Repairs costing more than the car itself

[McPhersonator]

Let's get this out the way immediately. I bought my 206 cc for £650. Cheap, right? You would expect problems. I bought it from an MOT centre and they put a 30 day warranty on it. I took it back to them once, within the warranty, and they dismissed some problems ("They'll just go away") and tried to charge me for the small job they did do! I didn't have a huge amount of confidence in them in the first place but after that I lost it completely.

So I drove down the the local Robins and Day to have some Peugeot specialists give it a service. The 'essential' work that needs doing comes to just under £800.

I can accept if I've just been foolish in buying such a cheap car. Lesson learned, I come away more the wiser. But can I go back to the place where I got it and (attempt) to make them foot the bill? I mean, at the very least, they sold it to me with illegally worn tyres and breaks, plus an ill-fitted after-market exhaust.

[gazza82]

Trading Standards might be interested ..

[Artermis]

Unlucky mate. I can sympathize with you to a great extent.

Last weekend I bought my wife a 206cc 1.6 HDi. I paid £800 for my slice of french convertibleness.

It all checked out fine. It test drove fine. I had the engine on and off several times. Did 2 test drives, 1 with me behind wheel then 1 with wife behind the wheel. It all worked perfectly. No issues at all.

I did identify on the test drive a vibration in the brakes - i suspect warped discs as it'd been stood for a while, no problem. Also a rattle from the rear. I didnt identify it straight away but wasn't overly concerned at the sound of it. Turned out to be poorly adjusted boot lid - no drama. I also identified some blown bulbs in the dash that needed replacing - again easily sorted.

It drove home a few days later no problem at all, smooth happy and all was well with the world.

Until that evening the wife and I wanted to go out. Antipollution fault. Some swear words happened. It took several journeys but I eventually put some v-power diesel in it and on leaving the forecourt the warning went away. Annoying but OK.

The weather was good Sunday morning so I decide i'd polish it up for the wife, cheer her up a bit and address the lights on the dash. Jump in to do some shuffling and airbag fault warning appears. Some more swearing happened!

Polished it up anyway - see you can polish a turd - and decided it check out the electrics. Tested battery OK but terminals a bit corroded, so cleaned them up. Reconnected and all was OK.

Whilst washing I noticed the wing mirror was a bit wobbly. Figured I best tighten that up as vibrating a speed you'll not see anything in it. Took it off the car and started to strip it down and some bits fell out the bottom..... Worse swear words were said. The damn wing mirror was completely smashed in half internally. Had to get the chemical metal compound out the shed and set about fixing it. Took me a couple of hours but got the mirror assembly glued back together and it's all solid again now. It's by no means a permanent resolution - it'll need replacing but short term it'll hold.

Finally thought I was at a point that i'd rectified all the problems and we had no warning lights on the dash... for the rest of the day.

Next day and yet again airbag fault and antipollution fault. ggggrrrr!!! it drove fine still. Offered the wife the choice of the spare car but she took the CC to work. She got home OK but still warnings on dash.

Next morning she sets off for work. Comes back five minutes later. Stop warning illuminated on the dash and top up coolant warning. I'd checked all the fluids when cleaning it - i knew it was max'd on coolant level. It's now way below min, having eaten a bunch of its coolant. About ready to take an axe to it at this point.

I was almost as mad with myself. When we went to look at it I'd make a point of laying on the very wet drive for several minutes with my inspection lamp checking it all out. Nothing was obvious at all. By this point though the underside and drive shaft are soaked in pink coolant and something is steaming lightly. Every swearword known to man and some before unknown were uttered!

I had to take day off work to get it resolved - i wasn't going to leave it leaking all over my front if for no other reason than I have 3 cats I didn't want harming by the leak. This also left the wife without a car, so she had to take the spare.

I could only conclude it was the thermostat. There was no way the previous owner couldn't have known about the scale of the issue. It'd near emptied the tank in 60 miles. Ended up replacing the thermostat largely in the dark after stripping it down and waiting for the part to come in, something I dont recommend.

Also found that some gimp had mangled the top turbo intake pipe seal - a big orange rubber cylinder like seal about two inches long by 10mm thick. How on earth you manage that lord knows.

Anyway, once stat replaced time to start it up and get it bled. Dead. Abosolutely, 100%, battery gone instruments clicking all sorts of warnings, dead. Thank god I keep a serious set of jump leads in the boot of my audi, so I fired up my new favourite V8 battery charger and got it charging. Took 20 minutes and several attempts before it'd fly but eventually it did.

You'd never guess at this point I'm 5 days in and balls deep into peugeot ownership! Touch wood these last couple of days it seems to have driven fine, without eating any coolant and throwing any warnings. I think it knows it's going off the dock wall if it dares!



So i share your pain. As a lawyer - check the fine print of the warranty they've given you. Whilst warranty sounds good in theory a lot of places try and put so many terms and conditions on them they're not up to much good. It'll also tell you whether it's a parts and labour warrant, or just parts etc. You can then determine whether the faults you've had are covered or not.

Was the vehicle sold to you as spares or repairs? A lot of places will flog cheap part-x motors as spares or repairs. It's a neat trick as it absolves them of a lot of responsibility. It means they dont have to sell you it as a road going vehicle. If you've been sold it as usable car, i.e. not spares or repairs, then it legally has to be fit for purpose - i.e. road legal. That'll sort the tyres for sure. The brake issue is a little harder to tackle without knowing more detail.

If they havent sold you a vehicle fit for purpose or are refusing to uphold their warranty then you need to follow their complaints procedure - they should have one. At least give them something in writing for them to respond to. Give a time frame which you want them to adhere to. You want their respond by X date with a view to having necessary repairs done no later than Y.

If they fail to play ball then trading standards is your next port of call.



As one brother to another, sharing your pain, if you're anywhere near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, I will gladly help out where I can in making any of the repairs needed. I'm no mechanic but competent enough to tackle average jobs. Good luck!