Rust and water ingress on new car - should I reject it?
I recently bought a new Suzuki S-Cross and on collection day I noticed a small area of rust on the edge of one of the panels, which looked like it had been missed when the car was being spray-painted at the factory. The dealer has offered to sandpaper away the rust and touch it up with a paint stick. There was also some water on the door sills which the dealer explained as moisture remaining from valeting.
On taking the car home and examining it more closely, I noticed sand-like specks underneath the paintwork on the door sills, which indicates that the sills have possibly been resprayed. In addition, after a day of showers I discovered a significant quantity of water on the left-hand side door sills, which would explain the need for respraying if the sills had corroded due to prolonged moisture exposure.
What are my rights in this case? Can I reject the car or do I have to accept the fix suggested by the dealer? And what happens if the rust returns some time after the repair is completed?
On taking the car home and examining it more closely, I noticed sand-like specks underneath the paintwork on the door sills, which indicates that the sills have possibly been resprayed. In addition, after a day of showers I discovered a significant quantity of water on the left-hand side door sills, which would explain the need for respraying if the sills had corroded due to prolonged moisture exposure.
What are my rights in this case? Can I reject the car or do I have to accept the fix suggested by the dealer? And what happens if the rust returns some time after the repair is completed?
Asked on 23 March 2014 by distributed41
Answered by
Honest John
These are build quality problems, the sills possibly an end-of line fix or maybe fixed later after the car had been standing for a while. Water sitting on the sills is a design problem. You may have a case to reject, but I can't predict whether the faults would render the car "not of satisfactory quality" to a judge.
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