3/6 month warranty on AutoTrader - sales puffery?
Discussion
Seeing lots of cars for sale from dealers advertised as having a 3 month or 6 month warranty online. It got me thinking, is this just sales puffery/talk?
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
aceofspades1 said:
Seeing lots of cars for sale from dealers advertised as having a 3 month or 6 month warranty online. It got me thinking, is this just sales puffery/talk?
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
I recently bought a car and it came with 3 months cover with some random warranty firm. When you read the small print, you'd be extremely hard pushed to make a claim even on the things they did cover. So for example, they'd cover there engine if there was a catastrophic failure but would likely be able to get out of paying if the cars service history wasn't exactly to the manufacturers spec. Anything they'd consider wear and tear isn't covered. Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
In reality, anything significant that occurs once you have bought a car from a trader is the responsibility of the trader and theirs to cover.
Alex_225 said:
I recently bought a car and it came with 3 months cover with some random warranty firm. When you read the small print, you'd be extremely hard pushed to make a claim even on the things they did cover. So for example, they'd cover there engine if there was a catastrophic failure but would likely be able to get out of paying if the cars service history wasn't exactly to the manufacturers spec. Anything they'd consider wear and tear isn't covered.
In reality, anything significant that occurs once you have bought a car from a trader is the responsibility of the trader and theirs to cover.
Yeah, I agree tbh. That's the way I read itIn reality, anything significant that occurs once you have bought a car from a trader is the responsibility of the trader and theirs to cover.
aceofspades1 said:
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified
This is not correct. If your fuel pump dies after five months and 7000 miles, the dealer would be able to easily demonstrate the fault was not present at time of sale and therefore would not be responsible.Depending on the warranty cover, it may be covered without any quibble over responsibility- though possibly some other type of quibble depending on how good the warranty company is
Nickp82 said:
This is not correct. If your fuel pump dies after five months and 7000 miles, the dealer would be able to easily demonstrate the fault was not present at time of sale and therefore would not be responsible.
Depending on the warranty cover, it may be covered without any quibble over responsibility- though possibly some other type of quibble depending on how good the warranty company is
Exactly - CRA 2015 is by no means a slam-dunk.Depending on the warranty cover, it may be covered without any quibble over responsibility- though possibly some other type of quibble depending on how good the warranty company is
If the dealer plays hard ball your only option is to sue them - it's not like you can dial 999 and send the old bill round there.
chrisman said:
It's so the dealers can push you towards the warranty company if something goes wrong rather than have to fix it themselves under the CRA. I don't think a lot of people know about your rights under the CRA and the 'free' 6 month warranty plays on that.
The last time I bought a car I asked about the warranty the dealer said there wasn't one - because customers had had so many bad experiences with warranty companies not paying out that they offered a 'warranty' of some kind themselves. I'm holding off from writing them a review just in case it doesn't work as planned if needed!Nickp82 said:
aceofspades1 said:
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified
This is not correct. If your fuel pump dies after five months and 7000 miles, the dealer would be able to easily demonstrate the fault was not present at time of sale and therefore would not be responsible.Depending on the warranty cover, it may be covered without any quibble over responsibility- though possibly some other type of quibble depending on how good the warranty company is
Motor Ombudsman said:
It’s worth bearing in mind that, if the issue occurs in the first six months after buying the car, it’s up to the selling dealership or garage to prove that it was of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described when they sold it to you.
Unless the garage have written dated, evidence that they have inspected the offending part after you've purchased the vehicle, I fail to see how they can easy demonstrate that the fault was not present at time of sale.However, as the next poster says, gatting the garage to honour those rights could be a whole diffenent kettle of fish.
aceofspades1 said:
Seeing lots of cars for sale from dealers advertised as having a 3 month or 6 month warranty online. It got me thinking, is this just sales puffery/talk?
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
The only used car warranties I put faith in are the maunfacturer backed one's, "approved used" one's.Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified, or the car refunded/replaced. How is a 6 month warranty different?
The others, you might get a claim, you might not.
The six month rule exists, but if the dealer doesn't play ball, it can be a long, and tiresome, fight enforcing those rules.
With any expensive car I buy I always take the dealer finance,
Taking the finance can be a great help if you run into problems, as a complaint to the finance company, and the threat of an FCA complaint is very powerful.
Then just settle the finance after six months if you've had no problems.
Add up the interest you've paid for six months, and put that cost down to the extra layer of protection you've had.
Nickp82 said:
This is not correct. If your fuel pump dies after five months and 7000 miles, the dealer would be able to easily demonstrate the fault was not present at time of sale and therefore would not be responsible.
"Fault not present" and "no symptoms of the fault" aren't the same thing.Right up until two weeks ago I was driving round my van on the original dual mass flywheel and it was, quite literally, falling apart when they took it out. Just because I only got symptoms two weeks ago doesn't mean it wasn't on its way out a very, very long time ago.
That's why the CRA assumes faults were present at the time of sale in the first 6 months.
I find it slightly amusing how many people jump on the 'you have rights, see them in court' approach, whether on PH or other car fora. I wonder how many of those have actually experienced taking people to court and, if so, how many have a 100% success rate.
I'm not suggesting that people don't have rights but talking about something and actually doing it are two completely different things. Ask that chap that runs the country, you know, what's his name
I'm not suggesting that people don't have rights but talking about something and actually doing it are two completely different things. Ask that chap that runs the country, you know, what's his name
Sheepshanks said:
The risk there is you re suggesting it gradually wore out, rather than suddenly failed catastrophically.
If a consumer ends up with a vehicle unfit for purpose, it’s not relevant how said vehicle part failed. That’s the dealer’s problem to handle as they’re the “experts” in this scenario.The point I was making is you can’t just say that because something failed several thousand miles down the line, it therefore wasn’t present at the point of sale. Not only is it near impossible to prove that - it’s not even necessarily true.
Mammasaid said:
Nickp82 said:
aceofspades1 said:
Under the CRA 2015, any fault that arises within 6 months of purchasing the car has to be rectified
This is not correct. If your fuel pump dies after five months and 7000 miles, the dealer would be able to easily demonstrate the fault was not present at time of sale and therefore would not be responsible.Depending on the warranty cover, it may be covered without any quibble over responsibility- though possibly some other type of quibble depending on how good the warranty company is
aceofspades1 said:
"Fault not present" and "no symptoms of the fault" aren't the same thing.
Right up until two weeks ago I was driving round my van on the original dual mass flywheel and it was, quite literally, falling apart when they took it out. Just because I only got symptoms two weeks ago doesn't mean it wasn't on its way out a very, very long time ago.
That's why the CRA assumes faults were present at the time of sale in the first 6 months.
I agree. That’s why I used a fuel pump as example, you’d likely know if that was not working properly.Right up until two weeks ago I was driving round my van on the original dual mass flywheel and it was, quite literally, falling apart when they took it out. Just because I only got symptoms two weeks ago doesn't mean it wasn't on its way out a very, very long time ago.
That's why the CRA assumes faults were present at the time of sale in the first 6 months.
aceofspades1 said:
"Fault not present" and "no symptoms of the fault" aren't the same thing.
Right up until two weeks ago I was driving round my van on the original dual mass flywheel and it was, quite literally, falling apart when they took it out. Just because I only got symptoms two weeks ago doesn't mean it wasn't on its way out a very, very long time ago.
That's why the CRA assumes faults were present at the time of sale in the first 6 months.
Every component on every car is "on its way out" the moment it turns it's first wheel. It's just a case of when.Right up until two weeks ago I was driving round my van on the original dual mass flywheel and it was, quite literally, falling apart when they took it out. Just because I only got symptoms two weeks ago doesn't mean it wasn't on its way out a very, very long time ago.
That's why the CRA assumes faults were present at the time of sale in the first 6 months.
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