997tt serious coolant leak. Back to trader or use warranty?

Used warranties are useless. Wipers stopped working on a defender 4 months after purchase. Not the dealer's fault. were working at the time. Warranty wise wouldn't pay......"wear and tear".

If the dealer won't help here with a contribution, you'll have to accept the joy of buying expensive cars second hand and pay to get your beloved car back on the road asap.

Best not be bitter or you'll start to hate the car!

Thank you all for your considered posts. There is clearly a difference of opinion about my legal position but I think the consensus is that it is worth a go.

Hegehogsdad is quite right in noting that the onus is on the dealer to establish that the problem was not there when the vehicle was sold. I did hot have an inspection done. The dealer claimed to have done an in house '72 point inspection' but I have no details of this and I've found numerous small faults that the inspection did not note.

It's going to be impossible to tell whether the fault existed before the sale or not and, if Hedgehogsdad interpretation is correct, would this not mean that on balance the court should side with me?

By the way, half of those miles that have been driven was accumulated when the car was driven to me from Sheffield. So, it could have happened then.

Other relevant information is that this is not a pipe having come adrift (i.e. not the usual problem). These are plastic elbows that are properly pinned to the engine. They just tend to split and degrade. (996tt have metal pipes btw).

So, my plan is:
(a) Go through the perfunctory claim with the RAC. When/if they don't cover it...
(b) go to the dealer asking for them to repair it

(c) I will get the car fixed at the local indy (Cameron Cars) and go to the small claims court

I know some people are saying court is a waste of time but the initial process can be done online and for not much more than £100.

Any comments on my suggested route, welcome!

Yes indeed small claims court worked with my daughters Boxster a driveshaft came undone after a clutch replacement we took the garage all the way they paid 90 % of the claim which was £2900 just before the case was going to court ,it cost under £100 IIRC the law in these matter is much more balanced these days
good luck with it :thumb:

drabux said:

So, my plan is:

(a) Go through the perfunctory claim with the RAC. When/if they don't cover it...
(b) go to the dealer asking for them to repair it

(c) I will get the car fixed at the local indy (Cameron Cars) and go to the small claims court

I know some people are saying court is a waste of time but the initial process can be done online and for not much more than £100.

Any comments on my suggested route, welcome!

Click to expand...

Looking at the warranty it would appear that the oil cooler is covered if it is that part that has failed.

http://www.autochoicebristol.com/files/4114/5512/3502/RAC_Gold_Warranty_Booklet3.pdf

Personally I'd expect the RAC to pay the first £1,000 and the supplying dealer to pay the rest but for this to happen you'd have to get approval from both prior to any repair work commencing.

I hope you don't have to resort to (c).

drabux said:

So, my plan is:

(a) Go through the perfunctory claim with the RAC. When/if they don't cover it...
(b) go to the dealer asking for them to repair it

(c) I will get the car fixed at the local indy (Cameron Cars) and go to the small claims court

I know some people are saying court is a waste of time but the initial process can be done online and for not much more than £100.

Any comments on my suggested route, welcome!

Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty good plan, personally I would also inform the dealer of your intentions at the same time you approach the warranty company.

It's possible they ( warranty company) may even adopt the attitude the fault was present at the time of sale and bat you back to the dealer.

If you do unfortunately get to option C, did you pay for any part of the purchase with a credit card?

I did pay some of it with credit card - about £3k I think - because I had some vague notion that it might make a difference if there was a future problem. Great point!

So how could/does a credit card make a difference?

drabux said:

I did pay some of it with credit card - about £3k I think - because I had some vague notion that it might make a difference if there was a future problem. Great point!

So how could/does a credit card make a difference?

Click to expand...

I'm no Martin Lewis, but I believe it's all to do with 'article 75', my understanding being it protects you from continuing to pay for something that's not fit for purpose etc etc.

Probably only applicable if you end up being stonewalled by the dealer, but it is a very mighty hammer to have up your sleeve.

The dealer has to prove leak wasn't there when he sold it, under the legislation. Well it didn't leak for the first 5 months you had it, which would suggest it wasn't there when he sold it to you. A claim against him is likely to fail. I don't think a claim against the warranty company will be successful either, because they usually exclude this type of failure (but do check). Problem is rubber seals and hoses degrade over time, that's life I'm afraid. You can try writing to both at the same time and see if you get lucky with either ...

Chrispm355 said:

The dealer has to prove leak wasn't there when he sold it, under the legislation. Well it didn't leak for the first 5 months you had it, which would suggest it wasn't there when he sold it to you. A claim against him is likely to fail. I don't think a claim against the warranty company will be successful either, because they usually exclude this type of failure (but do check). Problem is rubber seals and hoses degrade over time, that's life I'm afraid. You can try writing to both at the same time and see if you get lucky with either ...

Click to expand...

It's actually 3 months since I bought the car and 2 months since I took delivery of it. Of the 300 miles since owning it, they drove it 200 miles and I have driven it around 100 miles. Does this change your opinion?

drabux said:

Chrispm355 said:

The dealer has to prove leak wasn't there when he sold it, under the legislation. Well it didn't leak for the first 5 months you had it, which would suggest it wasn't there when he sold it to you. A claim against him is likely to fail. I don't think a claim against the warranty company will be successful either, because they usually exclude this type of failure (but do check). Problem is rubber seals and hoses degrade over time, that's life I'm afraid. You can try writing to both at the same time and see if you get lucky with either ...

Click to expand...

It's actually 3 months since I bought the car and 2 months since I took delivery of it. Of the 300 miles since owning it, they drove it 200 miles and I have driven it around 100 miles. Does this change your opinion?

Click to expand...

Look you're defo in the right its just whether your dealer is decent dealer that puts customer service above his own profit margin. Who's the outfit you purchased the car from? A good dealer like 911v or RSJ would take the car back and fix it asap without so much as a squeak other than a profuse apology that you have not got use of your car and the extra hassle etc :thumbs:

Desert Dragon said:

drabux said:

Chrispm355 said:

The dealer has to prove leak wasn't there when he sold it, under the legislation. Well it didn't leak for the first 5 months you had it, which would suggest it wasn't there when he sold it to you. A claim against him is likely to fail. I don't think a claim against the warranty company will be successful either, because they usually exclude this type of failure (but do check). Problem is rubber seals and hoses degrade over time, that's life I'm afraid. You can try writing to both at the same time and see if you get lucky with either ...

Click to expand...

It's actually 3 months since I bought the car and 2 months since I took delivery of it. Of the 300 miles since owning it, they drove it 200 miles and I have driven it around 100 miles. Does this change your opinion?

Click to expand...

Look you're defo in the right its just whether your dealer is decent dealer that puts customer service above his own profit margin. Who's the outfit you purchased the car from? A good dealer like 911v or RSJ would take the car back and fix it asap without so much as a squeak other than a profuse apology that you have not got use of your car and the extra hassle etc :thumbs:

Click to expand...

Totally agree - if we had sold it and it had happened then we would have picked it up and done the work foc - that is what profit margin is for. If you don't then you are unlikely to keep the customer or get a potential sale in another couple of years from the same customer.

....and once you've fixed it you need to get some more miles on it! 😎

I'm Bath based with a 997.1 TT and am keen to see one with a modified exhaust. Fancy a drive out?

Good luck with the fix.

If an RAC Gold package covers up to £1000/claim, i dread to think what the lower levels of cover pay!! :yuk:

With only 5 days left on the policy, don't delay and call the RAC asap! If you call after it's expired they could dismiss a claim and by the sounds of things you have enough goodwill to be asking for already! Also as a courtesy, call the dealer to keep them in the loop (their reaction and approach may also be indicative of things to come - they may show concern or simply dismiss you towards the RAC). I would suggest you keep things as calm and amicable as possible (talk of small claims court etc at this stage will likely just get people defensive and delay any positive resolution). If the item is covered then the key point would be to establish cost and who's paying. It's always good to glean as much info as possible so you could ask in passing how long they've been using RAC for their warranties - if they've been using them for a while (and have a good fund in 'the pot") then you could ask the dealer to request a goodwill payment from the RAC - this is why you need to keep things amicable because you want the dealer on your side. Remember, the dealer would rather the RAC pay out than themselves. Also, the dealer has a choice of warranty provider so the RAC will look at how much they have in 'the pot". Fingers crossed this dealer has generally sold good cars without issue and with minimal claims. This may all sound a bit rose-tinted, but remember you're effectively entering into a negotiation now and there's certainly no benefit in getting anyone uptight over it (yet).

I would say this is stage one, and hopefully if the dealer values its reputation then a good resolution should be had.

As an aside, a £1000 claim limit is woefully inadequate and for a dealer to sell a car like this with that level of cover is alarming! They could've increased the claim limit but it would've cost them – probably around £30 +VAT for every additional £1000 of cover, so they're being tight and short-sighted. Engaging with a warranty provider gives the dealer peace of mind as well as the customer and frankly they're daft for selling cars like this with such an inadequate level of cover (and this is likely how they will be viewed in the event of litigation).

I've made a section 75 claim after a company dissolved and Barclaycard reimbursed me in full, but used-car related s.75 claims are more complicated and often fail. The minefield that is second hand cars is also why eBay and Paypal will not get involved in disputes over car purchases!

Good luck and keep calm.

If you go through the whole thread again there are two camps - yeah for a claim on the dealer and warranty and nay just spend your own money.
It appeared last I saw it that the OP has thought about the yeah camp.

This is going to be an interesting case study for warranty claims and dealer willingness...................