On The Case
Post categories: cars
| 16:41 UK time, Monday, 13 February 2012
Mike Thane with his Peugeot.
Mike Thane from Cardiff got in touch with X-Ray after his car kept losing power when he was driving and the garage couldn’t seem to fix the problem.
He’d paid £7,000 for the second-hand Peugeot, hoping it would be a reliable car for long trips to visit his family, “I've got to travel quite a lot because I go and see my family up north. My daughter is in Nottingham.â€
Lucy discovered how Mike’s car would suddenly cut out, including a frightening experience on the motorway.
“It just cut out like somebody switched the engine off. There was no power in the engine. There was cars behind me but they missed me luckily.â€
Mike had a Peugeot warranty so took his car to the Griffin Mill dealership in Pontypridd. The garage tried on several occasions to diagnose the problem but Mike’s car kept losing power when he was driving.
He told Lucy, “I want a car that's safe to drive and not be frightened when I go out that it's going to cut out on me and cause an accident.â€
Lucy got on the case for Mike and discovered customers can register complaints with a motoring trade association if they feel problems are not being dealt with properly.
Motor Codes is Government-backed and has a free-of-charge service to help deal with disputes.
In Mike’s case, Griffin Mill said they wanted to take the car in for more testing but that Mike refused their request.
But, as Mike had a manufacturer's warranty, he could have reported the problem directly to Peugeot.
And after X-Ray contacted them, Peugeot did offer to take the car away to carry out extensive tests at their main Technical Centre in Coventry.
They also offered £580 to pay for a hire car so Mike could continue to visit his family while the work was carried out.
Happily, Mike’s car is now fixed, “I'm driving again and now I feel safe.â€
That’s another case closed!
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