When does a warranty start?

[RB Will]

Apologies its a long one...

Bought a used 2003 Audi A6 Allroad 2.5 TDI (116,000 miles) from a "reputable" local dealer earlier this year. Yesterday the cam belt snapped and presumably has taken the engine with it. Car was recovered by the AA to a local mechanic that I trust. He says if its bad (not stripped it down yet) I'm probably looking at a £2-2500 bill.
Annoyingly the car does have service history and the belt was not due for another 22k miles so just crap luck I guess.

My problem is thus.
I thought oh well st happens good job I have a 6 month warranty. So phoned the dealer to ask what he wants doing with the car. He has told me they dont offer 6 month warranties and unfortunately I'm 1 week past the 3 month one that the car did come with so I can jog on. (I'm just sooo lucky)

Now I am 100% sure that when buying the car, on 2 separate occasions (test drive and when doing the paperwork) I questioned the salesman about warranty and he said yes it will have a "6 month engine and gearbox warranty". The Dealer owner yesterday has told me I'm making stuff up as his salesman would not have said that as their standard warranty is only 3 months.
I have checked their website and it says on there warranties available up to 36 month, 12 month warranties for £200 and in an advert for a car 3 month warranty so the owner may well be correct in his statement that their warranty is only 3 months but is incorrect that this is what I was told. Obviously I have no way to prove this and the salesman is hardly going to tell him the truth now. If its even relevant?

My sales receipt states I have warranty but no mention of duration.

My main question is when does the warranty start from? Date deposit paid? date full balance paid? or date when I can actually start using the darn car?

Reason I ask is that deposit was paid on 28.2.14 and before I took delivery of the car there was a bit of work they agreed to do on it, bit of paint, service, MOT, and fix the air suspension that threw on a warning light on the test drive and rebalance the wheels.
I paid in full and picked up the car on 12.3.14 But found on the drive home that they had not fixed the wheel imbalance or air suspension. So took it straight back. They agreed it was still borked so told me to take it away for now and they would be able to get it into their workshop early the next week. Meanwhile I was to take it to a local tyre place to get the wheels rebalanced which they paid for.
Dropped the car off with them the next week I think on 24.3.14 and there it stayed for at least 2 weeks while they tried to fix the air suspension (they gave me a string of st loan cars (read knackered unroadworthy trade ins) for this period before finally giving me something off the forecourt) before giving up and taking it to the local Audi dealer who apparently sorted it.
I dont know what the exact date was when I got it back and I doubt either dealer will be willing to tell me what their records say regarding dates?

Anyway eventually got car back from that. And I remember saying to the Dealership owner who I bought the car from will this work have any warranty? (the air suspension) and he said yes 3 months. Which I thought was at least something as if their normal 6 month warranty was only for engine and gearbox then 3 months for the suspension was OK, since it was only taking 1 drive for it to show up a fault I thought if it lasts 3 months its probably fixed.

And then it had to go back again a week or so later to have the bodged paintwork done properly which they also borked but refused to do anything more with as now rather than a smart repair, fixing the further poor work would require a full side respray.
So we left on sour terms as I was still not happy with the car but they were unwilling to refund me having ploughed a lot of extra money into it and fixed everything to a standard they thought was OK. They did say I could exchange for something else in stock but had nothing to meet my requirements in the right pricerange. So I'm not expecting any goodwill on their part and he was pretty stty with me on the phone yesterday.

So would the warranty start from when I actually had full use of the car after all the pre sale agreed work was sorted? Or is it just taken from the moment I sign the V5?

Is this just an expensive lesson in never trusting a dealer and making sure any and all information is recorded or do I have some hope of getting somewhere with this?

If so anyone know of any good engine conversions to do in these lol may aswell make the most of a bad situation eh.
Probably going to have to buy a snotter to keep me mobile in the short term too.

And to make matters worse after all this I went to a local ice cream parlour to console myself with a gert big cone, which broke and spilled the ice cream I hadnt touched it at this point though as I was still paying for it, the cone gave way under the weight of the ice cream so she gave me another

Any help much appreciated.
Any further info needed just ask.

[Prizam]

You purchased an 11 year old car with 100k+ on it.

As such, you should expect tired suspension and knocked about paintwork.

Unfortunately your cam belt snapped. This sucks, but can happen to any car, any time. Suck it up and don't expect the garage that sold you a cheep car 3 months ago, who have so far entertained your warranty requests to fix a borked engine too.

[Ekona]

If they told you it had a 6 month warranty, then that's what it had. However, if it's not written down then you're going to have to get them to prove it.

Take it to the logical conclusion of ending up in court, and how do you fancy your chances when they've bent over backwards to fix everything else for you? On an old car with that much mileage, I'd say that you're going to need to be very lucky and/or convincing. That's not to say that you're wrong to try, but ultimately that's how I view it.

You may well have to suck this one up.

[eybic]

The warranty would start from the day you collected the car originally. Dependant on how much you paid for the car, it could potentially be covered under the SOGA but the wording is very vague using words such as "reasonable" quite a bit.

Try the CAB for advice.

[TooMany2cvs]

The belt "had 22k" before needing to be changed? But what about by time? Was it the belt itself that failed, or was it a tensioner/water pump that hadn't been changed last time?

[RB Will]

Prizam said:

You purchased an 11 year old car with 100k+ on it.

As such, you should expect tired suspension and knocked about paintwork.

Unfortunately your cam belt snapped. This sucks, but can happen to any car, any time. Suck it up and don't expect the garage that sold you a cheep car 3 months ago, who have so far entertained your warranty requests to fix a borked engine too.

Dont really understand this attitude. I agreed to buy the car if they agreed to fix a number of things. These were not done pre sale as was their end of the agreement so had to be sorted after. There has been no warranty claim so far.
If they were not happy to prepare the car to the standard I requested then they should have refused to sell me the car. I have had another dealer say this to me before. In fact it was even the salesman that told me I had 6 months warranty in this case when he was working at another dealership a few years back.
All my daily drivers have been 110K mile + and over 10 years old (the dog makes a mess of them so dont buy anything fancy for it) they have all previously had working suspension so expected it of this one too. Paintwork wise I asked them to do a proper job of sorting a few rusty stone chips. First they just did a crap job with a touch up pen which I told them before I wouldnt be happy with and the rust came back through in 2 days so they had it back again to do a proper job of clearing the rust, painting and laquering the spots. They managed this nicely on 3 of the 4 spots but for some reason for the 4th they put filler down the rear pillar and painted about 2 sqft with bad matching and score marks in the filler, which they wont now sort.

Dont get me wrong I'm not expecting a perfect new car when buying something old and used, there are a couple of bits of interior trim missing and the inside of the boot is scratched a lot but it doesnt matter as the dog makes a mess of it but if I ask for something to be sorted then I expect it to be. I dont think that is unreasonable. I think my problem is having worked for prestige dealers for years I'm expecting too much of an independant. I have even fixed a couple of faults with this car myself without bothering them with any warranty work. Also had a dealer fix a borked engine before when the bottom end let go in my Impreza and that was only on a crap used car warranty.

[RB Will]

TooMany2cvs said:

The belt "had 22k" before needing to be changed? But what about by time? Was it the belt itself that failed, or was it a tensioner/water pump that hadn't been changed last time?

I'm not sure on time as the service book only mentions mileage not a time. It is supposed to be replaced every 60,000 miles so guessing 5 years equivalent? It was last replaced at 80k (so late first time round) but only 2 years ago I think, will have to double check date.

As yet not 100% sure its the belt that has gone or if something else caused it to come off. The belts are enclosed in a plastic case and you need to get the inlet manifold off to have a proper look but the AA man had a look best he could and said the belt is snapped. Mechanic was not keen on stripping the front end off it on a Sunday afternoon.

[mondeoman]

AFAIK the warranty starts on the day you first take possession, so that gets you to about 12th June. After that you're on your own.

If its not in writing on your receipt, you'll have a hard time proving that there is a 6 month warranty - your word against theirs.

They are innocent until proven guilty, and how can you prove it?? Thats the question you have to answer.

[RB Will]

As people have said I cant prove the salesman told me 6 months, if that would have been relevant and if you guys are saying the warranty will start from the moment the V5 is signed/ car paid for then I dont have any hope and will just have to suck it up.
I was just wondering if there was any grey area due to me not being in proper possession of the car for weeks directly after purchase.

[AngryPartsBloke]

RB Will said:

In fact it was even the salesman that told me I had 6 months warranty in this case when he was working at another dealership a few years back.

Wait what? Who exactly told you you had a warranty and when?

Anyway, the price of second hand goods reflects that you may have to pay for some repairs out of your own pocket. Warranty or not.

[RB Will]

AngryPartsBloke said:

RB Will said:

In fact it was even the salesman that told me I had 6 months warranty in this case when he was working at another dealership a few years back.

Wait what? Who exactly told you you had a warranty and when?

Anyway, the price of second hand goods reflects that you may have to pay for some repairs out of your own pocket. Warranty or not.

Apologies for any confusion. A couple of years ago I was looking for a car for the OH popped into a local dealer and had a look over a car. Asked the salesman if they would sort out x, x and x if I bought it and he said no we dont have enough margin in it to do that so said ok and left it.

March this year and the same salesman is now working for a different dealership (the one I bought the car from) and he is the one who said all the work I requested was fine and that I would have a 6 month warranty.

[POORCARDEALER]

Is it an insurance backed warranty?

If so you should have a booklet with the details in it, including warranty duration.

[RB Will]

No idea. The only paperwork I have is the sales receipt which states used car warranty (no duration specified) no booklet etc.
I didn't pay for an extra warranty (hindsight is a wonderful thing lol) so guess it's just a warranty with the dealer. In which case I guess it's whatever the legal minimum is?

[Vaud]

RB Will said:

. In which case I guess it's whatever the legal minimum is?

There is none. Google "pistonheads SOGA used car" for many threads and guidance.

[RB Will]

Will do. Thanks. I had been given the impression from others I have spoken to that dealers had to cover upto three months (though thought that used to be 6) and anything after that is at their discretion.

[blueg33]

Prizam said:

You purchased an 11 year old car with 100k+ on it.

As such, you should expect tired suspension and knocked about paintwork.

Unfortunately your cam belt snapped. This sucks, but can happen to any car, any time. Suck it up and don't expect the garage that sold you a cheep car 3 months ago, who have so far entertained your warranty requests to fix a borked engine too.

How is this at all relevent?

Op feels he was misled about the warranty and is wondering if the start date was corect.

This is about the warranty and the sale process and nothing to do with the age of the car

[anonymous-user]

As I understand it there is no set term, it's flexible depending on the age/miles/condition & price paid for a car. Buy a £250 car with 200k on it and expect nothing in the way of help after it gets you home. On the other scale, spend £20,000 on a 3 year old 40,000 mile car and the gearbox falls out the dealer should help towards the cost of repair on a kinda sliding scale, 1 month later they should foot the majority of the bill, 6 months later and they should still help, but not necessarily the whole amount.

How much did you pay?

As far as timing goes, I'd expect the 'warranty' to start from when you pick it up

[RB Will]

Paid £4.2k for it. A strong price for one and hence why I was a bit fussy with it.
When you say from when you picked the car up you mean when I paid for it or when I picked it up after it was returned from having the work that was supposed to be done before sale done?

[POORCARDEALER]

RB Will said:

Paid £4.2k for it. A strong price for one and hence why I was a bit fussy with it.
When you say from when you picked the car up you mean when I paid for it or when I picked it up after it was returned from having the work that was supposed to be done before sale done?

Retail sale, I wouldnt say thats strong money....cars worth around 3000=3500 in trade, so hes not got rich out of it

[RB Will]

Oh right. I was going on it being about the 3rd highest priced one online in the country at the time.
I'm guessing it was a car traded in to them that they decided to sell rather than send on as it was about half the price or less of the rest of their stock.