Used car. Engine dead. Not had the car long.

[reedman]

Need a little help. My cleaner bought a used Golf of a local garage.
She was given a 3 month warranty with the car. 5 days before warranty expires the engine shoots a piston out of the side of the engine.

The garage have said seen the car was only 3k they want her to contribute 50% to towards the repair.
This didn’t sound right to me but I don’t know.

She paid cash. No credit card or finance.

Thanks in advance
James

[InitialDave]

Has a cause of failure been mentioned?

[rallycross]

1. what does the warranty paperwork say?
2. why did the engine fail? was there oil in there? water? maybe she jammed it into 2nd gear instead of 4th at 70 mph, who knows maybe it was already an oil burning wreck when she bought it 3 months ago with 200,000 miles on it?
3. £3k cars don't come with a bullet proof warranty that will cover a replacement engine when the old one goes bang 3 months down the road.

[reedman]

90,000 miles

Garaged serviced it before she collected it.

Piston let go at 30 mph and put a hole in the block.

That’s all I know really.

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

Say no to paying the 50% unless they are offering to put new seals/bearings/etc everywhere as part of the rebuild hence her getting a better engine than before. Else go to "small claims" if they object; female motorist vs garage cases the woman will win!

When offering a warranty it is bad luck on the garage to get such a costly failure but part of the risk of offering a warranty.

[rallycross]

what engine does it have (year/model).
To give a idea on costs a decent small garage will swop engine for £300-£450 and the 2nd hand engine will be between £200-£650 subject to what model it was petrol/diesel etc (presume mk5?).

[C Lee Farquar]

MikeStroud said:

Say no to paying the 50% unless they are offering to put new seals/bearings/etc everywhere as part of the rebuild hence her getting a better engine than before.

Not sure this advice is applicable given it's chucked out a piston.

[Avantime]

I assume the 2015 SOGA covers this. Up to 6 months after purchase, I believe.

I had the coupling on the supercharger on my 09 Jag XFR changed 3 months after buying it (from a trader) - he tried to avoid liability, but once I mentioned the above, he agreed to sort it.

Sad that many traders try to avoid their obligations......

[Willy Nilly]

They have offered to pay 50% of a replacement engine on a 90,000 mile, 3 grand car? Bite their hands off.

[DaveH23]

My Mazda 3 MPS had this happen on 31,000 miles 5 months after I bought it. (I later found out this wasn't that uncommon on this engine)

Smaller indy only offered 3 months warranty, I possibly could of persued it as I wasnt fully aware of my rights so claimed on Insurance and got a brand new Engine

[surveyor_101]

Willy Nilly said:

They have offered to pay 50% of a replacement engine on a 90,000 mile, 3 grand car? Bite their hands off.

I think they should of said we will pay but make her pay a smaller claim fee.

What’s the bill £500 -1000?

Depends on the warranty I had a clutch go on a 75k mile car. They asked for £50 to make a claim on the warranty which was the garages.

[anonymous-user]

DaveH23 said:

My Mazda 3 MPS had this happen on 31,000 miles 5 months after I bought it. (I later found out this wasn't that uncommon on this engine)

Smaller indy only offered 3 months warranty, I possibly could of persued it as I wasnt fully aware of my rights so claimed on Insurance and got a brand new Engine

Your insurance covered an engine failure?

[DaveH23]

REALIST123 said:

DaveH23 said:

My Mazda 3 MPS had this happen on 31,000 miles 5 months after I bought it. (I later found out this wasn't that uncommon on this engine)

Smaller indy only offered 3 months warranty, I possibly could of persued it as I wasnt fully aware of my rights so claimed on Insurance and got a brand new Engine

Your insurance covered an engine failure?

After a bit of back and forth to the value of the car, yes.

[AdeTuono]

DaveH23 said:

REALIST123 said:

DaveH23 said:

My Mazda 3 MPS had this happen on 31,000 miles 5 months after I bought it. (I later found out this wasn't that uncommon on this engine)

Smaller indy only offered 3 months warranty, I possibly could of persued it as I wasnt fully aware of my rights so claimed on Insurance and got a brand new Engine

Your insurance covered an engine failure?

After a bit of back and forth to the value of the car, yes.

Whatever sort of policy was that?

[reedman]

I though the sale of goods act was the most important part.

Even if the dealer said the engines not covered by our warranty.

I will ask her what the warranty says.

Thanks all

[KevinCamaroSS]

Don't forget there are two separate things here:

1) The liability of the dealer if you can prove the fault was there at time of purchase
2) Any warranty given which covers things that occur after the point of sale

Usual situation arises where the dealer says "nothing wrong when we sold it to you" and the warranty company says " must have been present when sold it so we are not covering it".

Who is the provider of the warranty (not the dealer)? Some of them are worth more than others.

Edited by KevinCamaroSS on Thursday 22 February 11:23

[steveo3002]

if they would go 50/50 at cost price then not bad ..id imagine alot would want full rrp on all parts /labour and then throw in the cheapest used engine they can find

[TooMany2cvs]

A £3k, 90k Golf is going to be a decade or so old.

It's been quite happy for three months - that makes any suggestion of a CRA claim for a pre-existing fault a bit of a non-starter.
It's a decade-old car - is it a reasonable expectation for that to have an engine failure? Entirely feasible.

We have no idea what caused it to stick that leg out of bed - whether the oil level had even been checked once in all that time, whether there'd been a "funny noise" for weeks, whether she downchanged to first instead of third at this self-reported 30mph, anything.

There's a warranty, but we have no idea what the claim limits on it are.

I'd say 50/50 on an engine replacement was a fairly decent outcome, tbh. She should take it, imho. Fighting them is not going to be a foregone conclusion, and she's still without a car in the interim anyway.

[imagineifyeswill]

We havent been told wheteher its a diesel or a petrol, if diesel there is a particular VW engine BZE code IIRC that is prone to throwing con rods without any warning.

[grumpy52]

Sounds like the garage has warranted it themselves instead of paying for a third party warranty.
They are trying to reduce their costs and it's come back and bit them .