When we drove recently we suddenly had an error saying something like "engine fault, stop vehicle, oil pressure, garage now". It sounded very dramatic and we were quite worried. A bit before that we had a bit of a crunchy noise when we switched gears. We took it to the garage because of the error message and also mentioned the crunchy noise. The garage checked it and set that the error message was just a settings problem in the trip computer, but the crunchy noise is caused by a fault in the gear box. Frankly this comes as quite a shock as we've not had any problems with the car before and have only run it for about 1,500 miles since we bought it. It just passed its regular service a few weeks ago with no problems.

£3600 is a very large price for any mechanical fault. Has anyone told you what the precise failure is?

Actually neither we nor the garage know yet what's causing the problem, it's simply a noise when switching from first to second gear (but not every time we switch). The insurance company have asked us to instruct the garage to take the gear box out so that it can be sent off to a specialist company that disassembles it. Only then will we know what the actual problem is, but we will have incurred a lot of costs just for all the labour involved (that's what's prompted the garage to say it'll probably work out not much more to put a new gear box in). But the insurance company want us to do it this way as they say they have to know what the problem is. The garage have a very good reputation (so people say who I've asked about it), apart from being a bit more expensive than others.

But my real point is how can this happen on a 4 year old car with 28,000 miles, and shouldn't VW be dealing with it straight away, as the gear box is obviously of poor quality? Shouldn't the insurance company get VW to deal with it? And we obviously would prefer a new gear box to a repaired one from a model year that is known to have problems - how long till the next problem will occur with a different gear?

> VW have no liability in this. They may make a contribution as a gesture of goodwill if it is to be fixed by a dealer but the only recourse you may have under consumer legislation is against the garage which sold you the vehicle.

Thanks for the info, but why do VW have no liability in this? And why are you not sure I have a case against the garage which sold the vehicle, or against VW? The garage may not have noticed the problem during their checks. After all, we only noticed it a few days ago, and the car is still driving fine (even in second gear). In my eyes VW are at fault as the gear box should have lasted much longer.

I'm happy to follow the course of action the insurance company have given me but I'm worried that they'll try hard to find a reason not to pay out, considering the large amount of money involved, leaving me with a huge bill caused by something which really is not our fault and that the dealer or VW are responsible for.

Hi oilrag,

>Just a note (as I`m not sure you`re aware) to let you know that LucyBC is the forum`s official legal expert. She`s a lawyer working in a law firm as well as advising here.

Thanks for letting me know, no, I wasn't aware of this!

Hi LucyBC,

Thanks for all you advice, however it would be very helpful for us to understand why you don't think we have a case of a SOGA claim against VW or the dealer. Many other posts I've read on the Internet say that a failed gear box after only 28,000m on a 4 year old car is a case of "not fit for purpose".

Dear LucyBC,

Thanks very much for your detailed replies. We'll certainly wait and see what the insurance company says - we very much hope they'll say they'll cover it, but we're afraid that they'll say it's a pre-existing condition (ie the gear box was faulty all along right from the beginning, it just didn't show until we came across the noise last week and it also didn't come up in the regular service that we had done in June) and they'll use that to wiggle out of their obligations. We just want to be prepared for this case - otherwise we'll suddenly have a car in the garage with no gear box in it, the insurance not paying a penny and us not knowing how to proceed. We should know the result of the inspection sometime next week.

>You appear to have bought the car in January and we are now (almost) in August. If the fault occurred after the six month period then the onus changes - a SOGA claim is still possible but you have to show that the fault was there when you bought the car - it is not for the garage to prove that it was not.

We bought it in late November but hardly used it until February as we were away most of the time, and even since then only used it for about 1500 miles. I guess the insurance company will provide the solution - either they'll pay for it, or they say something like the gear box was faulty all along and won't pay - in which case, would we have a case against the dealer despite it being more than 6 months?

I have followed all the messages relating to the VW g/box fault. We too suffered the total failure of our g/box in April this year. VW Touran 2007 car was 2 months out of warranty, full VW service history, with 58,000 on the clock. Our failure happened with no warning causing massive spillage of oil on the road and the total siezure of the box whilst travelling. We could have been seriously hurt. Several things have come of this. One I quickly realised this was a well reported and known fault and that VW would be very difficult to deal with in terms of goodwill towards repair costs or complaint on safety issues as other owners have had a similar negative response to compaints or requests for financial compensation. VW have a very aggressive and defensive customer care system. New g/box etc was £2,500. Amongst other things I have raised this as a safety issue with VOSA, who have invited me to find out if anyone else who has suffered sudden and total g/box failure whilst driving have been injured or created an incident /hazard for other road users. VW are saying this is a low speed failure (if it occurs - though they say it is not a commonly reported fault) and is not a safety issue. I believe this is not the case.It is an intrinsic fault at either manufacture or assembly of which they are well award. I can give anybody who feels they can contribute to this the contact details of the technical representative at VOSA, who you can contact direct. It is not necessary to go through myself as a third party.

Hi guys, can I ask you to reopen the thread please! I have a very similar issue with my Touran, 17 reg (May 2017). Mileage - 47000 ish.

So, here is the story.... Bought in 2018 when it was 1 y.o. from a VW dealer (12000 miles on the clock). Full service and repair history (nothing major) at another VW dealer.

In early July broke down, screeching noise in the gearbox, managed to get home in manual mode, took to the dealer for the repair. Paid around 3700, the garage said that they've changed the clutch. Picked it up from the garage, drove about 120 miles and broke down again with the same symptoms. Back to the dealer, now they are saying that they are going to change the flywheel, and that's another 2k to be paid. I am not sure what to do, to start with the gear box should not fail at this age/mileage, plus how come it broke down again so soon, it looks as they did not diagnose it properly in the first place. Please help - what is the best course of actions here?

It's simply not true that any gearbox failure within six years will automatically justify a claim under the sale of goods act.

Factors variously coming in to pay will include age of vehicle, mileage of vehicle, service history and nature of fault.

If the servicing is of an acceptable standard - by which it means it matches the manufacturers requirements and recommendations - then where the vehicle has been serviced will not matter - indeed it is illegal to discriminate against a serviceing garage because they do not have a franchise - but it can come into play on super-extended warranties which make dealer servicing part of the terms of conditions of getting the warranty.

Under any SoGA claim you must give the supplying garage the option to fix the fault - you cannot just take it where you want.

I would suppose they would say because the car was not regulary serviced that they did not have a chance to to tell the customer in their opinion the gearbox was developing a fault.

Hello Everyone,

I saw this thread stopped in 2010, but i am hoping it can be reopened and help from others greatfully recieved.

We bought a VW Touran with DSG gearbox in early Novermber 2016, and the car was a 2012 model. In late April 2017 the gearbox just went while driving (30mph) and after stopping i was just left with 2nd and reverse.

I bought the car from a privite dealership, which was RAC approved and the car came through with a 3 month all parts cover from the RAC after purchase. The gearbox failed approx 6 and half months after purchase.

The car has a full service history, 57,235 miles at time of breakdown, and is 5.5 years old. It has a clean bill given to it by the garage and the RAC before selling. It had 2 owners before i purchased it.

I spent £2,450 getting this fixed by my local serviving garage who i have always used. They had to send it to a specialist to get repaired. 3 and half weeks later the gearbox wnet again, and it is back at my local servicing garage who have sent it back to the gearbox specialists.

So my questions are, after reading al the threads, can anyone help with my next steps, should i.....................

a) Contact the original garage to ask them for a contribution to the repairs from the 1st breakdown.

b) if the garage says no, can i seek a SOGA claim against them?

Basically is there anything i can positiviely do to try and recoup all the costs that i have been left with? Such a shame as the Touran is a lovely car!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Si

Thanks Rob for that,

And yes talking to a few people and mechanics now, Gernerally all DSG's are pretty bad. I wonder when the manufacturers will go a different route.

I was chekcing the timings on the purchase problems, we bought the car on the 09th Novermber and the breakdown was actually on the 25th April so that does fall within the 6 months i believe.

But when i had the breakdown, i still wasnt aware of the whole story with DSG's in gerneral and VW, so i took it on myslef to get the car fixed without goign to the delaership. I was aware that the warrenty had expired and so decided to get this fixed myself.

From what you have mentioned, i maybe falling within the 6 month time period which will help, but have i ruined my case by not contacting the dealer first when the problem first happened?

Thanks

Simon