of the warranty, but this is a £28k car, with 4k miles...
Not looking for betterment, but certainly an acknowledgement that i've sunk £££ into the car since new year and have nothing to show for it other than the bill for 2 months PCP.
Sheepshanks said:
Try something like WhatCar's helpdesk? helpdesk@whatcar.com
I'd focus (no pun intended ) on it not being fixed, 7 weeks off the road (although it seems you don't use it much anyway) lots of trips and calls to the dealer etc etc, rather than outright asking for compo.
Thanks, that's a useful link. Totally agree, i've been pitching it towards the incompetence angle as opposed to i want hundreds of cash back; even an acknowledgement that i've been inconvenienced (fiscally and physically) would be welcome, but it's been absent thus far.I'd focus (no pun intended
) on it not being fixed, 7 weeks off the road (although it seems you don't use it much anyway) lots of trips and calls to the dealer etc etc, rather than outright asking for compo.The use piece is what makes it even more frustrating - it's a weekend use toy and i really enjoy it when i can, so not having it over 7 weekends is as much a ball-ache as missing it for commuting in. Would almost be easier if it was a daily driver, as I did receive a hire car, but you ain't seeing the 1.0 Astra i had at knockhill any time soon. Add in other compounded annoyances (not being able to have dog in hire car, alarm going off at 4am, 8 trips to the dealer, 45 phone calls to dealer\CRC\hire car people\finance company) and it's a bit silly.
Never mind! It's only a car at the end of the day, plenty worse things happening in the world.
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