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I don’t know if you can help me but here is my story so far.In September 2013 I put down a £7,000 deposit on a brand new Vauxhall Astra GTC at my local Vauxhalldealership. Within a few months of driving the vehicle I noticed that the vehiclewas getting a lot of very minut stone chips all along both sides of the vehicle,and the rear and front bumpers. Now I know that when driving ,stone chipping tovehicles are inevitable to the front and on the roof but not along the sides ofthe vehicle. I am driving on normal road conditions and I do not drive on farmroads or loose gravel roads. I reported this to my local dealership where I purchasedmy vehicle and they organised for a Vauxhall technician to inspect my car.
Vauxhall authorised the dealership to go ahead and re-spraythe damaged areas to my vehicle as they said that there was a fault in thepaintwork and the dealership authorised a set of mud flaps to be fitted. Myvehicle was re-sprayed but it had not been done to a professional standard asthe paint had been contaminated with silicone. My vehicle was booked in againfor a 2nd re-spray but yet again the dealership did not do aprofessional job as there was paint runs and buffing marks all over thevehicle. Vehicle booked in for a 3rd time, yet again no professionalstandard as the vehicle was covered in white/grey patches. I insisted that thedealership take my vehicle to its other workshop to fix the white/grey patchesas it was clear to me that I was not getting a professional standard ofworkmanship from their previous workshop. Vehicle in for a 4th timeat a different location, on picking up my vehicle the white/grey patches hadbeen polished out but I did have to return a 5th time as some of thewhite/grey patches returned after 2 days. Now, on each time that I picked up myvehicle from the workshop and drove it the 50 miles back home I would check forstone chips to the sides and on each rear quarter panel I counted at least 10 chips. With thefitting of the mud flaps there was no stone chipping to the front or rearbumpers.
I included my finance company (GMAC a sister company ofVauxhall) in my complaints regarding the stone chips to the sides of thevehicle and finally after 18 months of hassling them they eventually agreed toreplace my vehicle on my terms, which was that they take back my vehicle andreplace it with a vehicle of the same spec, that I would be clear of anyoutstanding finance on the car and that my monthly payments would stay the samefor the duration of the contract (5 years 0%).
I eventually got confirmation from the dealership managerthat they were trying to find a vehicle of the same spec as my current vehiclebut were having problems in finding one. The manager offered me a vehicle thesame model as my current one but with different specs but my monthly premiumswould be higher. I categorically told him that I would not accept this as theagreement was for a like for like with no extra money changing hands.
My dealership manager text me on 17/03/16 and asked me tocome in to the dealership between 18/03/16 & 21/03/16. I went in with my wife and sat down with thedealership manager who said that as they could not find any vehicles with thesame spec as my current one they would have to build me one at the Vauxhallfactory. The manager went on to say thatthe reason to why he asked me to come in between these dates was that Vauxhallwere running a “£500 FREE FUEL EVENT” between these dates and that he wouldrather I get the £500 free fuel rather than missing out on it. I agreed andthen the manager wrote down on a piece of headed paper that Vauxhall would pay£1,200 towards my deposit plus a £2,000 contribution, my finance company wouldalso contribute £2,000 and that I would pay £500 deposit as Vauxhall werebuilding the car for me but that I would receive this £500 back within onemonth of contract starting. No contribution was offered from the dealership.
Three months after the contract started I still had not receivedmy £500 back from Vauxhall. It then dawned on me that the £500 that I paid wasfor the FREE FUEL. I have reason to believe that I was misled into signing thisagreement with the dealership and I complained to both the dealership and myfinance company who are both adamant that I had not been misled.
I also wrote numerous letters to the dealership asking formy loss of earnings, fuel expenses and compensation for repeatedly having totake days off work to deliver and pick up my vehicle 5 times because of their incompetencein repairing my vehicle, but each time their managing director replied backsaying that I had agreed when I was offered the replacement vehicle that it wasin full and final settlement. This was not the case as the only agreement that Ihad was with my finance company to replace my vehicle. Remember that nocontribution was made by the dealership when I signed for the replacementvehicle.
On receiving my new vehicle in June 2015, after only 200miles I noticed that the same problem was happening with the stone chips alongthe sides of the vehicle. The dealership authorised a repair of the replacementvehicle which included re-spraying the damaged areas and applying vinyl alongthe full length of the vehicle. My replacement vehicle went in for repair but on collection the dealership had notre-sprayed the damage areas but applied the vinyl on top of the damaged areasat the rear quarter panels only. When I complained to the manager he said thatthey got mixed up with what they were supposed to do and would book the vehicleback in for a proper repair. Vauxhall now say that the paintwork is the correctthickness and refuse to fix the damage stating that the damage is being causedby outside influences and driving on loose gravel, this is even after theirfield technician checked what roads that I was driving on and gave the allclear on them. The dealership have however still accept that the repair thatthey previously done was inadequate and will fix it but they refuse point blankabout any future payment to me regarding misleading me or compensation. Do youthink I am correct in asking for these payments or am I daydreaming?
Can you possibly help me as now I am in deadlock and I cannotafford a lawyer to act on my behalf.
Vauxhall authorised the dealership to go ahead and re-spraythe damaged areas to my vehicle as they said that there was a fault in thepaintwork and the dealership authorised a set of mud flaps to be fitted. Myvehicle was re-sprayed but it had not been done to a professional standard asthe paint had been contaminated with silicone. My vehicle was booked in againfor a 2nd re-spray but yet again the dealership did not do aprofessional job as there was paint runs and buffing marks all over thevehicle. Vehicle booked in for a 3rd time, yet again no professionalstandard as the vehicle was covered in white/grey patches. I insisted that thedealership take my vehicle to its other workshop to fix the white/grey patchesas it was clear to me that I was not getting a professional standard ofworkmanship from their previous workshop. Vehicle in for a 4th timeat a different location, on picking up my vehicle the white/grey patches hadbeen polished out but I did have to return a 5th time as some of thewhite/grey patches returned after 2 days. Now, on each time that I picked up myvehicle from the workshop and drove it the 50 miles back home I would check forstone chips to the sides and on each rear quarter panel I counted at least 10 chips. With thefitting of the mud flaps there was no stone chipping to the front or rearbumpers.
I included my finance company (GMAC a sister company ofVauxhall) in my complaints regarding the stone chips to the sides of thevehicle and finally after 18 months of hassling them they eventually agreed toreplace my vehicle on my terms, which was that they take back my vehicle andreplace it with a vehicle of the same spec, that I would be clear of anyoutstanding finance on the car and that my monthly payments would stay the samefor the duration of the contract (5 years 0%).
I eventually got confirmation from the dealership managerthat they were trying to find a vehicle of the same spec as my current vehiclebut were having problems in finding one. The manager offered me a vehicle thesame model as my current one but with different specs but my monthly premiumswould be higher. I categorically told him that I would not accept this as theagreement was for a like for like with no extra money changing hands.
My dealership manager text me on 17/03/16 and asked me tocome in to the dealership between 18/03/16 & 21/03/16. I went in with my wife and sat down with thedealership manager who said that as they could not find any vehicles with thesame spec as my current one they would have to build me one at the Vauxhallfactory. The manager went on to say thatthe reason to why he asked me to come in between these dates was that Vauxhallwere running a “£500 FREE FUEL EVENT” between these dates and that he wouldrather I get the £500 free fuel rather than missing out on it. I agreed andthen the manager wrote down on a piece of headed paper that Vauxhall would pay£1,200 towards my deposit plus a £2,000 contribution, my finance company wouldalso contribute £2,000 and that I would pay £500 deposit as Vauxhall werebuilding the car for me but that I would receive this £500 back within onemonth of contract starting. No contribution was offered from the dealership.
Three months after the contract started I still had not receivedmy £500 back from Vauxhall. It then dawned on me that the £500 that I paid wasfor the FREE FUEL. I have reason to believe that I was misled into signing thisagreement with the dealership and I complained to both the dealership and myfinance company who are both adamant that I had not been misled.
I also wrote numerous letters to the dealership asking formy loss of earnings, fuel expenses and compensation for repeatedly having totake days off work to deliver and pick up my vehicle 5 times because of their incompetencein repairing my vehicle, but each time their managing director replied backsaying that I had agreed when I was offered the replacement vehicle that it wasin full and final settlement. This was not the case as the only agreement that Ihad was with my finance company to replace my vehicle. Remember that nocontribution was made by the dealership when I signed for the replacementvehicle.
On receiving my new vehicle in June 2015, after only 200miles I noticed that the same problem was happening with the stone chips alongthe sides of the vehicle. The dealership authorised a repair of the replacementvehicle which included re-spraying the damaged areas and applying vinyl alongthe full length of the vehicle. My replacement vehicle went in for repair but on collection the dealership had notre-sprayed the damage areas but applied the vinyl on top of the damaged areasat the rear quarter panels only. When I complained to the manager he said thatthey got mixed up with what they were supposed to do and would book the vehicleback in for a proper repair. Vauxhall now say that the paintwork is the correctthickness and refuse to fix the damage stating that the damage is being causedby outside influences and driving on loose gravel, this is even after theirfield technician checked what roads that I was driving on and gave the allclear on them. The dealership have however still accept that the repair thatthey previously done was inadequate and will fix it but they refuse point blankabout any future payment to me regarding misleading me or compensation. Do youthink I am correct in asking for these payments or am I daydreaming?
Can you possibly help me as now I am in deadlock and I cannotafford a lawyer to act on my behalf.
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