Recently purchased new car sold with recent full service, failed MOT

Hiya

I was wondering if anybody could help me. I purchased a second hand Vauxhall Corsa (05 plate) in late February this year, which was sold to me as in full working order except it required an oil change fairly soon. The seller's relative is a mechanic who gave it a full service in January, and no issues other than the oil change were mentioned to me when I went to look at the car before buying it.

The car itself runs well, it starts first time etc. However we found that the oil filter needed replacing as oil was leaking, issues with the indicators developed shortly after buying the car (one side rapidly flashing, the other normal) and the engine management light started coming on. We took the car to Kwik Fit who said it was an issue with the exhaust (they described it as like a honeycomb - it was very rusty and had lots of holes in it), so they replaced the old one with a brand new one with 3 years warranty. The engine management light remained on despite this. We discovered that the computer was giving fault codes regarding both lambda sensors, so we replaced both of them (both were also very rusty and have probably been in the car since it was manufactured). The engine management light still remains.

I took it in for its MOT and it failed on numerous things including CO2 emissions (inc. issues with the new exhaust), the drive shaft is split, and some issues with the lights not being correctly positioned/discoloured. The mechanic suspects that there is a problem with either the engine computer or the fuse box as none of the fuses are working as they should, and this could potentially be quite expensive to fix, as it is still giving out fault codes when he feels there is nothing wrong with the lambda sensors now they have been replaced.

I am concerned that I was missold the vehicle as if it had a full service, surely these issues would have been flagged up and they should have told me about them before I bought the car? I am aware of the phrase 'buyer beware' but mechanics have a higher duty of care and surely they shouldn't have passed the full service and told me the car was fine when they knew (if they did proper checks) that there were potentially serious issues with the car developing?

I haven't yet been given a quote for how much it is all going to cost to fix but I am worried it would cost almost as much as the car is worth, making it pretty much a write-off. I have not had any bumps/scrapes/accidents in the car and I take good care of it so to see all these issues suddenly flagged up in the MOT in addition to the ones I was aware of came as quite a surprise.

Sorry for the long post, any advice would be great!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

domonict

your post seems to say that it was not the mechanic's car, but that the seller used a relative as a mechanic (who we assume is qualified )

so any responsibility is down to you as a private sale to get a mechanic of yours to give the car a once over. Is it possible that the person is trading cars? but claiming to be a private seller?

An MOT is only an indication of the car passing the test at the moment that the certificate is printed out. It could fail on something tomorrow. I would be wary about trusting kwik-fit for any advice as they have a reputation for boosting sales of replacement parts.

you don't really "pass" a full service, you just carry one out, normally based on a list from there manufacturer. A service does not cover most items in an MOT

Reply 2

SpicyStrawberry

Original post by domonict

Thank you for your reply :smile:

I completely understand re. the MOT and things could break tomorrow, but as these faults are ones that develop over quite a while (e.g. drive shaft split, oil filter letting oil leak out, lambda sensors rusty, exhaust with loads of holes and rust) I would have thought that if the full service was done correctly these issues would have been raised and they should have told me about them. I guess I'm just suspicious that their relative stamped the service book to say that they have had it serviced when, actually, they hadn't just so they can get a quick sale.

That being said I'm not impressed with Kwik Fit either as they did a diagnostic check and never mentioned the lambda sensors and apparently the exhaust still isn't right despite them replacing it!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

shaymarriott

A couple of things -

1. KwikFit is useless - never trust their mechanics to diagnose or repair a faulty vehicle. Never.

2. A service is just periodical consumables and fluid replacement. It generally doesn't involve a mechanical go-over of the car as standard. That's what the MOT is for. Servicing may prolong the life of a car if carried out on time, but is no guarantee of its road worthiness.

If I went to view a car and was told it had had a service the month before but was due an oil change soon, I'd run a mile - that should be part of the service and clearly they're taking the piss.

Unfortunately, assuming you bought it privately, you don't really have any rights as a consumer. Privately sold vehicles generally don't come with a warranty and are sold as seen. It's unfortunate, but sadly happens all too often. You should have bought a mechanic along!

Your best bet is probably to get in contact with the seller and make your issues known - they may have some compassion...! Otherwise, there's nothing you can really do.

If it was from a dealership, put your complaint in writing and go from there.

Reply 4

Xander.N

Kwikfit are a pile of ****. Not going to lie. Milked me for hundreds of pounds to repair my old corsa when it wasn't needed. Plus parts they ordered were VERY expensive. For example, apparently needed a stability link, when actually I know I didn't since the one they were mentioning was brand new and I new was in working order. GG.

Then again I did get mis sold a corsa that actually had a broken head gasket that they hid by cleaning up the engine... oops.

By all the stuff your talking about, Might be worth getting a new car in the end. Kwik fit will give you a run around so might be worth taking it somewhere else independent to give it an inspection. RAC do it for when you buy new cars, they might do it if you ask for one you've brought.

(If your interested, got a new Corsa D, 36K miles on clock. Works a dream :3.)

Reply 5

SpicyStrawberry

Original post by shaymarriott

Original post by Swinkid

Thank you both for taking the time to reply :smile:

I took the car to an individual garage for its MOT - I wouldn't trust Kwik Fit as far as I could throw them now! Kwik Fit weren't very helpful with the exhaust issue so decided not to repeat my business today, however unfortunately the car is a write-off as there are so many things wrong with it that it's not worth doing :/ The oil switch was leaking when I bought it (wasn't mentioned to me but was found to be leaking later on) and the oil has managed to get into the engine computer and damage it beyond repair over time. That in addition to the other repairs required has meant I've decided to part ex it (if they will take it...) and buy a more modern Corsa to replace it that has had a fresh MOT from a dealer and warranty included - I've seen one and going to view it later this week. It's really unfortunate but just have to put it down to experience!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 6

Iqbal007

Original post by SpicyStrawberry

Kiwkfit, try an alternative garage...some are known to rip you off or try to hustle you for unneeded work.

I suggest you find a vauxhall specialist garage, especially independent ones with a good reputation, check the vauxhall forums to maybe find one near you.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

CurlyBen

Dig the service booklet out from the documents with the car and it should tell you precisely what is and isn't looked at in a service. There are generally two types of service, normally called A and B or major and minor or something along those lines. A 'full' service is a bit ambiguous really - I think most people would take it to mean a major service, but it could mean that the whole minor service has been done (I've done partial services before, when I've been too busy to get the whole lot done at once, normally changing the oil out then finishing the rest at a more convenient time). Certainly the minor service for most cars doesn't involve a lot more than oil + filter change/checking fluid levels/maybe an air filter change. It's certainly no guarantee you won't get more problems cropping up soon. By the way, rusty lambda sensors are nothing to worry about - due to the heat they're exposed to they will burn off protective coatings, but they're made of sufficiently substantial steel they won't rust through within their typical operating lifetime. Typically when a sensor fails it's due to contamination on the tip, which is nothing to do with it being rusty.

As for Kwik Fit, they're a really hit and miss place. I'd probably use them for things like fitting an exhaust as it's just not worth doing yourself, but they typically don't employ many experienced mechanics. There are loads of bad stories but that's partly because there are just so many of them around. I did have to explain to one of their fitters how an air con system worked once before he agreed to regas it!