Sean B

Joker

well were do I start ? Bought a fiat 500 from TCS the salesman Martin told us it was low mileage 71,000 there bullet proof you wont have any problems with this car. It came with a 6 month warranty which obviously gave you some confidence that you were buying from a reputable company it was top money at £3500 for a 10 year old car but the warranty was peace of mind. He said it had come from a lady owner who had looked after it and she was into owls as there was a mark on the body were a sticker had been, all plausible sales talk. It came with a full MOT which it passed with no advisories on the 7th January we picked up the car the next day and paid the balance. 3 months later the car started to make an horrendous noise on starting, I took it to the garage who normally does my cars, he looked at the car and told me the studs on the manifold had snapped in the cylinder head and maybe the cylinder head would need to be removed. He said it would be covered under warranty but he didn't want to do the work as it was hard dealing with the warranty company with the amount of emails and phone calls a real issue in getting payment for the work. I phoned the warranty company who told me to take it to a garage that are VAT registered. 6 garages later nobody wanted to do the warranty work, I had to take it to the main dealer who were the only people I could find willing to do the work and deal with the warranty company. The dealership found a problem with the catalytic converter, the heat shield, the 3 broken studs in the head and 3 tyres needed replacing. I had only covered 835 local miles since buying the car and it had passed its MOT with no advisories. The warranty company were sent photos of the repair by the dealership and responded that it wasn't covered by warranty but gave them no reason as to why. At this point the car had been taken apart so we had to go ahead with the repairs to the studs and heatshield at main dealer prices which cost £758. I phoned TCS and spoke to the same salesman, who told me that it was an older car and you should expect problems, he asked me what the mileage was I told him it was still around 71,000, he said well that's it you see you'll probably need the head gasket doing around 70,000 take it to a back street garage it'll probably only cost you £700, I asked about the warranty he told me they decide whether they want to pay out or not, its wear and tear he said. That was his last words he just wasn't interested. I found the last owner who lived in Oldham, the lady owner who was into owls was actually an Asian gentleman who was into take-aways. He moved the car on because it was making an horrendous noise on starting ??? This morning I have replaced two of the tyres, one was worn so badly that the wire was showing the other was also pretty bad. There is no way I have worn out two tyres in 835 miles of local driving since the mot. This man it taking money from honest hardworking people for vehicles that are not road worthy, how can the mot be valid ? the warranty he provides is pointless and serves absolutely no purpose, when have manifold studs ever been a wear and tear item ? This car was worn & torn when we bought it mate, your an absolute disgrace and I will be contacting trading standards straight after this review.