VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand?

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
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Thu 29 Jan 2015 08:23
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - Sw16blade
Hello all,

First time poster, any advice greatly appreciated.

My girlfriend's dad recently bought her a VW Polo 1.4 05 with 45000 on the clock. Seemingly in excellent condition. Approx £3.4K. We have the RAC Gold 3 Month Warranty. I've never bought or owned a car before.

We've had the car for one month now and have encountered several problems:

- The coil pack went on the motorway and we needed to have this replaced. Warranty covered 50% of repair but still cost us £157.
- Noticed a ticking noise so took it to very reputable garage. Front lower arm console brushes on the suspension were badly split & also the exhaust clamp was seriously corroded to point it had come adrift - cost us £232 and warranty refused to cover.
- Garage also discovered the Catalytic converter has failed and needs replacing (£750) or repairing (£TBC). Warranty refuse to cover.
- The cambelt needs replacing as it is 1.5 years overdue manufacturers recommendations (last changed in 2010). Full kit cost - £350. Warranty refuses to cover.

The warranty states in it's T&Cs that the maintenance inspection, carried out by the dealer, should have covered: front and rear suspension condition, cat converter and that the timing belt has been changed in line with VW recommendations.

Is it reasonable for me to expect these issues to have been discovered in the maintenance inspection, MOT and emissions test carried out by the dealer at sale? Has the garage knowingly sold me this car with these faults (and in so doing, committed fraud)? Do I have grounds for part refund or reimbursement for repair expenses? Or have we bought a turkey and just need to live with it?

Cheers!


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Thu 29 Jan 2015 16:31
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - Armitage Shanks {p}

have a look at this

www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/

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Thu 29 Jan 2015 19:08
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - elekie&a/c doctor

Firstly,you have bought a car that is 10 years old and have paid a reasonable price.At this age certain items will be showing signs of age and wear and tear,but not neccesarily mean the car is unroadworthy or unsafe to drive.I am sure if you read the conditions of the warranty,it will only cover items that have failed in service,not those that are wear and tear.Have you discussed with the seller if there is any contribution to the repairs caried out so far?Also how has the cat failed?If it passed the emission test there can't be much wrong with it.The warranty will not cover maintenance items (cam belt etc).If you wanted trouble free motoring(possibly),then you shoud have bought new.

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Fri 30 Jan 2015 10:44
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - Sw16blade

Thanks for the reply. Yep totally understand that when buying a second hand car there will be issues, I think we may have got this one when they all need sorting at once!

The thing is the problems we've encountered four weeks into owning the car would all be MOT failures. So what I don't understand is how they weren't identified last month?

The cat failed as the flex joint was broken, so in the end it cost £120 to fix.

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Fri 30 Jan 2015 10:45
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - Sw16blade

perfect, thanks.

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Fri 30 Jan 2015 17:55
VW Polo 1.4 - Where do I stand? - concrete

As I understand it the garage selling the car should be liable as the faults were clearly there when the car was sold. Even at 10 years old there must be something in the Sale of Goods Act that covers all or some of the repairs. The dealer is your first port of call and probably the small claims court next. Maybe DVD has some experience of this situation?

Good luck Concrete

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