Advice on potentially rejecting a 5 week old car

[nantucket66]

My missus bought a brand new Polo (on PCP) at the end of January, or at least she took delivery of it at the end of January.

On her way home from work last week the car refused to go more than 4mph in get home mode. She pulled over to a safe place, called VW assist who came and said the computer was reporting an error with a window, he reset it, she got home all good.

On Saturday, I took it out instead of my car for a change and the same thing happened, this time the engine fault light remained on, I pulled off the road, turned the engine off and waited for a few minutes and turned it over. The fault light remained on, but I got home at normal speed. The AA came out this time and drove the car to the VW garage, who confirmed a fault exists and it relates to the brakes.

Fault was repaired yesterday, but they are not happy releasing the car as they cannot confirm the crawl mode will not come back on. We got a golf courtesy and that had a fault on Monday (seriously you couldn'y make this up!) and go changed for a basic polo.

They have no timescale on repairing it and the mechanic advised it was a significant issue. What is a reasonable time to let them attempt to put it right or do we throw the keys back at them and demand a replacement.

The car has 350 miles on the clock.

Thoughts, advice?

My missus has been in touch with the VW garage and VW HQ and is waiting to hear back.

New car time?

 

[jamoor]

to be fair
1) you don't own the car you're renting it
2) they have given you a loan car instead, meaning you aren't adding miles onto your contract.

Personally I don't see the problem.

 

[nantucket66]

She was intending to keep it, as in buy it outright at the end. We don't want to be stuck with an unreliable car for 2 years regardless of whether she decides to keep it at the end or hand it back.

As things stand they don't know how to fix the issue and the car they've loaned is a lot more basic than hers so she's not getting what she's paid for in the interim, although to be fair she would have had a golf had it not fallen over as well.

Regardless of whether it's bought outright, leased or bought or finance no one wants to drive a new car that has had several issues within 6 weeks and one the garage can't put right.

 

[nas]

I believe VW would need to be given the opportunity to rectify the issues, which they are now doing, and presumably at nil cost to you. So on what basis would you be rejecting the vehicle should it come back repaired? Think you'd struggle to argue the cars reliability prospectively.

 

[nantucket66]

I agree they need to be given the opportunity to rectify the issues and if they can do that great and it will be at no cost to us. We wouldn't reject it under those circumstances.

But as things stand they can't provide a timescale at all. My wife mentioned on the phone to them yesterday how long do you need the car for - she initially said a week, then 2, then 3 and each time the reponse was no and she jokingly said well will it be 2 or 3 months and the reponse was the same - so it's either pretty major or they simply don't know.

If they can't fix it at this moment in time how long is a reasonable time to wait?

I've no idea to be fair, I would have thought a couple of months on a car that is only 6 weeks old isn't reasonable.

She's not jumping up and down screaming for a new car or anything like that, we just want it sorted with minimal fuss and no cost to ourselves.

If it gets sorted and subsequently is a pain over the 2 year contract it goes back at the end. If it proves to be spot on she'd more than likely keep it, only time will tell and its not like we need to decide now.

 

[nas]

How long is a piece of string really? As frustrating as it might be, think I'd rather them take as long as they need rather than put pressure on to have the car passed back to you and run the risk of a rushed or incomplete job (because you want it back asap). If you've been given a courtesy car (for free), I wouldn't be surprised if they had a 'whats the rush?' sort of attitude.

 

[nantucket66]

I hear where you are coming from and I agree and my missus does as well.

I've not spoken to the garage, but based on the conversations she's had with the service department she's very much of the opinion they don't know what the problem is.

We'll see what comes out over the next few days.

 

[dod]

I'g get in touch with trading standards. I wouldn't be happy with a car having a major braking fault and no timescale for fixing it.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/your-legal-rights-if-something-goes-wrong-with-your-car/n3307

 

[nantucket66]

The issue isn't the brakes apparently, that has been sorted and they are happy with it, it's the car going into 'get home at 4mph' that is the issue.

My better half is happy to wait for a period of time to see if they can come up with a solution, if they can great, if they can't she'll likely reject it.

I can't believe a VW garage can't fix an issue on a brand new VW car, is it a case of actually repairing something or is it replacing a part or component with a new one? But it seems odd they haven't got a clue, do the garages not communicate with the UK HQ or even German HQ on issues. I would find it unlikely that whatever the fault may be, that this car is the first time this particular fault has occurred.

She bought an VW Up 2 years ago and I convinced her to get a Polo as the UP was too small for me (I'm 6 foot 4) over a distance, she now wishes she kept it and I feel guilty. My car does all the miles and hers does very little so the idea of the Polo was I'd use it more as well. She won't drive mine as it it's too big (MB GLC)

It will get sorted one way or another just a pain in the £$%

 

[King4aDay]

Personally I'd give them the time to sort it out, but insist on an equivalent or better courtesy car in the mean time if there are potentially significant timescales involved.

 

[jpaul]

at the very least hopefully they told you specifically what the fault codes and window + brake problems were, so you can judge the importance (and record it too)
and pehaps understand why they have shown up after 1mnth/350 miles of ownership .. I would be very curious - presumably you didn't change the way you were using the car

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Have you contacted the finance company and informed them of what’s happening? Might be worth doing and mentioning you are not happy with the lack of time scale for repairs.

 

[nantucket66]

at the very least hopefully they told you specifically what the fault codes and window + brake problems were, so you can judge the importance (and record it too)
and pehaps understand why they have shown up after 1mnth/350 miles of ownership .. I would be very curious - presumably you didn't change the way you were using the car

We're waiting on VW to supply the codes that have come up, should hopefully get them over the next day or so. Nothing changed with the way the car has been driven.

Have you contacted the finance company and informed them of what’s happening? Might be worth doing and mentioning you are not happy with the lack of time scale for repairs.

Not yet, but it is something she intended to do before the end of this week, certainly worth mentioning.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I know someone who rejected a brand new TT, had a gearbox issue on delivery, he literally couldn't drive out of the garage. After 5 days he complained to the finance company after another failed delivery attempt.
After about a month they agreed to allow rejection based on not fit for sale, and refunded everything.
A couple of weeks later it was on the dealers lot for more than he paid for it.

Iirc he informed them of the intention to reject based on not being fit for sale after the 5 days, and they agreed a week for a full and final fix or they would accept the rejection. He said he wanted to talk compensation on the 5 day chat as well.
Go in hard but reasonable, what do you want, by when etc
If unhappy with the loaner say your happy with a slightly older higher spec car whilst yours is being fixed.

 

[iamdjdz]

My company Passat had a lambda sensor error that wouldn't go away after about a month of owning it, VW replaced the sensor twice and then fit a new wiring loom, none of this worked and engine light was constantly on. Obviously not as severe as yours but they did eventually replace the ECU. I was in a courtesy car for nearly 2 months but now 70k miles on the car is still running fine and no sign of it. Give them the chance and they'll probably fix it eventually. My experience or VW (from working with a lot of their main dealers in my job) is that they will try everything to sort it easily but will eventually fix things under warranty and fix them well.

 

[nantucket66]

We're certainly not out to get something for nothing, if the garage can provide a timescale to repair to us within the next 7 days that is good, depending on what they quote.

The loaner doesn't need to be anything fancy, but it's manual windows and no central locking and as much as anything there's a risk we could leave it unlocked as we so used to central locking as feature, plus our 5 year won't stop playing with the windows, winding them down when doing 70 and it's raining etc.

The Golf GTD they initially lent would have been spot on, similar spec to the Polo apart from engine/power, but it went fubar as well.

 

[kaiowas]

I can't believe a VW garage can't fix an issue on a brand new VW car, is it a case of actually repairing something or is it replacing a part or component with a new one? But it seems odd they haven't got a clue, do the garages not communicate with the UK HQ or even German HQ on issues. I would find it unlikely that whatever the fault may be, that this car is the first time this particular fault has occurred.

From what you've said it's likely to be an intermittent electrical fault somewhere (either a short/bad connection in wiring or a faulty module/sensor somewhere) that causing all sorts of systems to go into panic mode and shut themselves down in the name of safety (Modern regulations governing these things tend to dictate a policy of "If something looks wrong go into limp home"). The issue isn't with fixing it but with properly diagnosing it and working out what actually needs fixing. If it's not a failure mode that's been anticipated then any fault codes are more likely to be a symptom rather than indicating a cause. Diagnosis of issues like this is hard enough when it's a repeatable fault, when it's intermittent it's even harder.

 

[lordrobs]

How the hell is 4 mph a limp home mode?!

As annoying as it is I'd push for a better courtesy car and then let them do their thing for a bit.

I've only got limited experience of VW and I'm always amazed at how long it takes them to do things. 3 days for a minor service and two tyres is my record but it was A) my company car and B) I had a courtesy car so I wasn't too bothered.

 

[sigma]

Not fit for purpose - you have a right to reject. You don't have to allow them to fix it. Research the right to reject law, all the info is there online.

 

[FlapR]

Regardless of it being PCP or not I'd still not be happy considering its a brand new car that seems to be a lemon.