Hi All, Just to keep everyone updated, I picked up the car this weekend and I am pleased to say it is alive and well. Everything was repaired and I was only charge for the amount the warranty company has authorised. The remainder of the bill was picked up by Leeds Audi (can't thank them enough for making this so painless). Thanks

Hi Sam, Well further on from the call that I received, I have now received confirmation from the repairing dealer that the repairs now been authorised, parts have been ordered and the car will be ready on Wednesday. The email also confirms that I am only liable to pay £284.10 on collection of the car which is the amount that has been authorised by the warranty company and I will need to reclaim afterwards. I will be more than happy to update all again once the car is back in front of the house!

Hi All, First of all apologies heliosuk if I threw a spanner in the works with my post!! To update you all on the my situation, I have just received a call from the dealer and they have kindly agreed to cover all the residual cost for the repairs to the car so there is 0 cost to me. Given the long distance involved with the dealer, they have made my life so much easier. All I did was email all the details of what components failed, the cost of repairing them at my local BMW dealer and with no questions asked, they offered me the best possible outcome for me. I cannot decide whether I was expecting 100% cover or not to be honest as on one side we have a component failure 50% into its useful life but on the other, I received a great sales service from the dealer when I purchased the car. Needless to say I am very very happy. There was never a mention of the SOGA as it was never needed and I guess being rational and reasonable certainly paid off in the end. Thanks to everyone for their input. I have learned some very useful information!

I can definitely say that exercising my rights under the SOGA is absolutely the last resort. As you say, by being a reasonable individual, i'd hope to receive similar treatment back from the dealer. When purchasing the car the Sales Exec was a breath of fresh air. Not the stereotypical car salesman. I'd given some good feedback so now's a good test to see how the after sales service is now Anyway, as soon as I hear back on how the selling dealer would like to proceed, I'll post an update.

Again, many thanks for the information. It is most appreciated. I didn't really know what to expect with this but I cannot say i'm surprised. The difference in cover for the replacement of the airspring is partly down to the labour rate cap built into the 'warranty' policy. The front was not covered purely due to the fact the cause was deemed to be corrosion. Again, understandable. I spoke to the sales advisor that I was dealing with when purchasing the car and I have mailed him all the details of the what's wrong, the expected cost of the repairs and the cover provided by the warranty. I'm just waiting to hear back from them and i'm praying its good news! I'm hoping the fact that the selling dealer and repairing dealer are part of the same franchise network, it may work in my favour in terms of where the repairs are done should they cover the cost. The information with regards to design life and the implication of this is very useful. Obviously I do not want to have to use this or the SOGA to get this matter resolved to the level that I am happy with and I do not really want to have to spend time with court action etc...i'm just praying the outcome will not leave me seriously out of pocket...fingers crossed!

Hi All, I've received feedback on the car now. The car has received a detailed inspection and the following faults have been found: - Rear air spring collapsed due to leak - BOTH front springs snapped The dealer has spoke to the warranty company who will cover 67% of the parts and labour cost of repairing the rear air spring, 0% of the diagnosis cost and 0% of the front springs...all in all its less that 20% of the total cost! I've contacted the selling dealer to gauge their opionion as their customer charter (which is managed by the selling dealer) states that 'Mechanical and electrical failures that occur in the first 3 months of ownership will be repaired FOC'. I am now waiting on a decision before authorising any work on the car. I've had a good relationship with the Selling dealer thus far so i'm hoping I can avoid going down the SOGA route! Thanks

Thanks for the information heliosuk. I think i'm in agreement re the front springs given these should not have failed so soon and would have been easy to assess visually. The air spring is a different matter. And as you say there is not much by way of how the dealer would ever be able to check a fault was developing. Would this not then be covered by the warranty since by default, they cannot claim the selling dealer should have spotted this? Would the 'post 3 month' timeframes be included in the T&Cs somewhere? With regards to the 50% design life cycle, can you clarify how this is determined? Thanks

Yep, fully accept the drawback of the distance to the original dealer now...i'm hoping the being part of the same dealer network will help in the grand scheme of things...as in this dealer network covers a wide number of car brands... At the moment, the car is just in for full inspection but I will not let work to be done until I agree a position on liability. I have informed the selling dealer of where we currently are and the results of the first inspection. The warranty paperwork lists a number of 'exclusions' which someone may or may not decide they apply to the apparent failures I am having. I'm just a bit of a pessimist when it comes to things like this as warranty companies tend to find any excuse not to pay out. I've read a few instances where warranty companies push liability back to the dealers as the faults occured so soon into ownership. Similar to an AUC (approved used car) scheme offered by main dealers, the warranty I have goes by the name of a similar scheme offered by this dealer network. There is a 'customer charter' on the rear of the warranty booklet I was given which does state mechainical failures in the first 3 months will be fixed FOC. However, I'm not sure that just because the car was sold with this warranty under the same name as this used car scheme, that it is part of the scheme to which the Charter applies. Reason being, the charter states other points that I know were not adhered to. I'm hoping to have some news tomorrow but I will keep you posted. Thanks again.

Hi Sam, Thanks for the welcome The car is a BMW X5. It is currently with the local BMW dealer and the seller is a good 200 miles away which does not make the situation any easier...on first inspection I was told about the snapped front spring but they need to dig further into the rear air spring to see if it is a air supply issue or a leak in the spring itself. I have notified the dealer of what is going on but I guess, I as well as the dealer, will have to see what the final report says. Fortunately I have breakdown cover with my bank which includes a hire car for 72 hours to at least let me and the wife get through our routine weekend chores. Thanks for the help thus far

Hi All, I'm trying to prepare for the worse so wanted to seek a little advice first... At the end of June I purchased a 5 year old SUV with 70k on the clock for just shy of £20k from a Main Dealer (although not the original manufacturer, it is part of the same dealer network). The car had FSH, MOT and was HPI'd and new rear tyres were even fitted for good measure. Last weekend whilst driving the car I got a control message to tell me there was an issue with the self-levelling air suspension. The end result was a collapsed air spring at the rear of the car which I thought was the only issue but with the car parked outside my house, I noticed an issue at the front too (on the same side of the car). This is now confirmed as the front spring snapping via what the dealer says is excessive corrosion. I'm hoping the warranty provided will cover this, but I am trying to gauge that if not, is covered by the SOGA. Given it's only been 2 months and used for about 6-700 miles, from what I have read, the burden of proof falls on the dealer to prove the fault did not exist at time of sale. My questions I guess, are: - Does the SOGA distinguish between what components fail? - Does excessive corrosion that would have existed at point of sale imply the dealer should have fitted new springs at the front? - If I need to claim against the dealer under the SOGA, do I pay for the repairs first and reclaim, or do I not repair the car and contact the dealer first? - As this is our only car, can I take out a hire car and add this to the total claim? Thanks