Dealership lied about brake condition

J

JJ23

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I'm posting here to see if anybody else has had success in getting a used car dealership to pay for repairs on worn items that were not disclosed at sale.

I recently (8 February) bought a VW Polo from a reputable Volkswagen dealership and was told all is well in terms of roadworthiness requirements.

Drove the car for about a month before picking up vibrations on the steering wheel when braking.

I am not an aggressive driver by any means. My previous car, a Toyota Etios, still had 50% thickness on brake pads after 80 000 km.

I took the car to another branch of the same VW dealership to try and figure out the issue.

They established that both the front brake pads and discs were worn. The service operator told me the pads were under 1mm in thickness and said that it was impossible that it would degrade to this level even with the most reckless driving.

Here is my predicament: The Consumer Protection Act provides for a course of action for mechanical faults, but not "fair" wear and tear.

Is the minimum legal thickness for roadworthiness 2mm or 3.4mm?

In either case, I believe it is highly improbable that I could have worn both the pads and discs by this much in such a short time.

The dealership where I bought the car simply says they found the car to be roadworthy, but they are unable to tell me what the thickness of the brake pads were during testing.

Am I entitled to get the car repaired at the dealer's cost?
 
If there was a roadworthy test done, it will be hard to fight it regardless of whether someone says it's highly improbable to have worn them down to that state.

I had a new car that had to have it's brakes done after i think 20k km. Sometimes you just get kak parts I guess, but can't be proven they kak parts. It won't hurt getting in contact with VW and the CPA though to try your luck but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
 
acidrain said:
If there was a roadworthy test done, it will be hard to fight it regardless of whether someone says it's highly improbable to have worn them down to that state.

I had a new car that had to have it's brakes done after i think 20k km. Sometimes you just get kak parts I guess, but can't be proven they kak parts. It won't hurt getting in contact with VW and the CPA though to try your luck but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
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Same actually had to replace brake pads twice on that car and it only did 54 000km in 6 years.
 
Going to be difficult, basically you just going to have to complain and nag the dealership owner until he sorts it out. Name and shame the dealership on every forum and form of social media you have.
 
I’ve had this issue with a car recently that was a few months old. Took it back to the dealer and brakes and wipers (which I was not happy with) was replaced with no questions asked. This was a Suzuki bought from first car rental sales division
 
Repair the brakes and move on with your life, the fight you want to embark on does not look like worth the effort to me. If the car was declared roadworthy at the time of sale I don't see how it's not your word against theirs.

The dealership you took the car to could also be lying to you, yes that's what dealerships do, they lie, your brakes could be fine and it's just the wheels that are not balanced, causing the vibrations. Balancing the wheels won't bring in money so it's better if they charge you for pads and discs, at inflated prices of course.

If you don't mind how much are they quoting you?
 
Not necessarily the dealership lied. Last year bought a used honda jazz for my wife from honda Claremont, the checklist and roadworthy all went through. The mechanic in his checklist said 40% brake left.
Same as OP started to get vibration when braking. Took it back, they suggested going to HiQ. HiQ confirmed brakes and brake pad worn out, dealership replaced it for me no questions asked.
What does ur dealership say ? That they won't replace it ?
 
thechamp said:
Repair the brakes and move on with your life, the fight you want to embark on does not look like worth the effort to me. If the car was declared roadworthy at the time of sale I don't see how it's not your word against theirs.

The dealership you took the car to could also be lying to you, yes that's what dealerships do, they lie, your brakes could be fine and it's just the wheels that are not balanced, causing the vibrations. Balancing the wheels won't bring in money so it's better if they charge you for pads and discs, at inflated prices of course.

If you don't mind how much are they quoting you?
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For the price of pads and discs it's not really worth the fight. Polo's pads and discs shouldn't be more than R3k anyway.

The_Traveller said:
Jirre , you and Miss Daisy BFF's ?
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Same here, both cars we do pads and discs every 60k.
 
joker08 said:
Not necessarily the dealership lied. Last year bought a used honda jazz for my wife from honda Claremont, the checklist and roadworthy all went through. The mechanic in his checklist said 40% brake left.
Same as OP started to get vibration when braking. Took it back, they suggested going to HiQ. HiQ confirmed brakes and brake pad worn out, dealership replaced it for me no questions asked.
What does ur dealership say ? That they won't replace it ?
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Just wanted to say, I found the brake issue within the first 14 days and they replaced it.
Next I found the battery was no good, so replaced it myself.
So like @Craig said, sometimes it's just not worth fighting.
 
thechamp said:
Repair the brakes and move on with your life, the fight you want to embark on does not look like worth the effort to me. If the car was declared roadworthy at the time of sale I don't see how it's not your word against theirs.

The dealership you took the car to could also be lying to you, yes that's what dealerships do, they lie, your brakes could be fine and it's just the wheels that are not balanced, causing the vibrations. Balancing the wheels won't bring in money so it's better if they charge you for pads and discs, at inflated prices of course.

If you don't mind how much are they quoting you?
Click to expand...

It was R7,800. But it turns out you were right about the second dealership actually being the scammers. Took the car to a reputable Hi Q today and was told the pads were still between 20% and 30%. Guessed that it could go for another 10,000km. Discs were also fine.
 
JJ23 said:
It was R7,800. But it turns out you were right about the second dealership actually being the scammers. Took the car to a reputable Hi Q today and was told the pads were still between 20% and 30%. Guessed that it could go for another 10,000km. Discs were also fine.
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I knew it, even if you were to replace both the discs and pads the price would be nowhere close to R7800.

Did they balance the wheels and how is the vibrations? I could be the discs but most of the time it's the wheels, faulty ball joints and stabilizer rods could also be the culprit.
 
JJ23 said:
It was R7,800. But it turns out you were right about the second dealership actually being the scammers. Took the car to a reputable Hi Q today and was told the pads were still between 20% and 30%. Guessed that it could go for another 10,000km. Discs were also fine.
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For pads and discs, on a Polo? I assume that's all round? And even then that would be a bit steep.
 
Craig said:
For pads and discs, on a Polo? I assume that's all round? And even then that would be a bit steep.
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Thats crazy the pads around R650 at midas and discs just under R1000. Unless it uses some odd size, but doubt the regular polo does.
 
thechamp said:
I knew it, even if you were to replace both the discs and pads the price would be nowhere close to R7800.

Did they balance the wheels and how is the vibrations? I could be the discs but most of the time it's the wheels, faulty ball joints and stabilizer rods could also be the culprit.
Click to expand...
Honda quoted me a similar amount (front and back pads, front disks)
 
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