Warranty Woes

Vanquish-Storm

Vanquish-Storm

Vanquish-Storm

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Hey all!

I will start with I know very little about cars other than basics.

Basically I have had an MOT fail on a snapped spring, fair enough these things happen with the state of our roads but I have warranty that wont cover it, in spite of them covering springs, as they deem it wear and tear.

My argument to them was that I had a service less than a month ago and the springs were never mentioned so I would deem it as a sudden failure but alas they will not budge.

How long are springs "supposed" to last for?
 
JonRGV250 said:
Springs snap mainly because of corrosion, hence why it’s an advisory or fail on a MOT.
They are a wear and tear item.
Click to expand...

How quickly does corrosion happen?

Nothing mentioned on a service less than a month ago and no advisories on the last MOT.

Can it get that bad within 12 months or 4 weeks?

What could a warranty company possibly cover on a spring?
 
Your warranty (I assume third party or extended) specifically includes terms for springs? If so, what is the policy wording?

I would imagine that if they are mentioned then it would be to cover premature failure of a new part, rather than cover an aged part?
 
A service isn't a safety inspection of a car and more than likely the springs wouldn't even get glanced at, even when you pay a main dealer a fortune for a service and get a nice little video sent to you where they waffle about tread depth on your tyres, they're paying lip service most of the time. If it's just had an oil service, not much more than the drain plug and the filler cap will have been looked during the service.

That's why MOTs exist - so that a specific set of safety related issues are checked routinely.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
How quickly does corrosion happen?

Nothing mentioned on a service less than a month ago and no advisories on the last MOT.

Can it get that bad within 12 months or 4 weeks?

What could a warranty company possibly cover on a spring?
Click to expand...
It isn't something you can reasonable expect to see during a service unfortunately. The spring is coated so it will have stemmed from the tiniest of nicks in that coating, or possibly even contaminants that were there from the day the spring was made. That corrosion sits there eating away unseen until one day... boing!
 
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Cheers for all the replies and info guys more questions though sorry haha!

paradigm said:
Your warranty (I assume third party or extended) specifically includes terms for springs? If so, what is the policy wording?

I would imagine that if they are mentioned then it would be to cover premature failure of a new part, rather than cover an aged part?
Click to expand...

They specifically mention springs - but dont cover any wear and tear which I disagree it is down to. If its a new part it would be covered under its own warranty and wouldnt need to be under the 3rd party warranty - if i explain that right?

Kenai said:
A service isn't a safety inspection of a car and more than likely the springs wouldn't even get glanced at, even when you pay a main dealer a fortune for a service and get a nice little video sent to you where they waffle about tread depth on your tyres, they're paying lip service most of the time. If it's just had an oil service, not much more than the drain plug and the filler cap will have been looked during the service.

That's why MOTs exist - so that a specific set of safety related issues are checked routinely.
Click to expand...

The service specifically mentions they check the springs so the either didnt check it when they should or checked it and it was fine.

lordrobs said:
It isn't something you can reasonable expect to see during a service unfortunately. The spring is coated so it will have stemmed from the tiniest of nicks in that coating, or possibly even contaminants that were there from the day the spring was made. That corrosion sits there eating away unseen until one day... boing!
Click to expand...

Same as above really the service specifically mentions checking springs.

I mean luckily its not a massive expense to replace it but its just got me a little miffed that I pay for a warranty that mentions the part but it wont pay out.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
Same as above really the service specifically mentions checking springs.

I mean luckily its not a massive expense to replace it but its just got me a little miffed that I pay for a warranty that mentions the part but it wont pay out.
Click to expand...
But you are assuming that the spring had already snapped. You wouldn't be able to tell visually a spring that was literally about to snap the second the car rolls off the ramps.

As for the warranty wording, sounds like you need to take that up with the warranty company.
 
On a service they'll check the springs to make sure they’ve not fractured.
However on an MOT they’re checked for fractures and corrosion purely for the reason that if left they’ll eventually snap.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
The service specifically mentions they check the springs so the either didnt check it when they should or checked it and it was fine.
Click to expand...

And the main dealer services at Skoda used to tell me they took the wheels off the car and all sorts but they don't, otherwise they'd be spending about 4 hours per car per service. They'd have had a cursory glance if you're lucky.
 
Also just to add..
On quite a lot of cars the whole spring isn’t visible to the eye.
Personally on an MOT I use a dentists mirror so I can inspect the entire spring, but most service techs aren’t going to do that.
As the rule goes, If you can’t see it you can’t fully check it.
 
lordrobs said:
But you are assuming that the spring had already snapped. You wouldn't be able to tell visually a spring that was literally about to snap the second the car rolls off the ramps.

As for the warranty wording, sounds like you need to take that up with the warranty company.
Click to expand...

JonRGV250 said:
On a service they'll check the springs to make sure they’ve not fractured.
However on an MOT they’re checked for fractures and corrosion purely for the reason that if left they’ll eventually snap.
Click to expand...


I just (wrongly) assumed they would have said look your springs are corroded maybe look at swapping them.

Its just that its gone from no mention on the last MOT (so assume no corrosion) to no mention on the service (assume okay) to MOT oh yeah you have one snapped. Its not like I have not tried to maintain the car and was aware it was corroded and just left it to snap.
 
Kenai said:
And the main dealer services at Skoda used to tell me they took the wheels off the car and all sorts but they don't, otherwise they'd be spending about 4 hours per car per service. They'd have had a cursory glance if you're lucky.
Click to expand...
No dealer doing a minor service takes the wheels off.
They just do a quick visual inspection.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
I just (wrongly) assumed they would have said look your springs are corroded maybe look at swapping them.

Its just that its gone from no mention on the last MOT (so assume no corrosion) to no mention on the service (assume okay) to MOT oh yeah you have one snapped. Its not like I have not tried to maintain the car and was aware it was corroded and just left it to snap.
Click to expand...
Just to re-emphasise, generally you can't see the corrosion. My mechanic showed me the spring that snapped on my Octavia and it was a tiny dot that had tin wormed it's way to the core of the spring.
 
Just to show what corrosion does to a spring..

See post #44 on a thread I posted

Biennial MOT tests

And as if by coincidence, this video popped up in my Youtube feed shortly after reading this thread - obviously these are the more extreme examples, but still a great example of the kind of thing that ends up on the road when safety inspections aren't mandatory!
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
 
JonRGV250 said:
Just to show what corrosion does to a spring..

See post #44 on a thread I posted

Biennial MOT tests

And as if by coincidence, this video popped up in my Youtube feed shortly after reading this thread - obviously these are the more extreme examples, but still a great example of the kind of thing that ends up on the road when safety inspections aren't mandatory!
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk
Click to expand...

So would you not have seen that corrosion before it snapped? Would it be under the coating (not sure that's the right terminology)
 
lordrobs said:
Just to re-emphasise, generally you can't see the corrosion. My mechanic showed me the spring that snapped on my Octavia and it was a tiny dot that had tin wormed it's way to the core of the spring.
Click to expand...

But didnt see corrosion on the springs 4 weeks ago but now can on an MOT?

I know what everyone is saying that a service isnt an MOT but again its listed that they check the springs they either didnt or they were fine. TBH I rely that much on the mechanic they could have been fine and he said they were bad and i would have paid to swap them haha!
 
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