I posted this earlier today on another forum I frequent and one of the regulars suggested I post here for more advice. So, any ideas:

Bought a new car a year ago now, everything with it was perfect and I didn't have a spot of trouble with it in the first 10k miles at all aside from a buzzing rear speaker which wasn't ever a huge issue as it was under warranty.

As 10k miles drew near, I booked it into the 'local' dealership (by local, I mean the nearest one which is a good 25 or 30 miles from my house) to get it serviced and to fix a minor imperfection on the passenger leather seat. No problem, said they and toddled off to do the work.

Picked the car up after the service after having wandered aimlessly around town for a while due to their refusal of a courtesy car for servicing work and found they'd arranged to order a new seat cover and speaker to replace. This was slightly irritating as they knew about the speaker and could have ordered it well before then, but hey, these things happen.

From there it went down hill and I'll just bullet point the rest because otherwise I'd literally be here all week typing:

* 5 weeks of constant chasing with not one courtesy call from the garage to let me know what was going on with the parts ordered
* Loads of phonecalls to SEAT headoffice to get the dealership chased and the parts brought in
* 6 or so weeks in, the parts were finally arrived and I booked the car in for the work. The speaker was swapped as was the seat cover. To say the new seat cover looked rubbish would be an understatement of epic proportions. It was baggy, creased, didn't fit the seat and just looked absolutely naff. The service manager even had the audacity to tell me it was supposed to be like that and there was nothing he could do as, "All cows were different" so the seats would never match.
* The speaker started to buzz again within five minutes of leaving the dealership
* I found they'd bust all the electric motors on the seat a couple of days later
* 3 or 4 weeks later they got another seat cover in for me to look at and decide whether I wanted it fitted or not. It looked just as bad as the last one and they could offer no assurances that it'd be better fitted, so I declined. They then decided I'd have to have the area manager to look at the car to decide where to go from here
* Loads more phone calls and another 2 or 3 weeks later, I get a visit from the guy who all but laughs at the workmanship of the recovering and gets the dealership to order in a brand new base and tells them they need to investigate the speaker problem. I was also promised a decent courtesy car for the duration of the work
* Parts finally arrived after loads more chasing, during which time the dealership never contacted me at all. Spoke to the dealer, sorted out a courtesy car and turned up a week later (the earliest they could get me in) to be told my courtesy car was a 1 litre Suzuki Swift - a far cry from the 1.8T I'd took in. This was also despite the promises of a courtesy vehicle of 'comparable standard' to my own
* Finally got it booked in for the work to be done last week and they've swapped the seat cover and speaker again only for it to be almost identical to their last effort. This is some 18 weeks after the first lot of work was done

And basically, for those of you still awake, that's where I am now - a car that was knackered by the dealership and one that seems will never be fixed. Not only that, but I've had to visit the dealership 6 times so far, so that's 350-odd miles on the car (vehicle running costs are listed at 51p/mile, so it ain't cheap either) and a good 12 or so hours of my time wasted, if not more. The annoying thing is, the car was perfect before I ever let the dealer near it.

That's it - just wanted to vent really. Read more

I have recently been experiencing really hesitant acceleration on my '97 Corsa (1.2l 8V single-point fuel injection).

Throttle response has really deteriorated and has got to the point where I can sometimes floor the throttle and get zero rise in engine revs! It usually happens when I get back onto the throttle after changing gears - there is a lag phase when there is no response, and then suddenly the engine kicks in! I usually have to hold the throttle down and just wait for the power to return!

I am at a loss to figure out why this happens - it is as if the fuel injector is being starved of fuel for a moment and then suddenly the fuel arrives. Or perhaps starved of air for a moment?

The ignition is fine - I replaced the plugs today.

Can anyone help out?

Cheers! Read more

The current issue of French magazine L'Express mentions two useful car acessories, although it only gives "l'Internet" as the source. One is a device that claims to prevent any speed camera or laser device from registering. It costs up to 520 Euros. The other is a spray that is transparent, yet prevents cameras from reading number plates. Their use is, of course, illegal... Read more

Bit of a question really, i'm not familar with insurance claiming after say an accident. What happens when a silly old women goes into the back of me at a round about, do i have to use my insurance and pay my excess to repair the damage or is it totally down to her and her insurance company. Then when applying for insurance premiums do i have to declare that, even though my previous insurance company wasn't involved?

Honest i'm not dodgy, just a young lad wanting to know how it works for the future. Read more

For those who don't visit the Discussion forum.........

Anyone for a chuckle ?

Take a look at www.eds-motorsport.de/indexenglisch.htm

German site, auto translated into English, somewhat badly.

Example, something about a performance cataclysmic converter...................

"Our EDS-D3 SPORTKAT can be assembled easily at all LET vehicle types so identical whether self-made exhaust fumes plants or cottage croft substitute pipes were used till now."

Open the "Horror Cabinet" and click the pictures.

Good stuff..........dig deep, folks.
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