I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ whether it is fair to pay the dealer what he asks for a repair
Under 2 months ago we purchased a MX5 from a independent dealer about 35 miles from us. The car was in very good condition, fsh with 26,000 miles. We paid £10,800 for it.
The dealer offered a 3 month warranty on the car, but says according to the receipt that it covers things like engine, gearbox, but not suspension.
Since buying the car I’ve only had time to drive it around 200 miles. During that time I noticed a clunk noise coming from the rear every so often. I had it into our local garage, not the dealer, and they thought it was coming from the top of one of the suspension columns. They suggested I take it back to the dealer, which I then did.
The dealer has had the car for a couple of weeks and his mechanic has investigated it. He has put a new shock absorber on one side which seems to have cured the problem.
When the dealer dropped off the car (he was good enough to bring it back on a transporter) he said the shock absorber cost him £295 and asked me to go halves on it.
At the time I was busy and said I’d get back to him. A few minutes later he texted me saying ‘he feels £140 is more than fair and guarantees the car had no clunking issues previously, it’s purely wear and tear on the awful roads’ in his words.
I must admit I didn’t notice the clunking noise on the test drive, but I did start to notice it shortly after owning the car, hence why I had it investigated.
Does anyone know the legal stance (or legislation) on whether the suspension would be automatically covered within the dealer’s three month warranty even if it’s not specifically mentioned on the receipt when other components are?
Overall do folks think it’s fair for me to pay him £140 as he asks?
First of all ; that garage made a “doubtfull” decision by replacing only one shok-absorber as i suggest there was a reason for that (wear, noise, clunk, bad damping…) as a general rule i think it’s wise to replace absorbers by 2 (pair). On the other side he specified that the waranty does not cover suspension bits…Tricky situation but i would pay it, you will end up with two new rear shock absorbers and beside that, 140 gbp is not worth the eventual hassle as you will have to replace that damper anyway (at the full price somewhere else…) and an eventual courtcase to (try to…) claim your costs is simply not worth it.
If the warranty (as according to the receipt) does not mention the suspension I think that he is being very reasonable to only ask you to pay half for it. It is after all a ten year old car and such items do wear out after such a time. He can’t be expected to warranty everything on the car especially as it was clear to you that the warranty was only for the engine and gearbox.
£300.00 for one shocker?
My entire shock/spring Koni Coil-over SRT kit was only £50.00 more!
My Flabber is ghasted.
Including labour etc?
Hindsight is 20/20 but you’d have been better off getting their “opinions”…after 2 weeks…and getting an Indy to fit 2. The remaining shocker will be past it’s sell by date,probably just slightly but hopefully you will not notice much if at all.
As for paying…well you let them go ahead so a definite Yes from me. Fair do’s really.
Never ever let a Dealer near an older car…ever again.
Yes. Agree with the comment regarding replacing both shock absorbers being much the preferable option but will the dealer be prepared to replace both for £280. Not sure that he would, but you can only ask. Garages are not like most of the owners on here and have to make a profit. I have heard numerous instances of garages only replacing single shocks or road springs when the money is coming out of their bottom line.
It might be worth asking the dealer for proof of the shock absorbers purchase price. You can look up the price for purchasing yourself and query his price if they are miles apart. A price of £140 for a standard OEM rear shock (as listed in MX5 Parts) plus the extra fitting cost seems quite reasonable to me.
They should be done in pairs. For good measure not just the damper should be changed but the springs as well.
You can look at prices. I’d ask for proof they used OEM stuff but if they just changed one damper on one side I’d be wary of them cutting corners and tried to do the cheapest job possible by using cheaper equivalent aftermarket parts
personally i would just pay it. (if the work has already been done)
its not worth the hassle to not pay.
believe me, having a debt on you like that can go very south very fast!!!
just pay it and then never go near him again.
Blimey Ckleanth
That kinda rams it home.
1 top of range Yellow Billy rear “only” £180 quids.
Oh dear…
I rather think the “story” will be split between the component cost and say 2 hours labour. Guys need paid.
Thanks everyone. I think we’re beyond the point of asking the dealer to fit two shocks now, since he’s delivered the car back and he’s about 35 mikes from us.
Also, I couldn’t have asked him to fit two from the outset since my local trusted garage (who checked it out when I first realised there was a problem) wasn’t even sure if it was a shock, mount or even drop link. Mainly because you could only hear the clunk from inside the cabin whilst driving and moving the back end of the car from outside whilst stationary, wouldn’t make it happen. So they said the time investigating it could be extensive and even then they couldn’t guarantee they would be able to pin it down.
I guess the reason I was querying paying the £140, is I paid the best part of £11k to a dealer with the implied safety net that the car is covered against defects for a reasonable time. So to have to take it back after 200 odd miles and within the warranty period, gives me the impression the issue was there when it was sold to us.
Now £140 really isn’t much, I accept that, but I just wanted to work out if he is being fair.
You need to do a bit of reading. Personally i wouldn’t take what they said to be the entire truth and expect they used cheaper aftermarket parts unless they show the receipt of the oem purchased part (and look at the part whether it looks the same from what you would expect.
If this was my car, it would have both sides done, and if they refused to pay up both sides - I’d pay it myself
According to the OP however, based on proofs of receipt, quite specifically (??) suspension components were not included as named (?) warranty components. If correct…end of story I’d expect.
Cough up, learn, move on.
If you couldn’t hear the noise on the test drive, then the dealer is being fair to go 50/50 with you, considering what his warranty was supposed to cover.
Have you had a chance to verify, over a long drive, whether the noise has gone after the dealer’s repair?
There are a few threads on this forum related to suspension noises on NC’s, and the solution isn’t always the shock absorbers.
With only 26000 miles on the clock, it doesn’t have to be a shock…
Sounds ok £140 for the shock replacement, wouldn’t pay the quoted price though. I suppose they didn’t have to go halves with you so just pay up.
As others have said, you really need both sides doing.
I had the misfortune of a front spring snapping whilst on holiday, the garage some random place I had to use in Dorset said they really need to replace both sides, I agreed. That was on my other car, not an MX-5.
if its any consolation mate,
i had the same thing.
paid 11.5k for a 2013 nc2 on 31thousand miles and after a month found out that the new spring the prev owner had fitted was the wrong one and so i had 1 corner of the car sitting lower than the rest.
(which played silly buggers with dynamic stability control because the DSC thought it was tipping over all the time and was constantly kicking in)
long story short i ended up having to replace all the shocks n springs at my own cost.
Flying in the face of pretty much most of what has been said here, I think the dealer has been very fair and honourable here. If you want a car with a full warranty and new parts, buy a new car. And this is not have a go at the OP, but the reality of second hand car buying. An non warrantied part seems to have failed shortly after purchase, but it was not evident before purchase. The dealer has investigated, diagnosed and replaced the part and all seems well. They are asking for half, what is a reasonable cost, for replacing it as it was not included in the warrantee, on top of which he has bought your car back on a trailer, and hopefully you are happy.
Things go wrong on cars. It has been fixed. Saying they are “bad” because they have not replaced more parts is the way it goes, and comes back to “buy a new car”. If a bulb fails do you go round and replace every bulb because they all have to be equal.
I don’t think you should feel in any way hard done by and should very much think you went to an ethical trader. What would be the feeling if you had bought the car off an enthusiast or club member who licked the car clean every weekend, you paid top dollar because they polished the battery box cover but then the damper blew, or in the case of a MK4, the gearbox destroyed its self. Would you be expecting them to pay?
I think feeling happy at this point would be good.
Life’s too short to worry about stuff like this. If you’re an MX-5 owner you can probably afford it. Count your blessings, pay the man and move on. Spring’s just around the corner
