Purchased a new Hyundai vehicle. At the first service, the Hyundai Official Dealer service centre drained the oil and forgot to fully replace the oil and required oil ring on sump plug. Dealer has verballyadmitted to this error. The car was driven without sufficient oil and broke down with the entire family in the car on the Harbour Bridge.
Hyundai says it has nothing to do with them, but the warranty has clearly been made null and void, and the +80K vehicle is severely compromised.
Hyundai says the only course for me is with dealer, but dealer says it is with Hyundai. Suggestions please as to how to deal with this very expensive game of pass the parcel
Hyundai is correct. The party responsible for the damage to you car is the dealership, in particular the service section which failed to meet their obligations. Their negligence resulted in the vehicle damage.
A dealership should/will have have insurance which covers them for such events. I would be approaching the dealership and stating you wish to negotiate a resolution to the damage they caused to your vehicle and resulting loss of the manufacturer’s warranty. State that as a minimum, you expect a vehicle is the same condition as before it was delivered for the service. That being, a vehicle with X kms, X years old and with the remainder of the vehicle’s warranty. I would put this is writing to them as they have failed to meet their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law.
If they are unwilling to negotiate, which is unlikely since you have indicated they have admitted fault, it may be worth seeking legal advice.
A verbal admission may or may not be enough in a legal sense. Best you get everything in writing, asks, promises and agreements.
It should be on the dealer for failing to conduct service with due dilligence and competence. If the dealer gives you any push back from a friendly ‘what are you going to do to fix this?’ your next step should be writing a formal Letter of Complaint to the owner and senior operating executive citing your rights and their liability under the Australian consumer law. Hopefully that will lead to a quick and relatively painless resolution. There are many tools linked on Choice, the ACCC, and advice on how to write one on the Community.
