Air-con failure after purchase - is it covered by the warranty?

In March, I bought a low-mileage (10,000) 2013 Porsche Boxster from a Porsche dealer, including - what I thought was - a rock-solid two year warranty. Initially, I didn't use the air-con (to save fuel) but when I tried it for the first time on a wet day - on 10 June - I realised that the air-con wasn't working at all. On my return home on 14 June, I reported the problem to both the supplying Porsche dealership and also my local Porsche service centre. I booked the car in as soon as possible for the work to be done, on June 27 - 28, on the assumption that a repair would would be fully covered by the warranty. I was then told that there was stone damage to one of the condensers which had disabled the air-con. I had no option but to pay the bill, just over £700. My perception is that I was sold a car without working air-con. The service dealer regards this as ‘external damage’ and therefore not covered by the warranty. The salesman was sympathetic but referred to the comprehensive pre-delivery check that the car had passed just before I bought it in March. As a gesture of goodwill, he has offered to pay 50 per cent of the bill but that still leaves me £350 out of pocket. Am I likely to be able to recover my loss or is this the best I can hope for?

Asked on 2 July 2017 by Peter McDonald

Answered by Honest John
Stone damage is the same as any kind of damage to the car. Not warranted. Had you used the a/c from day one you'd have found out if it was working then or not. As it is, you have no proof that a stone did not damage the condenser during your tenure of the car. It's actually stupid not to use a/c. Doesn't affect fuel economy and if you don't use it it doesn't self-lubricate and is prone to lose its refrigerant anyway.
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