Quentin Wilson talks today about the recent Office of Fair Trading ruling on waranties by manufacturers. In the article he mentions law and legislation by the OFT. I suspect this is wrong and would like other views from the BR.
The OFT cannot produce laws only codes and guidelines. The law is for Parliament etc. I just wonder what actual legal status anything the OFT says has? Could a manufacturer use this to wriggle out of a warranty claim with such a defence?
In the same paper of 29th February 2004 they speak about banks delay in clearing cheques. They say " The OFT can't enforce its proposals, they have to rely on the industry's code of conduct"
Appreciate your thoughts.
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I have just got a new (s/h) hand car and this morning topped up the Power Steering fluid with about 25cl (max) of water by mistake. Can someone please let me know if this will have any short/long term effects on the performance/lifespan of the power steering and, if so, what can I do to rectify this mistake.

Thankyou for any helpful advice. Read more

For those who have no interest in watching 22 grown men chasing an inflated bladder around a field, today at least there is plenty of Motorsport/Motoring to watch on TV.


11.35 World Superbikes BBC2

12.50 Moto GP BBC2

1.30 Le Mans ITV1

3.30 World Superbikes BBC2

5.00 Canadian GP ITV1

9.30 Traffic Cops BBC1

10.00 Top Gear BBC2

11.45 GP Highlights ITV1

12.00 British Superbikes BBC2

2.50am Touring Cars ITV1


I really must get out more....

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We are currently having a dispute with a local garage over a car purchased from them just over a year ago and I am looking for any advice on how to proceed with our case.

The car is a Renault Clio 1.2 and was purchased 13 months ago and had 9K on the clock at the time. Within 2 weeks of us having the car it developed a problem starting. It would take anything between 4 ? 10 attempts to start it.

We took the car back to the garage (Independent Renault Dealer) for them to look at. They played around with the car for a few days and claimed to have solved the problem.

Everything seemed fine for about 6 weeks, but then the fault came back and was identical to what had happened previously. The car went back to the garage, they had a look at it and claimed they couldn?t find a fault. One of the main problems we have had is the fault doesn?t seem to have any pattern, one day it will be fine and the next it wont so there is a possibility that they did not experience any problems when they had the car.

This scenario continued over the next few months ? car not starting, we report it to garage, they take it in for a day, claim to have fixed the problem only for it to re-occur several weeks later. Each time they come up with a different reason, changed sensors, changed fuses, reset the computer etc.

My other half lost all faith in the car so I visited the garage again to try and sort something out, once and for all. This all culminated in a rather heated discussion with the manager, he came out all guns blazing and tried to shout me down. Eventually he realised I wasn?t moving until something was sorted out. We decided that they would provide us with a courtesy car and take our Renault indefinitely until the problem was rectified. This would allow them to discover the fault by running it day to day and hopefully repair it.

Three weeks later we get the car back and they claimed to have found the fault and repaired it.

A month later the problems surface again. This time we call them and they send a mechanic round to the house to look at the car. The car was hooked up to the computer and four faults appeared on the diagnostic. Unfortunately I wasn?t there at the time, but the mechanic did say to my other half that during the three weeks that they had the car it did not fault, rather they changed a few things hoping that that would be the solution. So now we are getting 2 stories and the plot is beginning to thicken. Yet again the mechanic played around with a few things and the car seemed to be ok for a few weeks.

We are now 13 months on from the purchase of the car and the fault has not been rectified.

This is where I need your advice. We have been keeping a log of dates/times when the fault occurs, the weather conditions, mileage on the clock etc for the last 6 months or so. Unfortunately the warranty that the car was sold with has now lapsed (12 month warranty), but under the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002, we are entitled, in my opinion, to an effective free of charge repair.

I have thus far tried to keep dealings on an informal and amicable footing with the garage, but now feel that this route has been fully exhausted with no real resolution. My gut reaction tells me that either the garage genuinely cannot find fault with the car or that they know what is wrong, but are unwilling to divulge this as it would be a rather costly repair and would prefer to fob us off.

Any advice on how to proceed with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
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Nearside rear brake caliper is overheating. Checked that handbrake mechanism is releasing properly. Took out pads which were binding and cleaned etc. The caliper is a single piston type and one that you turn clockwise to retract. Can a blocked hose cause the caliper to stay on? I am now about to order a reputable reconditioned unit. Should I check for anything else first? Can a binding brake cause a fire? The brakes were originally fitted with backing shims but my local supplier told me that they don't bother to fit these nowadays. Many thanks Mikey. Read more