Advice regarding 3 year old Vauxhall Corsa
Discussion
Hi all,
My OH has had a Vauxhall Corsa which was bought from a well known Vauxhall main dealership network in the North West back in 2016 and it has only just come out of warranty, It is 10 days out of warranty at the moment and approx. 3 weeks ago it was serviced by this dealer network which included oil change and filter including visual inspection. One of these weeks it has been parked up whilst on holiday so technically its only been driven 2 weeks since a service. It has had a full service history from this main dealer as well..
Fast forward to this week and the car is been sounding very tappy and pinging and down on power. Engine light on and dash is showing Service Now. We obviously took the car back yesterday only to be told it has developed a knock and could potentially rack up a high bill due to needing stripping down to diagnose. The errors from diagnostics showed knock detected and bank 1 running lean.
Personally I feel that the engine will need swapping for a new unit as too much damage has already occurred and mechanics don't bother rebuilding engines anymore. The dealer has advised us that as it is 10 days out of warranty they need authorisation from head office. Do you think that the dealer network should be footing 100% of the costs especially considering the recent service they did? I know it may be a coincidence but the link is too strong to ignore. The car is also under finance so can we reject the car with the finance company should Vauxhall refuse to accept liability of all costs and repairs?
My OH has had a Vauxhall Corsa which was bought from a well known Vauxhall main dealership network in the North West back in 2016 and it has only just come out of warranty, It is 10 days out of warranty at the moment and approx. 3 weeks ago it was serviced by this dealer network which included oil change and filter including visual inspection. One of these weeks it has been parked up whilst on holiday so technically its only been driven 2 weeks since a service. It has had a full service history from this main dealer as well..
Fast forward to this week and the car is been sounding very tappy and pinging and down on power. Engine light on and dash is showing Service Now. We obviously took the car back yesterday only to be told it has developed a knock and could potentially rack up a high bill due to needing stripping down to diagnose. The errors from diagnostics showed knock detected and bank 1 running lean.
Personally I feel that the engine will need swapping for a new unit as too much damage has already occurred and mechanics don't bother rebuilding engines anymore. The dealer has advised us that as it is 10 days out of warranty they need authorisation from head office. Do you think that the dealer network should be footing 100% of the costs especially considering the recent service they did? I know it may be a coincidence but the link is too strong to ignore. The car is also under finance so can we reject the car with the finance company should Vauxhall refuse to accept liability of all costs and repairs?
Edited by phey708 on Sunday 21st July 21:31
t No, it's not down to the dealer network to foot the bill. Dealers are franchises so they don't 'pay' for the manufacturers warranty work, the manufacturer does. End of the day, it's out of warranty so the onus is on you to cover the costs to diagnose, then you could seek a goodwill contribution from Vauxhall depending on what the issue is. For all Vauxhall know, you might have driven it through a flood so nothing us "warranty" until diagnosed by a garage then authorised by the manufacturer, especially outwith the warranty period. But ultimately, you'll have to accept liability for the diagnostics, why should the dealer foot that bill? Once diagnosed, you can only pray Vauxhall are feeling generous but if not, it's on you. What you feel isn't relevant, what the exact issue however is... and so needs diagnosed first. The fact it's just been serviced may all be irrelevant, things fail at any point.
I think you should be asking your dealer for more information about the issue. They must be able to give you a few possible ideas of what they suspect the actual issue to be.
Armed with an idea of what is expected, you can then argue that they should be more supportive because of the age of car and recently expired warranty that coincided with the service.
And pressure them to ask vauxhall to support you and them. Ask them for the contact details at vauxhall too so you can talk to them regarding the issue. But I would suggest having a better idea of the potential problems highlighted, and not just say it is a knock etc.
Armed with an idea of what is expected, you can then argue that they should be more supportive because of the age of car and recently expired warranty that coincided with the service.
And pressure them to ask vauxhall to support you and them. Ask them for the contact details at vauxhall too so you can talk to them regarding the issue. But I would suggest having a better idea of the potential problems highlighted, and not just say it is a knock etc.
phey708 said:
We are not prepared to pay for an engine strip down especially given how soon this has happened since a service from them. We feel that something has happened during the oil change that has manifested itself and we would rather not be out of pocket.
That mentality may not get you far. Sometimes it's better to have your dealer on your side and helping. Not only are you saying your not prepared to pay but you're also suggesting something was done during the oil change... have you any proof?Totally agree that the issue needs diagnosed or at least talk to the dealer, be nice, ask if they have any ideas what it could be and maybe agree to an hours diagnostic at your cost to get the ball rolling.
Trust me, the dealer won't want to be caught in the middle... you're not paying, Vauxhall not paying and the dealer has a faulty car rammed up them. Ultimately somebody has to pay but you're liable initially and potentially, could be liable in full... unless the servicing dealer have cocked up, they won't be paying anything I suspect.
If it’s a 1.2, coil packs are a strong possibility. Very common issue with these.
As others have mentioned, don’t go into the dealer and throw a wobbler/accuse them of doing damage. I know it’s irritating that a fault has developed so soon after warranty expiry but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
As others have mentioned, don’t go into the dealer and throw a wobbler/accuse them of doing damage. I know it’s irritating that a fault has developed so soon after warranty expiry but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
phey708 said:
We are not prepared to pay for an engine strip down especially given how soon this has happened since a service from them. We feel that something has happened during the oil change that has manifested itself and we would rather not be out of pocket.
Drain old stuff out. Fill with new. Only the sump plug, filter and filler cap will have been touched.What do you suspect them of doing exactly?
You need more information about what has gone wrong.
Has it still got oil in it?
You need some competent fault diagnosis....
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