Should I still claim costs from Motor Trader?
Discussion
Afternoon all.
Want to run this scenario by you all as I'm keen to know if anyone has had any similar experience to this (this is the first time I've ever bought a car from a trader so not sure whether their obligation has been fulfilled or whether I still have any comeback on this). This may be a bit lengthy so please bear with me as it's best I get all the detail in here. So, here we go......
My partner bought an 05 plate E90 BMW 330i from a trader in Guilford on April 19th this year. Good price, service history with (most) stamps in the service book & it also came with a 1 year, third party warrantee (provided by The Auto Group). She paid for it in full.
22nd of May (just under 5 weeks after purchase) I get a call from the missis at work telling me that it's broken down, she managed to 'limp' it home though as it was only about half a mile away that it happened. Had a look at the car that weekend (I'm a fairly competent home mechanic & also own an E91 320d so I'm quite familiar with the car) as if it was something simple to fix & didn't mind an hour or so working on it to get it resolved. Couldn't find anything obvious so the following weekend I plugged the car into my BMW diagnostics software (INPA) to see if that would tell me anything. At that point it seemed like every electrical system in the car had simultaneously failed! I doubted that very much but was out of my depth at that point so I spoke to the warranty company who said I could book it into the garage of my choice for diagnosis & they'd take it from there.
Had the car recovered (at my expense) to a garage next door to where I work (about 15 miles from home) & the next day they called to tell me that the ECU was full of water! No joke, it was sitting in about an inch of water (note the "tide marks" at the bottom of it in the below picture).
Upshot of that was, the garage could replace the ECU but they couldn't code it to the car so it would need to be taken somewhere that could. The warrantee company said they won't pay for the diagnostics or recovery as the job couldn't be completed & even if it was, they don't cover water damage anyway. I'm about £120 out of pocket at this point.
So, I got the car booked into a Bosch centre nearby (& recovered from the garage it was at) & they gave me ballpark figure of around £1,000 to replace & code a new ECU. At this point I called the trader who we bought the car from & (very politely) voiced my dis-pleasure to them that the car I'd bought had an ECU box full of water (this doesn't happen overnight) & had subsequently died within five weeks of purchase. I gave the trader the benefit of doubt when he said he'd see what he could do & that he'd call me back before midday the following day. To be fair to him he did & he told me that he'd talked the warrantee company around to covering this & to get the work done at the Bosh centre (the warrantee only covers up to a maximum of £750 but I knew that anyway).
The work was completed yesterday with a final bill of £1,271.15. The warrantee company has agreed to pay £750 of that leaving us £521.15 to pay. Add to that the £120 already spent on initial recovery & diagnostics that leaves us still out of pocket somewhere in the region of £640.
What I'd like to know is should I contact the trader again to try & recuperate some of the above expenses here that were not covered by the warrantee (bearing in mind how soon after purchase the problem occurred & that this was a fault that would've been present at the time of purchase & was just waiting to reach the failure point)? The trader was good in managing to talk the warrantee company round initially into actually paying out when they said that wouldn't but perhaps I'm letting that factor cloud my judgement a little if we are in fact legally entitled to compensation from them for the costs that the warranty didn't cover.
If you've read this far then many thanks for bearing with me & what do you think I should/can do here?
Want to run this scenario by you all as I'm keen to know if anyone has had any similar experience to this (this is the first time I've ever bought a car from a trader so not sure whether their obligation has been fulfilled or whether I still have any comeback on this). This may be a bit lengthy so please bear with me as it's best I get all the detail in here. So, here we go......
My partner bought an 05 plate E90 BMW 330i from a trader in Guilford on April 19th this year. Good price, service history with (most) stamps in the service book & it also came with a 1 year, third party warrantee (provided by The Auto Group). She paid for it in full.
22nd of May (just under 5 weeks after purchase) I get a call from the missis at work telling me that it's broken down, she managed to 'limp' it home though as it was only about half a mile away that it happened. Had a look at the car that weekend (I'm a fairly competent home mechanic & also own an E91 320d so I'm quite familiar with the car) as if it was something simple to fix & didn't mind an hour or so working on it to get it resolved. Couldn't find anything obvious so the following weekend I plugged the car into my BMW diagnostics software (INPA) to see if that would tell me anything. At that point it seemed like every electrical system in the car had simultaneously failed! I doubted that very much but was out of my depth at that point so I spoke to the warranty company who said I could book it into the garage of my choice for diagnosis & they'd take it from there.
Had the car recovered (at my expense) to a garage next door to where I work (about 15 miles from home) & the next day they called to tell me that the ECU was full of water! No joke, it was sitting in about an inch of water (note the "tide marks" at the bottom of it in the below picture).
Upshot of that was, the garage could replace the ECU but they couldn't code it to the car so it would need to be taken somewhere that could. The warrantee company said they won't pay for the diagnostics or recovery as the job couldn't be completed & even if it was, they don't cover water damage anyway. I'm about £120 out of pocket at this point.
So, I got the car booked into a Bosch centre nearby (& recovered from the garage it was at) & they gave me ballpark figure of around £1,000 to replace & code a new ECU. At this point I called the trader who we bought the car from & (very politely) voiced my dis-pleasure to them that the car I'd bought had an ECU box full of water (this doesn't happen overnight) & had subsequently died within five weeks of purchase. I gave the trader the benefit of doubt when he said he'd see what he could do & that he'd call me back before midday the following day. To be fair to him he did & he told me that he'd talked the warrantee company around to covering this & to get the work done at the Bosh centre (the warrantee only covers up to a maximum of £750 but I knew that anyway).
The work was completed yesterday with a final bill of £1,271.15. The warrantee company has agreed to pay £750 of that leaving us £521.15 to pay. Add to that the £120 already spent on initial recovery & diagnostics that leaves us still out of pocket somewhere in the region of £640.
What I'd like to know is should I contact the trader again to try & recuperate some of the above expenses here that were not covered by the warrantee (bearing in mind how soon after purchase the problem occurred & that this was a fault that would've been present at the time of purchase & was just waiting to reach the failure point)? The trader was good in managing to talk the warrantee company round initially into actually paying out when they said that wouldn't but perhaps I'm letting that factor cloud my judgement a little if we are in fact legally entitled to compensation from them for the costs that the warranty didn't cover.
If you've read this far then many thanks for bearing with me & what do you think I should/can do here?
Edited by DanSE4 on Friday 13th June 12:15
Edited by DanSE4 on Friday 13th June 13:40
Morally, I would want the dealer to pay.
Legally, he probably should pay.
But from a legal perspective you'd probably need to take him to smalls claims court.
There's a long thread next door where someone tried that with a dealer and although he 'sort of' won he still ended up a grand out of pocket.
If I was in your situation I'd lean politely on the dealer for some money. But if he said 'No' then I'd just write the cash off.
It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
Legally, he probably should pay.
But from a legal perspective you'd probably need to take him to smalls claims court.
There's a long thread next door where someone tried that with a dealer and although he 'sort of' won he still ended up a grand out of pocket.
If I was in your situation I'd lean politely on the dealer for some money. But if he said 'No' then I'd just write the cash off.
It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
Snowboy said:
If I was in your situation I'd lean politely on the dealer for some money. But if he said 'No' then I'd just write the cash off.
It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
That's kind of what I'm thinking.It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
I'm thankful to the trader for talking the warrantee company around & saving us £750 but the additional £620 odd is still a lot when you consider how soon this happened after purchase.
The missis pretty much wants to take it on the chin (she's one of those who won't complain at a restaurant if the food is poor) & leave it here but I'm still somewhat put out that she's still had to fork out for this.
I am also a little worried about the possible costs if we were to pursue this through the small claims court though.
Snowboy said:
Morally, I would want the dealer to pay.
Legally, he probably should pay.
But from a legal perspective you'd probably need to take him to smalls claims court.
There's a long thread next door where someone tried that with a dealer and although he 'sort of' won he still ended up a grand out of pocket.
If I was in your situation I'd lean politely on the dealer for some money. But if he said 'No' then I'd just write the cash off.
It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
+1Legally, he probably should pay.
But from a legal perspective you'd probably need to take him to smalls claims court.
There's a long thread next door where someone tried that with a dealer and although he 'sort of' won he still ended up a grand out of pocket.
If I was in your situation I'd lean politely on the dealer for some money. But if he said 'No' then I'd just write the cash off.
It sucks - but it might be less hassle in the long run.
Ask the dealer and see what he says. He might pay up some or all right away out of goodwill, if he does not getting the money might be more hassle thant it's worth.
Thanks for the input, think the responses so far are pretty much what I had in mind.
Long day today so think I'll have a slightly more chilled weekend & call the trader on Monday, they can only say yes, no or offer to meet me in the middle & if they say no I really don't think I can be bothered to progress any further.
Long day today so think I'll have a slightly more chilled weekend & call the trader on Monday, they can only say yes, no or offer to meet me in the middle & if they say no I really don't think I can be bothered to progress any further.
I had exactly this in October. Plenum drains blocked and small drain hole in the ECU housing blocked too. Do you park under trees? I had old mulchy leaves in blocking mine - not that I have any trees where I park.
Also paid £1200 for the fix. I'd had the car longer, about 6 months and got a £150 contribution from the dealer, which under the circumstances was probably all I could hope for.
I'd be pushing for at least £250 from the dealer, to meet you half way on the costs, given it's just two months from purchase.
Also paid £1200 for the fix. I'd had the car longer, about 6 months and got a £150 contribution from the dealer, which under the circumstances was probably all I could hope for.
I'd be pushing for at least £250 from the dealer, to meet you half way on the costs, given it's just two months from purchase.
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