BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 13:11
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66

i bought a car using a finance company which was found through ZUTO (the broker). when buying the car from the dealer it come with a 6 months warranty which covered wear and tear. after 1 month the car started to develop a grinding noise so i asked two independant mechanics, one of which was a bmw specialist, to listen and have a test drive. they both said that its sounds like the first motion shaft bearing and is a common fault for my model.

i took the car back to the dealer to look at to receive a call 2 days later to say that the fault is not covered as its been 'driven hard'. ZUTO started to deal with the dealer and has been taking ages to get anything done. i have had a report done from a gearbox specialist which has stripped the gearbox done and has stated that the fault if down to WEAR AND TEAR and has the same cars in all the time with the same problem.

ive been without my car for 2 months now and nothing is getting done so i was wondering if there is anything i can do to get this resolved ASAP.

if there is anything i have missed please ask me what you need to know :)

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 14:31
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - RobJP

If the fault has happened within 6 months of purchase then the law says it is assumed to have been 'present or developing' at the time of purchase.

So nothing to do with the warranty company, everything is the responsibility of the selling garage.

Inform them of the above (which shows you know the law and will not be fobbed off). Give them 2 weeks in which to accept this position, and that they will be fully responsible for getting this work carried out. Explain that if they do not do so, then you will take the car to a garage of your choosing, have the work carried out, and take them to Small Claims Court for the full sum and any legal costs.

Send the letter by registered post. Copy also to the finance company. If no reply, or if they attempt to fob you off, then get the work done, pay for it, and then invoice the garage, followed (if need be) by Small Claims Court.

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 15:04
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66

thank you for your help! much appreciated! would i have to give a further 2 weeks as ive already waited 2 months?

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 15:40
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - RobJP

thank you for your help! much appreciated! would i have to give a further 2 weeks as ive already waited 2 months?

Realistically, yes. Mainly because, if it came to a court, you have to show that your demands (including timescale) were 'reasonable'. Saying "If it isn't fixed by close of business today, tomorrow, etc" would not be reasonable.

But do the letter today if you can, into the post office before 5pm, send it First Class, recorded post, so that you have proof of delivery.

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 18:32
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - Cyd

In these circumstances ALWAYS use special delivery

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Tue 1 Mar 2016 13:54
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66

Hi there,

The problem i have with that is i dont have the money to pay for the fault to be fixed at the price quoted. Is that the only approach i can take?

Regards

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Tue 1 Mar 2016 14:26
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - RobJP

Hi there,

The problem i have with that is i dont have the money to pay for the fault to be fixed at the price quoted. Is that the only approach i can take?

Regards

Yes. Though hopefully the dealer will change their mind and get the work done themselves when you show that you know what your legal rights are.

If they don't, then you could always involve Trading Standards. They might well be willing to flex muscles on the dealer, and a dealer is going to be far more wary of being on the wrong side of a TS Dept. than they are of joe public. But some TS Dept's are less than speedy (or less than competent, depending on your viewpoint).

Another possible alternative is if the garage is a member of 'motorcodes' or similar arbitration scheme. But if they are trying to wriggle out of problems like this, then unlikely.

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Fri 11 Mar 2016 16:23
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66

is there anyway someone could provide me with their email address so that i could forward on an email i have recieved from the hp company so then you can share your views on the situation please?

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Fri 11 Mar 2016 16:45
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - RobJP

Just copy and paste the main text of the email into a post on here

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Fri 11 Mar 2016 21:24
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66
Just to further clarify from our phone conversation this afternoon – this is not our final response to your complaint, we are addressing the questions you proposed. We are not presently in a position to offer our final response, as the investigation is on-going, as such we are issuing this email as an 8 week holding letter to advise on the current status of the complaint, and the proposed action to move forwards towards a resolution.

The information we have been supplied by A1 Premier Transmissions is that the presented issue with your vehicles gearbox was wear and tear, and that the progressive nature of this wear would have presented to you within drive of the vehicle. As such the level of damage and repair necessary cannot singularly be defined as the responsibility of either yourself or the supplying dealership, as whilst the issue may have been wearing at the point of sale, the wear is firstly consummate to the vehicles 8 year age and in excess of 101,464 miles and secondly, as the vehicle has been driven in a defective state where the wear would have been presented to the driver, it is now not possible to determine how progressive any wear would have been at the point of sale.

When taking the above into consideration, alongside your 4 months of ownership (2 months at the point the complaint was raised on the 12th January 2016) we did not feel it fair to expect you to either fully cover, or contribute a majority share towards a repair bill that amounted to in excess of £2000, where some of the issue could have been defined progressive as a result wear and tear – as such we approached yourself and the supplying dealership with an offer in which Zuto will, as a gesture of goodwill, be an equally contributing party towards repairs.

The supplying dealership agreed to this, and as such within our proposed resolution, the repairs quote of £2040.00 would be split between the 3 parties – yourself, Zuto and the supplying dealership – to amount £680.00 per party.

You also requested clarification of where Zuto would stand should you request to withdraw your complaint from investigation. In this instance, as we feel a suitable and proportionate route to resolution has been offered, we would consider your withdrawal of complaint as a decline towards the resolution offer. We would therefore look to recover the vehicle back to your registered address in the state it was in prior to our involvement – to clarify, no repairs completed, with the faulty gearbox in situ. - We would then look to close your complaint on the basis you selected, on the information provided, to withdraw your complaint. Any previous offers made towards contributions in concern of repairs may be rescinded. We would then not look to take any further action within your complaint on the basis an investigation was within process and the customer chose not to progress via this route. We would notify both the supplying dealership and your finance lender that you had chosen not to progress your complaint.

We hope the clarifies the situation. As agreed, once we have received a copy of the report from A1 Premier Transmissions we will provide a copy to yourself and your finance lender within the course of complaint investigation. Should you have any issues you would like to discuss in the meantime please feel free to contact us.
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Fri 11 Mar 2016 21:28
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66
This was my reply:


Hi Hannah,

Could I ask what part of the investigation is still 'on going'?

As you stated in the previous email the fault on the gearbox cannot be proven to be progressive from the point of sale. This means that its assumed it was already developing or progressive from the point of sale which means I am NON-LIABLE for the fault.

' If the car develops a fault within six months the consumer does not have to prove the goods were faulty at the time of sale. It is assumed that they were. If the retailer does not agree, it is for the retailer to prove that the goods were satisfactory at the time of sale.'

In regards to the car being driven with the fault- The only time it was driven, with the fault in place, was to take back to the supplying dealership to fix the fault.

When the car was left at the supplying dealership it was also driven twice on two different occasions when in the hands of the dealership.

I have proof of this from my blackbox insurance company. Therefore, the dealer who drove my car twice with the fault in place had also contributed to the fault and in one of the two occasions they drove my car, they drove it 'hard' flagging up on the black box as -10 (rating of how the car is being driven incl speed, acceleration and braking).

I hope this information will help with this matter and change the decision of dual liability.
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Fri 11 Mar 2016 21:32
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66
I checked tonight and my black box app is showing me that my car was driven on the 23/2/16 for 20 mins. I was told that my car was getting stripped down from the 19/2/16 ad the gearbox would not be goof back in until the go ahead was given.
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Fri 11 Mar 2016 23:54
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - RobJP

You're doing everything right, as far as I can see.

As a point, you may wish to inform the finance company that you feel a further 8 weeks to their 'final decision' is a little excessive, and you would like the matter treated with the urgency it deserves.

They must have operational standards for this sort of thing - it'll probably be in your finance agreement documents, or else it'll be covered by their regulator. A litte rooting around might not be such a bad thing.

If all else fails, you do still have the option of asking for a letter of deadlock - to take to the regulator.

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Sat 26 Mar 2016 11:19
BMW 1 Series Convertible - dealer warranty - cuthbert66
Just wanted to let you know I have a my car back and I didn't have to pay a penny :)
I think they was just try their luck. All that was needed was to hold my guns up and keep telling them what I want to happen.

Thank you so much for your help! This forum really is needed and all this suppor is really helpful to others who may have the same problem. Take care!!
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