fuel used by dealer...

Author
Discussion

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
hello,
i'm after some advice please - my car had some warranty work done in the main dealer and they used half a tank of petrol replicating / resolving the problem...I asked for it back and they refused. Seems a bit tight to me, could anyone offer me some advise on what to do next? I don't see why I should have to "pay" to resolve a manufacturing problem on a car which i own which is still under warranty...thank you!

surveyor

17,876 posts

185 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
Move on?

Would you have preferred that they did not find the problem?

McSam

6,753 posts

176 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
What was the fault?

Because if it's reasonable to need half a tank's worth of testing to find and solve the problem, then you'll have to accept it, because there's no way the dealership could claim back "diagnosis fuel" from the manufacturer - either you pay for it or they do, and I think you can guess which way that's likely to go unless you're a particularly valuable customer. If it's not reasonable, ie. they have been taking the piss and using your car for other purposes while it was there, then I'd be expecting a goodwill gesture to cover the burnt fuel (at least!).

But I wonder what the case would be if you left it with them with very little fuel in it, would they put what they needed in and just deal with it, or ring you up and say "it needs £x of fuel to be able to diagnose the fault and you'll need to reimburse us on collection"?

excel monkey

4,545 posts

228 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
surveyor said:
Move on?

Would you have preferred that they did not find the problem?
This.

Out of interest, what kind of car and what was the problem? Particularly if it's a small car and half a tank is less than 20 litres, it's not worth stressing about.

In future, leave the tank almost empty when you drop it off for servicing.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

246 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
I bet they ragged it and wore the tyres out too - have a look at how the edges have been scrubbed away.

ajb85

1,122 posts

143 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
Yes, move on, and thank the dealer for sorting out the fault.

I have cars M.o.T'd all the time, engines are left running whilst on the ramp, more often than not my fuel has been zapped away.

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
its a high performance car with a large tank and it only runs super unleaded. took them 3 weeks to fix it as well.

i'll roll over then.

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
surveyor said:
Move on?

Would you have preferred that they did not find the problem?
i would have preferred they fixed the problem at their cost, not mine.

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
Deva Link said:
I bet they ragged it and wore the tyres out too - have a look at how the edges have been scrubbed away.
apart from the damage they did to the car (they did repair it) they assured me as they are professionals they looked after the car and did not rag it!!!! however, i'm almost down a litre of oil too...let me put two and two together....

Output Flange

16,806 posts

212 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
You pay for fuel.

When my 911 needed the gearbox software resetting, I dropped it off with the fuel light on. Apparently once the reset is done, they then have to drive to a certain plan to set the adaptations correctly, and so they phoned to get my authorisation to put some fuel in, which they would then charge back to me.

Which is fine. It was something in the region of £20 - I'm sure I could have argued it had I really wanted to, but to me it doesn't seem unreasonable.

Red16

589 posts

169 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
misterme said:
apart from the damage they did to the car (they did repair it) they assured me as they are professionals they looked after the car and did not rag it!!!! however, i'm almost down a litre of oil too...let me put two and two together....
What age is the car? What is the fault they were trying to identify/repair?

I'm finding it hard to believe your engine could use a litre of oil in half a tank irrespective of how it has been driven! Are you implying they stole the missing oil?

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
car is under 3 years old as still in warranty and turbo problems...a few hundred extra miles on the clock too...
oh and they said the oil usage is normal and within "tolerances"

Output Flange

16,806 posts

212 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
What car is it?

jamei303

3,005 posts

157 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
Why should you have to pay for fuel for warranty repairs? If I take my smoothie maker back to the kitchen shop to be repaired under guarantee, I don't expect to receive a bill for 25 kiwi fruits.

Donatello

1,035 posts

162 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
You have asked for advice, people have given it and you don't appear to like the advice offered.

You obviously want to take it further, so do it and stop asking people who you clearly don't want to listen to what you should do about it.

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
thanks for your input, and for not reading the other replies. looks like we're on 50/50 at the moment. got to love an internet forum.

Monty Python

4,812 posts

198 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
What's the alternative? If they can't diagnose the problem without the engine running what are they supposed to do?

misterme

Original Poster:

34 posts

134 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
maybe i should have simplified the question, why should i have to pay the fuel bill for finding out the problem?

i don't see this as unreasonable: 3 weeks later, i get the car back, we fixed the problem, was a tricky one. sorry it took so long. unfortunately we did x amount of miles fixing it and used 1/2 tank of fuel, but we replaced it for you.

Output Flange

16,806 posts

212 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
misterme said:
maybe i should have simplified the question, why should i have to pay the fuel bill for finding out the problem?
Because you might be wrong about it being a problem, so why should the dealer have to pay if you are?

They're paying for the repair, you pay for the fuel.

csampo

236 posts

196 months

Thursday 7th March 2013
quotequote all
I've got to say that I wouldn't be too happy paying for fuel used to diagnose and fix a problem that was caused by a manufacturing fault and covered by warranty. If the car was out of warranty then of course you pay for the fuel. Whether or not its worth losing sleep over however...