I recently purchased a used vehicle from a car dealer, which came with a 3-month warranty. Unfortunately, within a mere two weeks after the purchase, the vehicle experienced a breakdown. The insurance company, responding to the breakdown, facilitated the vehicle’s return to the dealer for necessary repairs. As part of this repair process, the dealership replaced the BCM (Body Control Module) unit to address the issue.
However, I have since become deeply concerned upon discovering that during these repairs, the dealership replaced all five of the vehicle’s tires, including the spare, with older tires manufactured in 2013. This is particularly troubling, as the vehicle was originally equipped with 2018 tires at the time of sale. The replacement of the tires occurred without my prior knowledge or consent, raising suspicions of deliberate and non-transparent actions on the part of the dealership.
Compounding my concerns, I possess photographic evidence of the tire replacement. This evidence raises significant questions regarding the integrity and transparency of the service provided by the dealership. Most importantly, it raises concerns about the potential safety and performance implications of using older tires that do not align with the vehicle’s original specifications at the time of sale.
Before taking any further action, I am seeking advice to clarify the following matters:
1. To what extent is the dealership legally accountable for the unauthorized tire replacement and for failing to disclose this change during the warranty service?
2. Do I possess a valid case for seeking compensation or rectification in response to the tire replacement, which deviates from the agreed-upon terms of the warranty?
Thank you!
5 comments
Tyres are tyres. Other than basic size, the car manufacturer tends to hand off the individual specification of replacement tyres to whoever was the tyre supplier during a production run.
So there’s likely no **Official Tyre™** for your car anyway, provided the 2013 tyres are “new old stock” and not just decent used tyres, there shouldn’t be a problem if the tyres are the right size.
This one for the UK legal sub. But no need to go legal. Probably a trading standards issue that would need you to lawyer up, or even get shitty.
In regards to the tyres. Properly weird. Not sure why they’d go to the effort of changing the tyres. Did they charge you for new tyres?
Personally I’d just go into the dealership, ask for the manager, and say “Hi Manager, you fixed my car, great, but I’ve noticed you changed all my tyres. They look older than the ones I had before. What’s going with that?”
If the manager denies it, maybe he didn’t know, but then you can say, “look here is my photo, they’ve changed, this seems dodgy. Please convince me it is not?”
Have you asked them as to why they have done this?
My own view is that it’s theft, but I’d speak to someone legally qualified.
You need to speak to the dealer first, ask for an explanation as to why. They’ll either deny that they’ve done it, or they’ll give an explanation which may or may not be legit (probably not legit). Don’t let on that you can prove that they’ve changed them initially, let them dig their grave a bit.
Record any calls with them – recordings aren’t usually admissable in civil court, should it come to that, but a written transcript based on a recording is.
What this will ultimately boil down to is them reimbursing you for the value of the tyres (which, given the value, would be via small claims if they refused), or them refitting your tyres or equivalent ones for free.