Warranty / Car Dealers Advice Please

[MustangLady]

Recently I bought a car from car dealers and they gave me 1 months free warranty with option of extended warranty which I would have to paid for (I declined). I've since been talking to friends/colleagues who think the free warranty of 1 month for a car is too short, some are saying they think it is standard practice for car dealers to offer 3 months and not 1... Is this correct or is it optional to dealers to offer what warranty they like?

Obviously there is a reason I ask; I bought a car on 18th August. When I test drove the car on my own I could hear a whistling when I accelerated (it was a turbo diesel), being a layman I decided to ask the salesperson to come with me to listen and he said it was 'just the turbo, they all do that'. I mentioned I already drive a turbo diesel and mine don't do that, he replied that this car is a bigger vehicle smaller engine to mine hence this turbo works harder.

It was a comfortable drive and I believed him so decided to go ahead and purchase the car. I did notice that the vehicle 'missed a beat' sometimes on accelerating but was told this was normal as it was just 'turbo lag', I generally do more around town driving. However, last weekend was the first time I'd actually taken the car onto the motorway so therefore did more than the usual 30-40mph. As I was accelerating I noticed it started to 'kangeroo' a bit than usual and the red engine maintenance light came on the dashboard which was worrying. I continued to drive to my destination having only extra half hour to go, 20 mins the light went out. The next day I had to drive home and the same thing happened again when I was accelerating to about 60mph; the kangerooing, the hesitation in the engine and the red light came on for about 20-30 mins then went off again. I was told that my local garage could pick up the problem by putting it on a diagnostic machine.

It appears my car had problem with turbo boost (bearings completely worn) and had two faulty glow-plugs. I asked for price for repair and asked garage to go ahead, as I'm very reliant on my car. It's costing me quite a bit of money as you can appreciate. On talking to various people, including the guys from the garage, they tell me I should take this up with the car dealers I bought the car from and make a complaint. They cannot understand why I only got 1 months free warranty and not more. The garage owner has actually given me my 'faulty turbo' in case I want to take this matter further with the car dealers. However, having now had the work done, where do I stand? Can I still take this up with the car dealer I bought it from originally? I really don't know what to do, if I even have a case with them or do I just put it down to 'a lesson learnt' and bite the bullet so to speak as I'm out of warranty. Any advice would be welcomed here.

[gingejbee]

Firstly, it's more usual to get at least 3 months warranty...it shows that the dealer has a bit of faith in the car. But...they offered you one month and you accepted it... so you can't complain on that front. Personally I would not have bought a car with just four weeks warranty.
Now that you have had repairs done by somebody else, you can't now complain to the original dealer...you should have gone there first. You could go to trading standards...but I suspect you have weakened any case you may have had by having had the car repaired.
And, there is a lesson here...buyer beware! Especially with used cars.
Perhaps the time to ask for advice was BEFORE you made the purchase?

[woofgang]

what gingelbee said.....sorry.

[MustangLady]

Thank you. I didn't think I couldn't do anything now but as so many people were suggesting I still could, I wanted other peoples opinions. I will certainly take advice prior to purchasing anything from hereon (such as a vehicle).