Rejecting a new car for pulling to the left?
In March 2013 I purchased a new BMW 5 Series from a local BMW dealer. The car was delivered to the correct specification and all was well until I had travelled about 1200 miles (mostly on motorways) when I noticed a strong tendency to veer to the left.
I reported this to the garage and they took the car in to check tyre pressures and anything else obvious that may be causing it to pull to the left. I drove it home and it was even worse.
I reported this to the garage and they asked me to return the vehicle to them the following week for wheel alignment etc - which I did - the result was no different - in fact it was worse, the steering was "dead" and lacked any castering effect, other than to continue to drift to the left.
Driving long distances on motorways made my arms ache with having to constantly correct the steering.
I complained to the BMW Manager who was sympathetic and stated that all BMW's pull to the left - I suggested this was not so and that I should take his Workshop Supervisor on a test run to demonstrate - if after this it was still considered normal I would take out another 5 Series and see if the same thing happened .
On the test drive the Workshop Supervisor acknowledged that BMW had a probnlem with this, as they had developed a test module to try and rectify it.
Having driven on right and left cambered roads the Workshop Supervisor agreed that there was something wrong. The garage then took my car back and gave me a new 3 series to use while they tried to resolve the matter.
That was over two weeks ago and despite numerous "Puma" communications with BMW they have been unable to resolve the problem .
Long winded way to get to my point - how much longer do I have to give the garage to fix the problem before I reject the car as being unfit for purpose ? (assuming I can - as I have read another case whereby the purchaser couldn't reject it as the courts decided that "pulling to the left" wasn't a significant matter ?)
I reported this to the garage and they took the car in to check tyre pressures and anything else obvious that may be causing it to pull to the left. I drove it home and it was even worse.
I reported this to the garage and they asked me to return the vehicle to them the following week for wheel alignment etc - which I did - the result was no different - in fact it was worse, the steering was "dead" and lacked any castering effect, other than to continue to drift to the left.
Driving long distances on motorways made my arms ache with having to constantly correct the steering.
I complained to the BMW Manager who was sympathetic and stated that all BMW's pull to the left - I suggested this was not so and that I should take his Workshop Supervisor on a test run to demonstrate - if after this it was still considered normal I would take out another 5 Series and see if the same thing happened .
On the test drive the Workshop Supervisor acknowledged that BMW had a probnlem with this, as they had developed a test module to try and rectify it.
Having driven on right and left cambered roads the Workshop Supervisor agreed that there was something wrong. The garage then took my car back and gave me a new 3 series to use while they tried to resolve the matter.
That was over two weeks ago and despite numerous "Puma" communications with BMW they have been unable to resolve the problem .
Long winded way to get to my point - how much longer do I have to give the garage to fix the problem before I reject the car as being unfit for purpose ? (assuming I can - as I have read another case whereby the purchaser couldn't reject it as the courts decided that "pulling to the left" wasn't a significant matter ?)
Asked on 9 May 2013 by Wombat
Answered by
Honest John
This might simply be solved by switching the tyres front to back (assuming it isn't on different size tyres front to back, which it might be). If it can't be cured then of course, in theory you are entitled to your money back because the car was delivered with a fault. The ruling is Clegg v Olle Andersson 2003 (House of Lords). www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/
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