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Hey there!
Wondering if I could get some advice regarding my car I brought in August 2019 on a hire purchase agreement.
It's a 2014 Vauxhall Mokka, Diesel. On the 26th May, the vehicle broke down whilst driving and I had to be towed to a nearby garage.
The garage performed diagnostics on the car and did a full service which cost near £400 and they managed to get the car running again. I collected the car but after only driving half a mile down the road, the same problem happened again. I managed to get the car back to the garage for them to check again but they couldn't find the problem. They recommended that I took the car to Vauxhall directly.
I booked the car in with Vauxhall on the 16th of June and they had it for around 2 weeks! Eventually after checking and checking and checking again, they finally told me what the problem was.
They discovered Swarf inside the fuel system and cleared as much of it as they possible could, replaced the fuel filter and control valve and managed to get the engine running again.
I collected the car from them and paid £490 for the privilege. The car got home ok but when I decided to take the car for a run the next day to see how it performed.... same problem occurred again! This was the 2nd of July. I was recovered by the RAC again back to my home where the car has sat since.
I've been in contact with the dealer that I brought the car from and the finance company and neither are willing to help me. The dealer keep telling me that because I've had the car for longer than 6 months that no warranty would cover it.. but no warranty would cover Swarf inside a fuel system anyway.
The finance company are saying the same thing and told me to contact an engineering investigation company to have the vehicle properly checked and diagnosed to try and help determine if this issue was apparent when I brought the vehicle. One of the most common ways for Swarf to appear inside a diesel fuel system is if the vehicle has been mis-fueled in the before. I believe that this could have happened but I have no way of proving it. Another common way is the fuel pump can break down inside the engine causing swarf, once the swarf goes round the system it can then affect other components and make it worse.
The engineering company I called advised that I change the whole fuel system, pumps, filters, injectors etc. But this is going to cost me around 4/5k! on a car that's now only worth 6.5k!
I feel like I'm left with just 1 choice and that's to suck it up , pay the amount owed up to 50% and voluntarily terminate the agreement with the finance company. I am however slightly concerned about 1 or 2 things that I really need advice on.
The car is in very good looking condition... I've taken very good care of it and have always kept it clean and well looked after. If I VT, not much should come back in terms of the wear and tear problems.. but If I VT this car, does it need to be in working condition? does it need to run? because it doesn't due to the above. But this is not my doing, so would the swarf inside the fuel system that hasn't been caused by me and could have potentially been caused by something that's broken down inside the vehicle come down as 'Wear & Tea'??
Also. If I VT the vehicle, and they tell me that there's 4/5k worth of damage to the vehicle due to this issue that I have to pay for and that I'm responsible. Am I able to request to have the vehicle back, to look at getting it repaired myself...? Or once I VT it, will I lose that privilege?
If that was to happen... I would fight it obviously, it's just that this is something that I've never done before and the last thing I want to do is pay £2.5k to VT the car and then them tell me I need to pay another 3K+ afterwards. I want to just pay up to the 50% mark and that be done with it.
Sorry for blabering on so much and I really appreciate the time you take to read this.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
Wondering if I could get some advice regarding my car I brought in August 2019 on a hire purchase agreement.
It's a 2014 Vauxhall Mokka, Diesel. On the 26th May, the vehicle broke down whilst driving and I had to be towed to a nearby garage.
The garage performed diagnostics on the car and did a full service which cost near £400 and they managed to get the car running again. I collected the car but after only driving half a mile down the road, the same problem happened again. I managed to get the car back to the garage for them to check again but they couldn't find the problem. They recommended that I took the car to Vauxhall directly.
I booked the car in with Vauxhall on the 16th of June and they had it for around 2 weeks! Eventually after checking and checking and checking again, they finally told me what the problem was.
They discovered Swarf inside the fuel system and cleared as much of it as they possible could, replaced the fuel filter and control valve and managed to get the engine running again.
I collected the car from them and paid £490 for the privilege. The car got home ok but when I decided to take the car for a run the next day to see how it performed.... same problem occurred again! This was the 2nd of July. I was recovered by the RAC again back to my home where the car has sat since.
I've been in contact with the dealer that I brought the car from and the finance company and neither are willing to help me. The dealer keep telling me that because I've had the car for longer than 6 months that no warranty would cover it.. but no warranty would cover Swarf inside a fuel system anyway.
The finance company are saying the same thing and told me to contact an engineering investigation company to have the vehicle properly checked and diagnosed to try and help determine if this issue was apparent when I brought the vehicle. One of the most common ways for Swarf to appear inside a diesel fuel system is if the vehicle has been mis-fueled in the before. I believe that this could have happened but I have no way of proving it. Another common way is the fuel pump can break down inside the engine causing swarf, once the swarf goes round the system it can then affect other components and make it worse.
The engineering company I called advised that I change the whole fuel system, pumps, filters, injectors etc. But this is going to cost me around 4/5k! on a car that's now only worth 6.5k!
I feel like I'm left with just 1 choice and that's to suck it up , pay the amount owed up to 50% and voluntarily terminate the agreement with the finance company. I am however slightly concerned about 1 or 2 things that I really need advice on.
The car is in very good looking condition... I've taken very good care of it and have always kept it clean and well looked after. If I VT, not much should come back in terms of the wear and tear problems.. but If I VT this car, does it need to be in working condition? does it need to run? because it doesn't due to the above. But this is not my doing, so would the swarf inside the fuel system that hasn't been caused by me and could have potentially been caused by something that's broken down inside the vehicle come down as 'Wear & Tea'??
Also. If I VT the vehicle, and they tell me that there's 4/5k worth of damage to the vehicle due to this issue that I have to pay for and that I'm responsible. Am I able to request to have the vehicle back, to look at getting it repaired myself...? Or once I VT it, will I lose that privilege?
If that was to happen... I would fight it obviously, it's just that this is something that I've never done before and the last thing I want to do is pay £2.5k to VT the car and then them tell me I need to pay another 3K+ afterwards. I want to just pay up to the 50% mark and that be done with it.
Sorry for blabering on so much and I really appreciate the time you take to read this.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
