Hey everyone this is a long and confusing tale and probably part my problem for not going to trading standards myself and instead giving people a chance to fix the problem.
I got my first ever brand new car on HP from a taxi dealership with the plans to use it as a private hire vehicle. When the car was dropped off at my door and I took it for a drive I noticed the car was pulling to one side.
The next day I took it to a Seat dealership as it was under warranty and the only miles on the clock were the miles used to transport the car to me, they put it up on the alignment machine and it was indeed out of alignment and the man on the service desk was really apologetic about it and told me to take it a drive and see how it feels and understood if I wasn't happy about it to bring it back.
Not happy with it I however took it back to who I took the car out from and told them this car is out of spec and I want it swapped for another as I don't know how or why it's out and don't feel I should have to accept it and I had a printout of it being out from the Seat dealership.
He said it could not be swapped as it wasn't actually faulty and they need to be given the chance to rectify it, he then went on to say I shouldn't have taken it to the Seat garage and should have brought it straight to himself... argued why as the warranty is with Seat and was told because they didn't like the reputation of the Seat garage and he would have taken it elsewhere to places he used before and trusted.
So at this point I went with his judgement didn't go back to the Seat garage and allowed him to take it to places of his choice....problem was whenever I took it to places he booked the car would be all back in spec ( didn't drive like it ) and when I would then take it elsewhere to verify it wasn't.
So after arguing with him again for a few more phone calls me saying its out and himself saying he's driven it and it feels fine.... I decided to stop wasting time with him and got in touch with the finance SQD and they took over for me, they took all the information and ruled the car was out of alignment and offered to pay for any repairs I just had to pick somewhere to carry out the work.
I suggested a very highly recommended race car/track set up guy and they agreed to get it booked in a looked at....
At this point I had no contact with the guys I bought the car from and had no intention with dealing with them again..
Anyways the guy that did the race cars told me the car was out of spec, the front camber was out and the rear was non adjustable and the only way to get it back in was to shim the rear or replace axle and put a camber kit at the front.
I said okay replace the axle and put the camber kit on the front, at this point he told me that the axle replacement would be too costly and that the finance team wouldn't pay for it and so suggested shimming it... I don't know anything about cars so took his word for it.
So I left the car with him for a day or two and when I got it back, it still felt off but was a hell of a lot better, he told me to drive it for 1000 miles and then bring it back in to see if anything had moved.
During the 1000 miles I felt it had gone back to how it was before the shim, so when I took it back I mentioned this and he said it hadn't and if I told the finance company differently he would tell them it was fixed.
I felt deflated at this point and just accepted that the car wasn't going to be fixed.... after a week or two the issue was really annoying me as up till this point I had spent most of my time trying to get this car fixed and not making much money infact my saving were going down and down....
I decided to take it for another alignment check and I was right it was all out of spec again! so I took it back to the Rally guy and said look it's all out... he couldn't believe what he was seeing and at first was questioning the alignment printout but then said he would take the car back in and get it back into spec for me, I was happy but at the same time not feeling overly confident.
We set a date for the following week to drop it off and in the meantime I put up with the problem and just tried my best not to crash it and still continue working despite the car feeling unsafe like it had been for months...
On the date I was meant to bring the car in he phoned me to cancel as his wife had been taken into hospital and as it was quite a serious issue, I knew it would be a long time before I got my car seen too and I didn't want to put any pressure on him to return before he was ready.
I was losing money quicker than I could make it so phoned Seat for a price to replace the whole rear axle as I knew it was the only other option as they wouldn't be able to shim it like he did as its a specialist thing.
Was quoted somewhere between 900-1200 pounds... at this point I was so angry as the cost of the car to be shimmed etc worked out roughly the same and rally/track guy had said it would be so much more expensive the finance team wouldn't pay for it.
I got onto him about this and he didn't believe that was the cost Seat had quoted and so I got Seat to confirm this to him.... at this point he knew he had messed up.... not just because it could have been done right the first time but also the fact when he shimmed it, it voided my warranty on all parts related to the work.
So when I got the rear axle replaced it came out of my own pocket as my warranty was now voided on any alignment/suspension part that was related to his repair work.
I then contacted the finance team again to see if they would help with it but as I had gone ahead with the work without consulting them this time round they were unable to help...despite the issue not being resolved.
The rear axle has been replaced but the issue still persists, I had the cars first service done this week at 20000 miles and while it was in I mentioned the work I had done and the issue.... again they checked the alignment and it was all good.... I asked what is goin on with the car then.. and they basically told me they could look for me... strip the car down and hopefully find a fault.. but if they don't find anything the full charge will be on me and it could be very costly.
I don't have any more spare cash to do this and I also know that if they do find the problem the repair bill will also be on me now as it is no longer under warranty as mentioned earlier....
I cant sell the car and cut my loses as it's on HP and with the taxi plate the price has depreciated massively...
I had considered going to trading standards but the whole thing has been going on since September and is so detailed and inconclusive I feel it would be a waste of their time and i'm left with a banana.
any ideas ? sorry for the long post.
I got my first ever brand new car on HP from a taxi dealership with the plans to use it as a private hire vehicle. When the car was dropped off at my door and I took it for a drive I noticed the car was pulling to one side.
The next day I took it to a Seat dealership as it was under warranty and the only miles on the clock were the miles used to transport the car to me, they put it up on the alignment machine and it was indeed out of alignment and the man on the service desk was really apologetic about it and told me to take it a drive and see how it feels and understood if I wasn't happy about it to bring it back.
Not happy with it I however took it back to who I took the car out from and told them this car is out of spec and I want it swapped for another as I don't know how or why it's out and don't feel I should have to accept it and I had a printout of it being out from the Seat dealership.
He said it could not be swapped as it wasn't actually faulty and they need to be given the chance to rectify it, he then went on to say I shouldn't have taken it to the Seat garage and should have brought it straight to himself... argued why as the warranty is with Seat and was told because they didn't like the reputation of the Seat garage and he would have taken it elsewhere to places he used before and trusted.
So at this point I went with his judgement didn't go back to the Seat garage and allowed him to take it to places of his choice....problem was whenever I took it to places he booked the car would be all back in spec ( didn't drive like it ) and when I would then take it elsewhere to verify it wasn't.
So after arguing with him again for a few more phone calls me saying its out and himself saying he's driven it and it feels fine.... I decided to stop wasting time with him and got in touch with the finance SQD and they took over for me, they took all the information and ruled the car was out of alignment and offered to pay for any repairs I just had to pick somewhere to carry out the work.
I suggested a very highly recommended race car/track set up guy and they agreed to get it booked in a looked at....
At this point I had no contact with the guys I bought the car from and had no intention with dealing with them again..
Anyways the guy that did the race cars told me the car was out of spec, the front camber was out and the rear was non adjustable and the only way to get it back in was to shim the rear or replace axle and put a camber kit at the front.
I said okay replace the axle and put the camber kit on the front, at this point he told me that the axle replacement would be too costly and that the finance team wouldn't pay for it and so suggested shimming it... I don't know anything about cars so took his word for it.
So I left the car with him for a day or two and when I got it back, it still felt off but was a hell of a lot better, he told me to drive it for 1000 miles and then bring it back in to see if anything had moved.
During the 1000 miles I felt it had gone back to how it was before the shim, so when I took it back I mentioned this and he said it hadn't and if I told the finance company differently he would tell them it was fixed.
I felt deflated at this point and just accepted that the car wasn't going to be fixed.... after a week or two the issue was really annoying me as up till this point I had spent most of my time trying to get this car fixed and not making much money infact my saving were going down and down....
I decided to take it for another alignment check and I was right it was all out of spec again! so I took it back to the Rally guy and said look it's all out... he couldn't believe what he was seeing and at first was questioning the alignment printout but then said he would take the car back in and get it back into spec for me, I was happy but at the same time not feeling overly confident.
We set a date for the following week to drop it off and in the meantime I put up with the problem and just tried my best not to crash it and still continue working despite the car feeling unsafe like it had been for months...
On the date I was meant to bring the car in he phoned me to cancel as his wife had been taken into hospital and as it was quite a serious issue, I knew it would be a long time before I got my car seen too and I didn't want to put any pressure on him to return before he was ready.
I was losing money quicker than I could make it so phoned Seat for a price to replace the whole rear axle as I knew it was the only other option as they wouldn't be able to shim it like he did as its a specialist thing.
Was quoted somewhere between 900-1200 pounds... at this point I was so angry as the cost of the car to be shimmed etc worked out roughly the same and rally/track guy had said it would be so much more expensive the finance team wouldn't pay for it.
I got onto him about this and he didn't believe that was the cost Seat had quoted and so I got Seat to confirm this to him.... at this point he knew he had messed up.... not just because it could have been done right the first time but also the fact when he shimmed it, it voided my warranty on all parts related to the work.
So when I got the rear axle replaced it came out of my own pocket as my warranty was now voided on any alignment/suspension part that was related to his repair work.
I then contacted the finance team again to see if they would help with it but as I had gone ahead with the work without consulting them this time round they were unable to help...despite the issue not being resolved.
The rear axle has been replaced but the issue still persists, I had the cars first service done this week at 20000 miles and while it was in I mentioned the work I had done and the issue.... again they checked the alignment and it was all good.... I asked what is goin on with the car then.. and they basically told me they could look for me... strip the car down and hopefully find a fault.. but if they don't find anything the full charge will be on me and it could be very costly.
I don't have any more spare cash to do this and I also know that if they do find the problem the repair bill will also be on me now as it is no longer under warranty as mentioned earlier....
I cant sell the car and cut my loses as it's on HP and with the taxi plate the price has depreciated massively...
I had considered going to trading standards but the whole thing has been going on since September and is so detailed and inconclusive I feel it would be a waste of their time and i'm left with a banana.
any ideas ? sorry for the long post.