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Our Vauxhall Meriva was bought from a Vauxhall Official Dealer (J Davy in Basingstoke) just 5 years and 9 months ago.
It was bought New with only a few delivery miles on the clock, and has been serviced fully whenever service was due, and all services have been carried out by the same authorised dealer.
The car is used sparingly and has only accumulated 45,000 miles on the clock.
We had the usual Meriva Electric power steering design issues about a year ago, as per BBC Watchdog and various internet forums and the column was replaced (After the dealer initially claimed no knowledge of any mass reported issues and BBC watchdog reports - originally trying to charge us over £900 to supply and fit the part)
Two weeks ago, 15 minutes into my wifes 20 minute journey home from work my wife noticed a "warm water" smell and saw the water temp needle rising. Almost immediately the car started losing power (as if running out of petrol, my wife said). My Wife was able to steer into a layby and called the AA, who found muddy coloured water in the engine and gave a fair summise of "Your head gasket may have gone". At our request, the AA recovered the vehicle and delivered it to J Davy in Basingstoke.
Bearing in mind that most modern cars, and the Meriva have all sorts of warning lights on the dashboard with "STOP", or "Engine", or symbols of Engine silhoettes, or spanners etc which should light up when the system detects a problem - no warning lights or sounds triggered to warn my wife of catastrophic engine failure.
Here's where the "fun" starts.
J Davys called my wife the next afternoon after (we presumed) investigating the problem. The call started off not too badly with "We've identified 3 parts which need replacing, it'll cost about £370". Then the man from J Davys Basingstoke asked my wife to "hold the line" and 2 minutes of muffled room conversation could be heard. The man from J Davys Basingstoke said "Actually it needs a whole new engine - that'll be closer to Three Thousand seven hundred pounds £3700". When we questioned the huge difference in the diagnosis and costs between the beginning and the end of the call the incredible answer was "Sorry, I'm new here".
I've contacted Vauxhall who actively listened then simply said "Out of warranty" - they also pointed out that the car was over 6 years old judging by the registration (RA56) so I'd have no luck persueing the dealer under the Sale Of Goods Act either.
J Davys were of equal "help" at this stage too - eg: none - and also washed their hands of any adjustments to the massive costs.
Some additional information:
J Davys havent done much to look for any fault on the engine - they took off a spark plug and saw coolant through the spark plug hole. I queried this lack of investigation with J Davys Service manager, Dan Black - who told me that previously when this model of engine fails, they just recommend a whole new engine as previous head gasket swapping hasnt made everything 100% previously.
Also, we've asked a couple of other mechanics in the local area, including one who used to work at J Davys and they both feel that various investigation/diagnostic steps have been ommited.
My wife and I re-checked our paperwork and discovered that the car, depsite the RA56 registration, isnt in fact 6 years old until next January. With this information, we contacted the Industry Ombudsman who logged the case, gave us contact details for DECRA (DEKRA?) and another independant vehicle assessor. The Ombudsman also emailed us some blank letter templates for starting the ball rolling with Small Claims Court for Sale Of Goods Act and "Fit for purpose" etc etc. They pointed out that as it was J Davy which we bought the car from, rather than Vauxhall, then our Small Claims Court actions would be against J Davys.
We've gone back to Vauxhall and J Davys with this information and they've both started taking it more seriously now. Vauxhall have offered to match whatever discount, if any that J davy offer. J Davy have offered £700 off - so thats £1400 off of the cost of supply and fit a whole new engine - but that still leaves us with a £2300 repair bill for a car less than 6 years old, with 45000 on the clock, serviced fully by the same garage we bought the car new from.
I'm keen to know what everyone else here thinks about this. Is 45000 miles a "good" or at least "acceptable" time to expect for a fully serviced, engine to fail with no serious warning lights to trigger just 15 minutes into a journey. Is 45000 miles "good" or "acceptable" for a Vauxhall Meriva Engine? I've been doing alot of research and talking to various suppliers and the only "good" thing that any of them were able to offer regarding the life of this engine is that at least this engine has a Cam Chain, rather than a snappable Cam belt - not much good as the Engine silently destroyed itself in 15 minutes.
Your thoughts on this ?
It was bought New with only a few delivery miles on the clock, and has been serviced fully whenever service was due, and all services have been carried out by the same authorised dealer.
The car is used sparingly and has only accumulated 45,000 miles on the clock.
We had the usual Meriva Electric power steering design issues about a year ago, as per BBC Watchdog and various internet forums and the column was replaced (After the dealer initially claimed no knowledge of any mass reported issues and BBC watchdog reports - originally trying to charge us over £900 to supply and fit the part)
Two weeks ago, 15 minutes into my wifes 20 minute journey home from work my wife noticed a "warm water" smell and saw the water temp needle rising. Almost immediately the car started losing power (as if running out of petrol, my wife said). My Wife was able to steer into a layby and called the AA, who found muddy coloured water in the engine and gave a fair summise of "Your head gasket may have gone". At our request, the AA recovered the vehicle and delivered it to J Davy in Basingstoke.
Bearing in mind that most modern cars, and the Meriva have all sorts of warning lights on the dashboard with "STOP", or "Engine", or symbols of Engine silhoettes, or spanners etc which should light up when the system detects a problem - no warning lights or sounds triggered to warn my wife of catastrophic engine failure.
Here's where the "fun" starts.
J Davys called my wife the next afternoon after (we presumed) investigating the problem. The call started off not too badly with "We've identified 3 parts which need replacing, it'll cost about £370". Then the man from J Davys Basingstoke asked my wife to "hold the line" and 2 minutes of muffled room conversation could be heard. The man from J Davys Basingstoke said "Actually it needs a whole new engine - that'll be closer to Three Thousand seven hundred pounds £3700". When we questioned the huge difference in the diagnosis and costs between the beginning and the end of the call the incredible answer was "Sorry, I'm new here".
I've contacted Vauxhall who actively listened then simply said "Out of warranty" - they also pointed out that the car was over 6 years old judging by the registration (RA56) so I'd have no luck persueing the dealer under the Sale Of Goods Act either.
J Davys were of equal "help" at this stage too - eg: none - and also washed their hands of any adjustments to the massive costs.
Some additional information:
J Davys havent done much to look for any fault on the engine - they took off a spark plug and saw coolant through the spark plug hole. I queried this lack of investigation with J Davys Service manager, Dan Black - who told me that previously when this model of engine fails, they just recommend a whole new engine as previous head gasket swapping hasnt made everything 100% previously.
Also, we've asked a couple of other mechanics in the local area, including one who used to work at J Davys and they both feel that various investigation/diagnostic steps have been ommited.
My wife and I re-checked our paperwork and discovered that the car, depsite the RA56 registration, isnt in fact 6 years old until next January. With this information, we contacted the Industry Ombudsman who logged the case, gave us contact details for DECRA (DEKRA?) and another independant vehicle assessor. The Ombudsman also emailed us some blank letter templates for starting the ball rolling with Small Claims Court for Sale Of Goods Act and "Fit for purpose" etc etc. They pointed out that as it was J Davy which we bought the car from, rather than Vauxhall, then our Small Claims Court actions would be against J Davys.
We've gone back to Vauxhall and J Davys with this information and they've both started taking it more seriously now. Vauxhall have offered to match whatever discount, if any that J davy offer. J Davy have offered £700 off - so thats £1400 off of the cost of supply and fit a whole new engine - but that still leaves us with a £2300 repair bill for a car less than 6 years old, with 45000 on the clock, serviced fully by the same garage we bought the car new from.
I'm keen to know what everyone else here thinks about this. Is 45000 miles a "good" or at least "acceptable" time to expect for a fully serviced, engine to fail with no serious warning lights to trigger just 15 minutes into a journey. Is 45000 miles "good" or "acceptable" for a Vauxhall Meriva Engine? I've been doing alot of research and talking to various suppliers and the only "good" thing that any of them were able to offer regarding the life of this engine is that at least this engine has a Cam Chain, rather than a snappable Cam belt - not much good as the Engine silently destroyed itself in 15 minutes.
Your thoughts on this ?
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