new (used) car, possible engine fault, what are my options?

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

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Joined
6 Oct 2004
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Birmingham
I picked up my new car yesterday, 52 plate mazda 6 sport (2.3l petrol) 87k miles, 8 month mot, 1 owner, fsh, just under £1,600 from a trader. On the way home I noticed a rattle coming from the engine when it's between 1500 and 2000 rpm, both when accelerating and engine braking. This noise only appears when the engine is completely warmed up, so after 10-15 mins, so it wasn't there when I took it for a test drive. After lots of googling, it appears like it could be a few things - heat shield (have looked/tapped and nothing seems loose), aux belt tensioner (~£45 part and easy to swap), or completely knackered engine! (Rods bent/knocking etc).

Now, obviously considering I've had the car for less than 48 hours, this fault must have been present when I bought it, and as such I could most likely argue quite easily that it is not of satisfactory quality. What are my rights with the car company regarding this? In all honesty, I would prefer to keep the car, as other than this fault it's in really good condition, but although it's not an expensive car compared to most, it is for me, so obviously I don't want to ignore it, and have the engine blow up in 6 months!

The other minor issue/annoyance is that it's a 100 mile drive to the trader, so I can't just nip down and have a chat with them =/

The other factor is that they gave a 3 month/3k engine & gearbox warranty (with £200 excess) I know soga trumps this, so not sure if it's relevant, and I can't really afford to drop another £200 on the car having just bought it, but just trying to give all the info.

What would you guys do in this situation? I'm inclined to call the trader tomorrow and see what they're willing to do/offer, but would like to know my rights/options in case they try to fob me off.
 
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The very fact that they want to charge £200 for something they are legally obliged to do for free would sound alarm bells.
 
You can't expect a £1600, 11 year old car to be totally fault-free. A rattle would not, in my view, be sufficient grounds to reject a £1600 car as not of satisfactory quality.

Satisfactory quality takes into account the price paid and the age of the vehicle.

If I were in your shoes I'd put it in a local garage and establish what the problem actually is. If the engine does have an internal problem that is likely to get worse to the extent the car won't run, then contact the dealer. If it a belt or a heatshield, pay for it out of your own pocket.
 
If he takes the car to anyone other than the dealer they could easily say it was the other people that caused the damage.

I've had that with an Audi dealership so some Arthur Daley flogging £1600 won't think twice about turning him over.

However, I would probably do as suggested above and just not tell the dealer.
 
That warranty covers the seller more than you, you're entitled to repairs for faults within the first 6 months as these are considered to be there at the time of purchase - Liklihood is he has purchased this from a 3rd party company.

Inform them of your findings, don't pay the excess.

MW
 
Right, spoke to the guy, he was fine about it, said to get it looked at locally, and if it's under £100 to just get it sorted and send them the invoice, if it's more than that to take it back down for them to have a look at :)
 
blueboy2001 said:
You can't expect a £1600, 11 year old car to be totally fault-free. A rattle would not, in my view, be sufficient grounds to reject a £1600 car as not of satisfactory quality.
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A rattle, as in loose trim/heatshield/etc. which is purely an annoyance, no, fair enough.

A rattle, as in engine due to fail imminently I would class as not of satisfactory quality, unless it was advertised as needing repairs or pointed out by the dealer.
 
Hummm.... Rattling on acceleration and engine braking between 1500-2000Rpm and only does it when it warms up. Sounds like it could be the big ends going.
 
rodenal said:
Sounds like you've probably got about the best resolution you could - assuming it's a simple fix and he actually pays up that is
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Yeah, hopefully! I've got written (well email) confirmation from him as well, that he'll make sure it's sorted (in response to me following up the phone call with an email outlining exactly what the situation is and what was agreed).
 
An update to this. Took it to the local place, who to be honest were a bit rubbish, they had the car for about 2 hours, "apparently" took a quick look at it, asked me to come and show them which noise I meant (despite me asking them if they wanted me to show them when I dropped it off and them saying "don't worry about it, I heard it when you pulled up")

When I showed them, they basically said they didn't know what it was, the service bulletin I'd printed off for them didn't match the VIN of my car, and if they were going to diagnose it they'd have to start stripping the engine...

They didn't charge me for doing nothing however, but otherwise a complete waste of time. :rolleyes:

So I ended up taking it back to the trader, who had me drive it round the corner to his local garage, showed them the noise, and they diagnosed it within 5 minutes. (It was the aux. belt tensioner, exactly what the service bulletin I'd given to my local place said).

Left it with them for a couple of days to get the part in, picked it up last week, all sorted. :)

I'm a bit ****ed off with the garage I took it into initially; if they'd actually bothered to spend 5 minutes checking the aux belt as advised they could have saved me a lot of time and hassle (and obviously earned themselves a few ££) so I won't be going back there again!

However I can't fault the trader, who was fully accommodating, friendly and helpful throughout, and got it sorted without any problems, (I know legally he had to sort it, but based on previous experience, a lot of traders will do whatever they can to weasel out of their legal obligations!) so, a recommendation from me for:

M&T Motors
Ampere Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2AE
 
Great to hear a resolution to your problem! They are just down the road from me and I will be looking for a new car in a month or two so will be checking them out

M&T Motors
Ampere Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2AE
 
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