As a result of attending Matt's Tech Day I find myself in a dilema .

I bought my '09' S new and unregistered 2 yr's ago from a Honda dealer in the manchester area and , just recently , due to concern's over engine failur's have taken to , when parking in the garage , revving the car and listening for the so called ' death rattle ' ( so far so good ).

However , one time , a few week's ago , I did this , and ,as it was still in gear , managed to stall it , and bumped my toolbox , damaging my front bumper ( no laughing at back there ).

One new bumper was ordered ( thank's Si at Hendy Performance ) and I decided to wait for Matt's Tech Day so that he could show me how to remove and replace the front bumper .

On the day , when it came to the bumper being removed , it became evident that some previous repair work had been carried out as the nearside headlamp had been repaired i.e. the mounting bracket's had been broken and glued back on !!!!

Also , as I had attended the Tech day last year , I also remembered that a large lump of polystyrene should have been in the nose of the front bumper that was remarkably absent .

I have been thinking about this since the Tech day and as I bought a new UK spec car from a franchised dealer decided to contact both the dealer and Honda UK .
The dealer has agreed to supply the impact absorber and a new headlight at cost but my question is - should I pay anything for a missing part and a very second hand headlight ?

I admit that these fault's are not noticable , however should Honda and it's dealer network be able to gataway with bodged repair's to what was a brand new car .

Or am I just wasting my time expecting anything out of Honda UK

Regard's
John .

 

I used to work for Honda back in South Africa, i can tell you from personal experience that many cars are damaged, repaired and sold. Obviously nothing serious, but it does happen.

Wouldnt worry too much, as long as there hasnt been any painting.

 

Worth contacting the stealer and putting in writing what you have found and you are not happy that the car was delivered with damage repair, and cc to Honda UK. Insist that you have an extended warrenty on the repair.

 

I'm not sure what you say the dealer is intending to about it

Are they going to pay for the parts, or are they expecting you to cough up?

I think Rich is right in that your situation should be expressed in writing, as it will at least leave an evidence trail if something more untoward comes to light. I don't believe however, that an extended warranty on those parts would be of any real use, so you could end up chasing one when they aren't components that generally fail within any warranty window...apart from consumables such as the lamps.

 

I would certainly say you shouldn't be out of pocket.
I guess your issue may be proving that it was like this at delivery? Or are they acknowledging it was repaired pre-delivery?

 

John,

I think the absorbing polystyrene section was missing when you bought the car and therefore definitely syou houldn't need to pay for it. You wouldn't expect to pay anything if you found they'd missed out the spare wheel, so why should you pay just because the missing bit is a bit more hidden?

The repaired headlight is a bit more tricky. Really depends how well the repair has been done. But I suppose the question you would put to the dealer and/or HUK is if the headlight was broken like that in an accident and being paid for on your insurance, would they be gluing it back together or replace the whole headlight? I suspect they would only warrant a repair if they replaced the whole unit. So why then did they 'shortcut' the repair.

Did the car have any mileage on it when you bought the car? i.e. had it been used as an unregistered demo car?

 

I'd be pissed off if I spent lots of money on a new car to know the light bracket had been repaired. They should have replaced the whole unit.
As to mileage on the car it makes no difference if it has 0 or 20. Someone at the showroom may have bumped into it.
It has warranty, make full use of it and definitely complain.

 

AT COSTS!
They should be doing it FOC
They obviously feel some obligation and liability to be offering the bits at cost.
The car was not supplied "as built by the factory", it should have been, it is their responsibility to remedy that.
(assuming they don't claim they did and you have since repaired it after a knock )

 

Thank's guy's and sorry for the late reply . Work has been trying to give me a heart attack !!!

When I bought the car it had about 30 mile's on it and came from a different branch of the same dealer both of which have changed ownership .

The dealer principle has offered these 2 part's at cost ( circa 15% discount ) and has stated that no record's of repair work have been found !

Unfortunatly I am of the opinion that the impact absorber should be supplied FOC as it was missing and the headlamp should be exchanged for a new one FOC !!!

Thank's to Lofty I can fit these myself .

I also know that car's can be damaged after delivery to the dealer ( I have seen brand new BM's being repaired by a "man in a van" )

I also know that car's are often damaged between the factory and the dealer , which in the case of the S is between Japan and the UK !

I am going to push for free replacment With Honda UK .

Wish me luck .

Regard's John .

 

All the best with Honda, when cars were delivered damaged to dealers I've worked at they were properly repaired at the carriers expense, but this sounds as if's maybe been a bit more serious and done "on the cheap" so may have happened whilst on the forecourt or even on a demo drive, in any case I would not want to pay for either of the parts.