Recently a friend who happens to be an engineer had a look over my new purchase, as above ten year old car, but I have been the owner for 6 months. He commented

" There's a transmission whine at idle and reverse gear engagement is very, very harsh."

So I gave the Honda dealership a call and received the following email:

The problems you have with the noise, is probably bearings inside the gearbox.

These bearings are a wear and tear item and are NOT covered under warranty.

The second issue you have with reverse gear is again a wear and tear issue, NOT covered.

We have been in discussions with Honda today but there is nothing they can do as they are wear and tear items; not covered by the warranty.

The cost of sorting both issues including labour, parts etc is £971.29 - the gearbox has to be removed and stripped down which is a days work.

As a gesture of goodwill we can discount the price to £702.49 and will collect the car from you at no extra cost and leave you a courtesy car to use for a few days.

I have the Honda Happiness Guarantee and that lists that Manual gearbox is covered but only if a failure occurs, so what would you do? Is it my problem as I am now the owner, so tough or should I contest that within 6 months I would not have managed this degree of wear and tear and therefore should have been made aware of any gearbox issues and the potential of costs incurred within the first 6 months?

I don't know perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree but it seems wrong to me.