Yellow S1 Exige on a truck Bowhouse r'dabout M9

Digital · Post by **Digital** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:25 pm

Passed a yellow S1 Exige loaded onto the back of a truck at the Bowhouse roundabout (off the M9 between Linlithgow and Falkirk) on my way back tonight. There was also a silver Ibiza parked behind the truck, so hopefully just a minor mechanical malady rather than an accident - from a brief glimpse as I passed I couldn't see any damage to the Exige...

basil · Post by **basil** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:19 am

That would have been me (Ibiza is the wife) after picking my car up from MMC where is had its C service. It would appear the timimg belt (they changed) has either snapped or come off however I could not check this as the engine cover has been miss fitted by MMC an now wont open as it hits my roof (which is now chipped and the engine cover cracked). So after spending upwards of 1K on a service and MOT my car was incapable of going 20 miles before it broke down leaving me waiting 3 hours for it to be picked up.

mac · Post by **mac** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:24 am

Can you add this to the sticky in the meets section please?

Mac

basil · Post by **basil** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:44 am

Will do when (if) the saga finally finishes

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:26 am

oooooooh, nice shiny new engine coming your way if they fcuk up the timing belt.

When they did my HGF, they managed to get the cam timing verniers 2 teeth out when refitting, so this doesnt surprise me much at all.

basil · Post by **basil** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:35 am

Well if the timing on my car was out it might explain why for two weeks they could not get it to pass its MOT emissions

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:17 am

was the MOT after the C service????

basil · Post by **basil** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:01 am

Yes it was, seviced on the Friday and MOT'd on the Monday

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:22 am

and now the cambelt has snapped (or slipped) hmmmmm. dont let murrays fcuk you about with this. Get a case together, get them to admit liability and dont accept anything less than a new engine or a professional rebuild (i.e. not by them)

robin · Post by **robin** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:59 pm

mckeann wrote:and now the cambelt has snapped (or slipped) hmmmmm. dont let murrays fcuk you about with this. Get a case together, get them to admit liability and dont accept anything less than a new engine or a professional rebuild (i.e. not by them)

IF the timing belt has snapped or slipped and they just changed it then it must be faulty parts or faulty workmanship - hard for them to escape either way and they will have to make good (though if it is a faulty belt it could get complicated because they would need to claim against Lotus/Rover/Err ..., but I am 99% sure that would be their problem, not yours).

I doubt you have any claim to a rebuild somewhere else, though you might be able to argue that you don't want them to touch the car again and get it sent to another dealer - probably not though.

They probably ought to lend you a car, but I doubt there is any obligation for them to lend you a comparable car. You would need to have a good case for loss of earnings before they would consider that worthwhile.

This won't be the first time it's happened to them I am sure, so they will be well versed in the arguments.

One thing that might be worth considering is to get Lotus to inspect any damage, if there is any, before it's repaired to make sure that Lotus agree with whatever repair the dealer is proposing. That should help your confidence in the end result a bit.

Good luck with it!

Robin

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:31 pm

and lotus do have field engineers that can come and look at it.

Not that it did me much good........

basil · Post by **basil** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:41 pm

Well it turns out it wasn't as bad as first thought, the timimg belt is fine. However one of my big ends has given up after only 19000 miles and only 20 miles after a major service by a main dealer. The bad news is nothing to do with MMC , so I am now hoping for some good will to be shown by both Lotus and MMC to help fund the repair.

mckeann · Post by **mckeann** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:44 pm

hmmmm

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:36 pm

shooomer wrote:and a like-for like-temporary car

trust you!

Digital · Post by **Digital** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:15 pm

Unlucky basil, sorry to hear of all your problems. I saw your wife's car parked behind the truck and assumed it was about to be loaded on, it was only as I passed that I spotted the Exige - bit of a sad sight

Hope you get it all sorted out soon

Jamie