Advice re: Warranty & Dealer issues on DB7 Volante

Advice re: Warranty & Dealer issues on DB7 Volante

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NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
Apologies if a) not a regular here, and b) not in the right place but could do with a bit of advice on behalf of my parents whom recently purchased a late 90s Aston DB7 Volante from a dealer down south, a dealer whom has a strong reuptation for both AM & Jag we are told.

The vehicle was sold as ultra low miles (13k) 1 owner, and on viewing & TD there were a couple of minor niggles, noted as thus:

1) drivers electric window didn't shut 100%, meaning the vehicle is not a) water tight or b) secure - Needed attention
2) both seat belts were not recoiling and needed attention/replacing. They have been apart as the B pillar covers are loose, and the dealer admits to "spraying them with WD40"


Upon collection none of the above had been addressed, but due to travelling 6hours south to fetch the car, my parents agreed to take it, on the condition that the items would be fixed under warranty.

Upon getting home it also became apparent that:

3) the red master key is AWOL - despite being there at TD
4) the service history & owners manual are not for this vehicle, despite being correct when viewed and TD.
5) back tyres, 1 has been replaced but not the other. So one is a brand new of 1x make and the other has probably 3k miles left in it of another pattern and brand

My parents contacted the dealer, and got the owners son, whom stated he would of course sort the issues ASAP and inform his father (the owner).


One week has passed, and despite repeated calls and emails stating the issues my parents have been told that:

issues 1 & 2 will "fix themselves with use" and the rest shall be "sorted ASAP".


Now they are getting increasingly fed-up and what should've been a nice retirement present for my mum, is now sitting at home looking like a "lemon".

Mechanically the car is good, but these niggles are an annoyance and also worrying as the dealers attitude is somewhat dire.


A local prestige specialist has advised of a bill circa £1k to put the car right, including 2x new seat belts as they're MOT fails, sorting the window, a matching new rear tyre and all associated labour..... Fairly reasonable.

My father is getting exasperated with endless calls and empty promises, so I suggested he offers the dealer one of the following 3 outcomes:


1) the dealer has the vehicle collected, taken back to them, all works carried out FOC and then re-delivered.

2) the local specialist fixes all the issues, and then invoices the dealer

3) Myself and father trek south this weekend, dump the vehicle on the dealer and demand a refund under the "sale of goods act"


Now the latter may appear harsh, but I am not as forgiving as my parents and don't like seeing honest people with a good heart being "fked about" when they're put a large sum of money (For them - not compared to the PH massive) into a vehicle that was sold as IMMACULATE.

My mother won't drive it as the drivers seat belt is now so bad, that it won't even tighten to your body.




Could the PH Aston owners advise our best course of action? Anything I have missed?

yeti

10,523 posts

274 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
Sorry to hear of this. It is zero consolation but I did the exactly same thing, living in Bristol I bought a DB7 in Harrogate and after travelling all day decided to take the car even with a few minor niggles that they agreed to sort out.

Coil pack failed on the drive home and fried the catalyst, roof didn't work, stereo/satnav 'just needed a code which they'd text me' turned out to be completely knackered when I found the code via a specialist. All of these things gave me huge legal rights to get everything sorted and so on, nothing ever happened though even with a solicitor involved.

His advice was that it would cost more for his fees than I would get back from a used car dealer and even though they were very obviously responsible, it wasn't going to happen without me investing significant time and money. The bill to fix the car to where I wanted it was around £6k frown

If you take the car back to them, they'll just shrug and refuse you your money. The 'kill-them-to-death' warriors may be along soon, but if you get nasty, they'll call the cops who will take you away. If you call the cops to tell them what's happened, it's a civil matter and they won't be interested. Naming and shaming rules don't permit you to even say who they are, and they know it.

One of two things will happen. The honest-sounding son of the owner may sort it out for you, but more likely is that you will have the £1k bill and chalk it up to experience. Never trust a second hand car dealer, once they have your money you're done. The 3 month warranty under the 'sale of goods act' means nothing either. They have legal obligations of course, however they simply don't care and it is unenforceable.

It'll leave a bitter taste but hopefully the pleasure of driving it once sorted will take that away. I'd leave the tyre for now as well unless it's below 3mm of tread. At this time of year I assume they'll just be pottering around anyway. Replace it in the spring and split the costs smile

michael gould

5,691 posts

240 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
yeti said:
Sorry to hear of this. It is zero consolation but I did the exactly same thing, living in Bristol I bought a DB7 in Harrogate and after travelling all day decided to take the car even with a few minor niggles that they agreed to sort out.

Coil pack failed on the drive home and fried the catalyst, roof didn't work, stereo/satnav 'just needed a code which they'd text me' turned out to be completely knackered when I found the code via a specialist. All of these things gave me huge legal rights to get everything sorted and so on, nothing ever happened though even with a solicitor involved.

His advice was that it would cost more for his fees than I would get back from a used car dealer and even though they were very obviously responsible, it wasn't going to happen without me investing significant time and money. The bill to fix the car to where I wanted it was around £6k frown

If you take the car back to them, they'll just shrug and refuse you your money. The 'kill-them-to-death' warriors may be along soon, but if you get nasty, they'll call the cops who will take you away. If you call the cops to tell them what's happened, it's a civil matter and they won't be interested. Naming and shaming rules don't permit you to even say who they are, and they know it.

One of two things will happen. The honest-sounding son of the owner may sort it out for you, but more likely is that you will have the £1k bill and chalk it up to experience. Never trust a second hand car dealer, once they have your money you're done. The 3 month warranty under the 'sale of goods act' means nothing either. They have legal obligations of course, however they simply don't care and it is unenforceable.

It'll leave a bitter taste but hopefully the pleasure of driving it once sorted will take that away. I'd leave the tyre for now as well unless it's below 3mm of tread. At this time of year I assume they'll just be pottering around anyway. Replace it in the spring and split the costs smile
I agree with the above...it depends who the dealer is .....I think it might be worth writting toi the dealer outlining your complaints and giving them 14 days to respond after which time you will have the problems resolved and take them to small claims to recover the costs.....good luck

NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
Thanks for your advice. Annoyingly they bought it without telling me otherwise I would've told them to walk as there's better, cheaper and more local.

Unfortunately they bought with their hearts and on the basis that a well regarded specialist was worth the money, especially on a one owner car that'd done just over 1,000 miles pa previously owned by a collector.

It should be their p&j but mother won't drive it due to the seat belts & window and father just wants rid.

Galling thing is they chopped in a genuine immaculate xk8 against this....

michael gould

5,691 posts

240 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
NotDave said:
Thanks for your advice. Annoyingly they bought it without telling me otherwise I would've told them to walk as there's better, cheaper and more local.

Unfortunately they bought with their hearts and on the basis that a well regarded specialist was worth the money, especially on a one owner car that'd done just over 1,000 miles pa previously owned by a collector.

It should be their p&j but mother won't drive it due to the seat belts & window and father just wants rid.

Galling thing is they chopped in a genuine immaculate xk8 against this....
if its a well known Aston specialist then I would be suprised if they dont sort it

NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
michael gould said:
if its a well known Aston specialist then I would be suprised if they dont sort it
Southern, jag & Aston

I can't say any more obviously

F1 NDW

1,116 posts

145 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
As Yeti has said you are basically on a hiding to nothing with second hand car dealers. The only route for a bit of satisfaction is the small claims court. Get a report by one of the excellent Aston specialists recommended on the PH or AMOC site's. Get the jobs done and then try and get some money back through the small claims court. I'm afraid you will just have to be pragmatic about it and cut your losses.

yeti

10,523 posts

274 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
michael gould said:
if its a well known Aston specialist then I would be suprised if they dont sort it
The ones who screwed me over, whilst not Aston specialists, are apparently highly respected Specialist Sports Car dealers. Based in Harrogate. Liars, cheats and theives.

The problem was distance. They know I couldn't get back up there, especially with an undriveable car!!!

ChrisDB7

163 posts

154 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
With regards to the windows issue, it may be quite a simple fix.

If the battery has been disconnected then the window module loses it's memory. You could try the window reset procedure which can be found on the AMOC forum here: http://www.amoc.org/forum/index.php?topic=18411.0

Hope it helps!

ChrisDB7

163 posts

154 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
yeti said:
The ones who screwed me over, whilst not Aston specialists, are apparently highly respected Specialist Sports Car dealers. Based in Harrogate. Liars, cheats and theives.

The problem was distance. They know I couldn't get back up there, especially with an undriveable car!!!
I think I bought my car from the same firm (there can't be that many well respected specialist sports car dealers in Harrogate!). My car had a fair few issues when I bought it including coil packs but to be fair to them they picked up the car and sorted them out. I'm not exactly local either.

yeti

10,523 posts

274 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
ChrisDB7 said:
I think I bought my car from the same firm (there can't be that many well respected specialist sports car dealers in Harrogate!). My car had a fair few issues when I bought it including coil packs but to be fair to them they picked up the car and sorted them out. I'm not exactly local either.
'M.F.'?

Lucky you, I got very short shrift from them. It actually involved one of their salesmen leaving over my treatment as he said he couldn't work for them anymore. They seemed to think the £300 RAC warranty they'd included should cover everything. The RAC disagreed...

NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
yeti said:
The ones who screwed me over, whilst not Aston specialists, are apparently highly respected Specialist Sports Car dealers. Based in Harrogate. Liars, cheats and theives.

The problem was distance. They know I couldn't get back up there, especially with an undriveable car!!!
Exactly the same. This lot are supposed specialists in jag/aml/etc and are using distance as an issue.

Thank you for the advice, glad to see the posh bit of PH is as helpful as the snotter sections smile


Re: independent specialists, there any PH approved ones in Lincolnshire or Yorkshire?

ChrisDB7

163 posts

154 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
yeti said:
'M.F.'?
Nope, I guess there must be two firms in Harrogate.

DB7 pilot

498 posts

180 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
Can't get as close as Lincoln or Yorkshire, but Bridge Mill Motors in Macclesfield get positive reviews on here. Try this link: http://www.bridgemillmotors.co.uk/

yeti

10,523 posts

274 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
ChrisDB7 said:
Nope, I guess there must be two firms in Harrogate.
There are wink

'MARCUS FOTHERGILL SPECIALIST CARS LIMITED today announced Resolutions for Winding-up'. So they went bankrupt, I assume I am therefore allowed to mention them as they aren't trading anymore?

I won't mention that they've reopened and are trading under another name says a quick Google - haven't even changed the mobile phone number, it's burned into my retinas having called it 50 times a day only to be ignored rolleyes

NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
DB7 pilot said:
Can't get as close as Lincoln or Yorkshire, but Bridge Mill Motors in Macclesfield get positive reviews on here. Try this link: http://www.bridgemillmotors.co.uk/
Thanks, will pass it on. Perhaps worth a phone-call To seek advice or whether they'd do repair work

F1 NDW

1,116 posts

145 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
NotDave said:
Thanks, will pass it on. Perhaps worth a phone-call To seek advice or whether they'd do repair work
Bridge Mill are excellent guy's. They will do everything you require. Very helpful lad's and do a very professional job.

NotDave

Original Poster:

20,951 posts

156 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
F1 NDW said:
Bridge Mill are excellent guy's. They will do everything you require. Very helpful lad's and do a very professional job.
Thanks, guessing you've used them?

As an aside does £250 per seat belt, fitted sound bad for one of these?

The window gap is on the vertical edge between glass & seal, perhaps 2/3 of an inch.

LordBretSinclair

4,285 posts

176 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
ChrisDB7 said:
With regards to the windows issue, it may be quite a simple fix.

If the battery has been disconnected then the window module loses it's memory. You could try the window reset procedure which can be found on the AMOC forum here: http://www.amoc.org/forum/index.php?topic=18411.0

Hope it helps!
I had same probs with one window on my 7 and I did just a basic "hold down" of BOTH window buttons together for 2 or 3 seconds when windows fully down, same again when fully up, same again when fully down - jobs a good 'un. smile

F1 NDW

1,116 posts

145 months

Monday 8th October 2012
quotequote all
Bridge Mill did the steering rack on my Vanquish. Very pleased with them.