Hallo,
My wife's clutch has "burnt out", car has done 7,000 miles (new in March 09) and she doesn't "ride" the clutch whilst driving.
This is her fifth oir sixth car and it has never happened before.
Should a new clutch be fitted under warranty or do Saab have a way out by saying it is a "wear and tear" item so we will have to pay.
I certainly feel it should be replaced free of charge as there is no way it should be failing after this kind of mileage.
Dealer is contacting Saab to try and get it paid for but is talking of a cost of £1,400 if they don't agree.
Am also slightly worried that they will come back and say Saab will contribute, say, 50% as I will still not be happy with a £700 bill on a 10 month old car.
Any advice or experience of this matter would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark .Y.
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I have successfully claimed for 100% of cost of renewal of a similar age car's clutch where it was slipping (not quite the same scenario), but expect them to say it's a service item (especially given Saab's financial position).
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I was looking at used Saabs a while back and their used car warranty covered consumables like clutches as long as the vehicle was less than 2 years old and had covered less than 40,000 miles.
Have a look to see if this is still the case, and then ask them if they can do this for used cars, why not one purchased from new?
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Wear and tear item or not, under the Sale Of Goods act any item has to be fit for purpose and that means lasting a reasonable period of time, although this period isn't specified you could easily argue that clutches normally last 10 times longer than yours did - therefore it's of substandard quality.
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Not sure if it helps but I had my previous Audi's clutch changed under warrantee at (IIRC) 14K miles, it wasn't burnt out but juddered and a problem with the friction lining was diagnosed.
Has the release bearing failed perhaps, in such a circumstance there should be no question over responsibility ?
I'd like to think you have a good chance of a satisfactory resolution but with the winding down of Saab there might be a problem.
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Thanks again gents.
Mark .Y.
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