Car Warranty insurance

A question about : Car Warranty insurance

Hi I bought a 1.9 Vauxhall Zafira on Finance March 2014 it had 76000 mile on it. We were told that it had a new timing belt put on and a full service. There was 3 month Warranty that the garage give us and we took the AA Five star Mechanical Breakdown cover out for 3 years.

The car has been great no problems what so ever until a few weeks back at the end of January 2015. Whilst driving home the car seemed to go cold and the fans started blowing out cold air. It was snowing at the time and the car started to mist up. I managed to get home and phoned the AA the next who towed me to the nearest garage. The garage checked the car and said that it was either the Thermostat or water pump. So they replaced the Thermostat and this didn't work, so they had to replace the water pump which meant taking off the timing belt. They said it would be best to replace the timing belt as well, but I told them it had only been replaced last year. They said that if this was the case they may be able to put the same one back on depending on its quality. Now this is where the problem started, as when the car was stripped down it was found to have the manufacturers timing belt on not a new one like we were told when purchasing the vehicle.

The Warranty covered the water pump and Thermostat but not the Timing belt. The garage said to go back to the garage where I bought it from and try to reclaim the money. (Ј100.50).

About a week later whilst driving home the car lost power and the engine warning light came on. I had to pull over and wait for the AA who again towed me to the same garage. This time the
Gas Re circulation valve had gone and yes it was not covered on the Warranty. The garage said they could have the car ready for the Monday as it was a Saturday, but to go to the garage I bought it from and see what they said.
I went to the garage and the man I bought it from said I should of brought it to him in the first place and he would of repair everything. So I thought great and felt such a relief, they said they would pick the car up from the garage on the Monday to take it back and repair. I got a call the Tuesday to say they had repaired it and it was ready to pick up.

So I got a lift through to the garage (30 mile from my home) and when I asked for a receipt of what was fixed no one knew and said the man who fixed it had gone home and their computer was broke. So they would send it in the post, I wasn't happy with this and said I'd go back the next day for this.
They said they think the Gas re circulation valve had been cleaned out. But they were advised by the other garage to replace it as it would only brake down again.

I started driving home and only managed to drive 15 miles before the car lost power and the engine warning light came on. I ended up waiting 3 hrs at the side of the motor way for AA and was towed home. I phoned the garage the next day who denied all fault or blame and said if I wanted them to fix the problem they would charge me. The car wasn't under Warranty with them anymore and they said they would fix the car as a good will gesture. The thing is they gave me a faulty car back after saying they had fixed it.
I had to take the car back to the original garage who took photos of the work supposedly done by the garage I bought it from. They hadn't even touched the car, no work had been done at all.

I'm at a loss what I can do about this it cost me a further Ј159.00 to get the problem fixed what they told me they had repaired.

Not only that why go to the effort of driving 60 miles there and back to collect my car and not do anything to the car. All the garage had to say is sorry cant help it out of warranty and I would of left it. I wouldn't of been happy, but at least my car would have been ready the Monday and I would of been spared the stress and wait of 3hrs on the side of a motor way by myself at 8pm.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Best answers:

• How do you tell the difference between a factory fitted timing belt and a brand new identical belt fitted by a main dealer or other garage. Considering they will both be the same brand.
  No garage will want to refit an older belt. Sometimes they dont like being refitted and the garage want to cover their backs.
  Using the old belt was your choice at the end of the day. But if it failed they would have said you declined us fitting a new one so have a nice day.
  The EGR valve failed. They do, its a car and they can have issues. You say then handed a faulty car back. Yet you managed to drive 15 miles before you noticed it was faulty. So was it the same fault or a new fault?
  They probably tried cleaning it and a test drive around the block showed it was fine. Probably needs to be replaced.
  Have a moan at the AA for taking 3 hours to recover you. Its not the garage's fault that you live 30 miles away.
  How do the photo's prove that no work was done at all? What signs are there that they have not even attempted to fix it?
  Sorry to sound so negative, But i think your being played on a bit. The garage saying its still got teh factory fitted belt. Which is exactly the same belt that it will be replaced with.. How can they tell the difference?