warranty on cars bought from dealers.

[sophielou474]

i bought a used car for £5500 5 months ago. the hydrologics have gone on the clutch part. my mechanic tells me a new law was bought into place that stated all cars bought for a certain amount had to have a law warranty of minimum of 6months. is this right? if so where do i stand as my dealer (ford) are saying that it only has 3months and thats passed but they are willing to help us out by reducing the fee to fix it. my mechanic also said that by them doing that they are excepting some liability as normally they tell you to go away. help as i have to get it sorted asap and have 2 small children and no car but dont know whos right. and what by law i can do.

[EDDIE51]

Whar warranty did it say when you bought it ?
How much is the repair cost? What model of car is it ?What exactly have the garage said is wrong ?
Let us know the answers and we may be able to tell if you are being ripped off.
Sorry to say but unfortunately true , a lot of garages will tell a female a load of rubbish to justify a high priced quote. If, as I suspect, this is just changing a clutch cylinder (rather than a compleat clutch) it should not be an expensive or complicated job.
You may find it is a lot cheaper to ignore the warrenty and go to an independant mechanic rather than use a Ford main dealer.

[EDDIE51]

Still waiting for a reply from the poster so we can give better advise, but yes a clutch is normally excluded from a warranty on a used car.

[chas2008]

I assume you mean hydraulics , ie the clutch slave cylinder. Although its bit of a grey area it would probably come under 'wear & tear' items
Reducing the fee is all about customer satisfaction & gaining some work out of it, its certainly not admitting liability.

Wear and tear=
Items that fail because of wear and tear are commonly excluded from used car warranties, leaving you vulnerable to declined claims.

Most warranties exclude ‘wear and tear’ items such as tyres, exhausts, catalysts, hoses, clutch friction plates and brake pads.

The reason is that claims could be almost limitless.

[tonywiltshire]

I know of no such new law, the purchase of a motor car would come under the Sale of goods act and one of your statutory rights is that it must be of satisfactory quality but you have had it for 5 months and now you find the clutch is faulty. The terms of your warranty, which European regulations have stated are contractually binding, will show you what is covered and for how long.

[AlBags]

You will get what warranty is agreed at time of sale. Check it.
I presume a Ford dealer .. what car model and engine size/year exactly?
It sounds like going to be ..
Clutch hydraulic slave cylinder
ditto .. Master cylinder

Most slave cylinders are an annular type fitted inside gearbox now .. so transmission would have to come off to do the job.

[chas2008]

combined thrust bearing & slave cylinder..

[sophielou474]

its a 5yr old vauxhall zafira. only had 35k miles on clock. mechanic says its hydrolics and clutch is fine which makes iit a mechanical error not wear and tear.

[sophielou474]

they saying about 400 to fix and warranty 3months

[sophielou474]

albags- thats pretty much wat mechanic said

[sophielou474]

engine 1.6

[AlBags]

Here is a Zafira Slave ..
http://www.ebay.co.uk...M&hash=item1e65ddc6c1

He presumably means the Slave cylinder failed then. Other parts of clutch are ok (plate and cover) Transmission out job.
£400 plus VAT .. less whatever they give you. If half total bill before VAT .. then it's not worth having done elsewhere. If 40% or less reduction, I would be pricing up at a local garage.
Al.

[EDDIE51]

Phone a few independant mechanics and ask how much to fit a new cluth slave cylinder . That will give you a idea of what the cost away from a main dealer is going to be.

[EDDIE51]

Just phoned my mate Robbie who is a mechanic in a small indpendant garage
he says Vauxhall Zafira Slave cylinder £50 -£75 labour plus parts, so the ebay part was £40, so £120 max .(they will charge more then ebay for the part but not that much more)
The quote of £400 is over 3 times the going rate , they are ripping you off big time !! Get a male friend to phone a small independant mechanic for a quote and then book it in.
Sorry, but it is unfortunately true that many garages will rip off a female as they assume you don't have a clue what is wrong or how much it should cost.

[sophielou474]

my fiances mate is a mechanic and he has said he can replace the whole lot including the clutch for £420. is that good??

[boxtops]

That's more than the garage is quoting you, he's having a laugh!

[sophielou474]

the garage didnt include a new clutch.

[S_C]

the price given by the garage is high , considering slave cylinder wont take that long to change . shop around

as for your friend , my question is why change a clutch that is working fine and on average only half way through its life " average life is approx 70k miles " . better to have him quote you on slave cylinder and fitting only.

[chas2008]

S-C,
the chances are the clutch is being changed due to hydraulic fluid contamination from the slave cylinder (assuming its leaking) common practice,same principal as changes brake shoes/pads when calipers/cylinders leak.
Also the slave cylinder is combined with the thrust bearing (many modern vehicles are built this way) within the bell housing, gear box out , not that quick a job..

[S_C]

hiya chas2008

thanks for the update on position of cylinder , that does change things a little , but with someone who has done these before i imagine 3/4 hour max for the time frame on doing the job.

it has been stated by sophielou's mechanic that the clutch is fine , just cylinder thats the problem , so noneed to change the clutch.

so with this info i still say shop around , as im assuming this price is the " reduced " price the garage was offering which as a reduced price is not cheep.