BCM needing replaced, just out of warranty. Have I got any recourse?

[AndyHatesCheese]

Hello All,

 

My 20 plate Fabia recently had a number of issues cropping up: no interior dome lights working, front assist disabled, component protecting active on the radio- all at once- then latterly the airbag showing as disabled.  I've put it in at the dealership and they are saying that the car needs a new BCM (£900 (£500 odd for the part)) and that the manufacturer will not contribute. The car is only 7 months out of warranty and hasn't got more than 30k mileage.

 

Does anyone have any ideas, and is this something that I can threaten to sue Skoda for? 

 

Thanks,

 

Andrew

[J.R.]

You want to sue them for not honouring an expired warranty?

[AndyHatesCheese]

52 minutes ago, J.R. said:

You want to sue them for not honouring an expired warranty?

No, I'm asking if anyone has been successful using a different legal remedy: Consumer Rights Act, Sale of Goods Act. That sort of thing.

[rum4mo]

Personally, I wouldn't bother making this unfortunate issue any more painful than it already is.

 

You would need to be able to prove that no one did anything to that car to contribute to this failure, Skoda don't need to prove it provided you with a faulty car, well that is the way I'd look at this.

[J.R.]

15 hours ago, AndyHatesCheese said:

No, I'm asking if anyone has been successful using a different legal remedy: Consumer Rights Act, Sale of Goods Act. That sort of thing.

 

But on what basis?

 

Why do you consider that they should pay to repair your car?

 

14 hours ago, rum4mo said:

Personally, I wouldn't bother making this unfortunate issue any more painful than it already is.

 

You would need to be able to prove that no one did anything to that car to contribute to this failure, Skoda don't need to prove it provided you with a faulty car, well that is the way I'd look at this.

 

I guess you meant disprove and I agree with you.

 

They did not provide a faulty car, it has since (they claim) suffered a breakdown of the BCM, things fail in life, I don't understand why so often these days it has to be someone elses fault or responsability, I guess that comes from having always bought second hand privately and accepting what life throws at me.

[nta16]

Andrew, sorry to say I agree and think that you trying to get any type of warranty recourse would be more pain for you and fruitless.

 

If the BCM is the cause of the faults then you could also consider having it repaired or replaced with a used one to save money on the cost of the part.  I don't know where the BCM is located but it possibly involves a bit of labour to get at it and put things back again but labour rates can vary from Dealerships to other garages and methods of getting to the BCM and putting things put back may (I don't know) vary too taking less labour time so less pounds per hour for less hours.

 

Personally I'm surprised we don't see more faults with the car's computers, car build and general parts from the times of covid, car chip shortages and later general car parts shortages.  Personally I'd not want products from those times so might prefer to consider an earlier (or later, as even newer cars get broken for parts) used BCM, subject to it being suitable of course.

 

Good luck with whatever routes you take, I've had many (some expensive) car parts poorly made or fail when they shouldn't have so I know how you feel and how useless it can be to try to improve matters beyond replacing the part.

  

Edited 26 October, 2023 by nta16