trying to send a faulty lease car back

[deller]

Hello All

I leased a Jeep Patriot back in March through my company scheme run by Alphabet.

Two days after I took delivery of the car it rained and the sunroof leaked. This knocked out all the electrics related to central locking an the alarm and it took them 6 weeks to repair. It has been continually leaking and had a major leak a few weeks ago time and took out the 4x4 ECU and was in for repair again for 2 weeks.

It has now rained hard again and the water is pouring in again. My partner is heavily pregnant (I suppose there's no other way to be pregnant!   ) and with it's history I do not want her driving it and being left stranded by yet another electrical fault.

I also noticed that rust was forming behing the radio where water ingress had occured.

If it was my car it would be on jeeps forecourt now and any finance etc. cancelled.

I have contacted Alphabet/Alphadrive who so far have been helpful and I have filed a complaint but it seems the limit to what they will do is to complain to the manufacturer and asked what they are going to do about it.  After trawling the web it seems there is a fundamental problem with the optional sunroof.

I am worried that because I have leased the car I do not have any recourse through the manufacturer.  Ideally I want them to take the car back and lease another car from them  (different make).

Does anyone have any opinion, advise or tips of where I stand and what course of action I could take with the leasing company if Jeep won't play ball. At the moment I am unsure of how to progress the complaint.

Thanks

Paul

[windy]

Wait for a cold icy morning then sideways into a nice sturdy tree should sort it    

[pistonbroke]

make sure next time it breaks down its in some very dodgy area  

[carpetstu]

Ive got a jeep Cherokee on lease!

I wouldn't say that I will be glad to hand it back but its got 8 months 7 days 5 hrs 15 minutes and 10 seconds until its return!    

[deller]

The dealers are appalling - last time I took it in they failed to tell me they had moved a month earlier 20 miles further away and I should have checked the web site! I have no idea why Fiat have just bought a massive stake in Chrysler unless they want to start building 4x4's which don't sell!

I was quite happy with the grand cherokee I had previously (apart from the fuel consumption) I leased the diesel patriot as it is VW engined and gearbox and the wife gets 50mpg. In all other respects I thought it was pretty good value and it looked like a tonka toy I had when I was a kid (sorry when I was young! wouldn't have built a Westfield if I wasn't a big kid still!)

Still, I'd like to know what recourse I have when the lease company says Jeep won't do anything. I suppose my contract is with Alphadrive so in the end i refuse a faulty car supplied by them?

[deller]

QUOTE

Wait for a cold icy morning then sideways into a nice sturdy tree should sort it

I should have done it when the 4x4 ecu got soaked and it wouldn't engage ...

[jeff oakley]

I am no leagl expert, however O would have thought your contract is with the leasing company. My approach would be to write them a letter recorded delivery and state all the faults with the car and the failure of the dealership to sort. Then give them 30 days to get it fixed or you will stop paying the lease.

This should get their attention and more action.

I had a Citroen C5 that had a brake fault which Citroen described as a charateristic, on lease. We took this approach and the lease company6 threw it back at Citroen.

If all else fails give it the woof treatment,

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Gallon of petrol match...... woof

[tex]

it would depend on the age of the car and whether it is still under the manufacturers warranty - i run company lease cars as does cast iron on the board room and the situation is this

if there is a problem it is a manufacturers warranty to fix the problem - no different to if you bought it - take it to be repaired by them - not the rental company - obviously you will have to inform the rental company it it faulty and it is going to be repaired - cant see them having a problem with warranty repairs - after all they are not paying for it - unless the policy strictly prohibits this which sounds odd if it does

[cast iron]

Andreas Astra is due to go back in July after a 3 year lease. Its been back at the dealers since last april, and back to vauxhall, they still cant fix it. Various requests and she has to keep it (although technically the dealer is keeping it) The upside is we have had some interesting hire cars, Golf DSG gets my vote and a Toyota Auris 1.4 D4D is a crock of crap

[cliveboy8]

You have a few options here. Sale of Goods Act (Implied Terms) and the Consumer Credit Act.

First you need to find out if your lease in within the Consumer Credit Act. Look at your copy of the agreement and it will either say Regulated or Non Regulated. If it is Regulated you are covered under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act which in simple terms means the lease company is jointly liable for merchantable quality. You should write to the lease company stating the problems you have had and say that the car is "of unmerchantable quality and not fit for the purpose it was intended". You should add that you will withhold any future payments until such time as the car is sorted to your satisfaction. Once this happens you MUST bring the lease up to date.

If the agreement is Non Regulated you should write to the Dealer Principal of the dealer (preferably by name - ring them and ask who he/she is) and list the problems and attempts by the dealer to rectify. State that you will return the car to them on a certain date so they may have one final chance to put things right to your satisfaction. If they fail to correct the faults start quoting the Sale of Goods Act and state in your opinion the car was not of merchantable quality from new and you require them to take it back and refund all you lease payments and settle any balance on the lease.

Also get the manufacturer involved by writing to their customer relations department.

Get in the dealer's face and kick up a stink. Keep on and on at them.

Good luck.