should I ask for refund or my S60 'fixed' under warranty

[Engineer254]

Hi all,

I just bought a nice 2014 S60 - with D4 engine in very good condition from a private dealer. however after only 3 days of owning it I have got the turtle engine warning error 'reduced engine performance' and the engine warning light with CHECK written underneath

from what ive read this error can be anything from a faulty fuel filter to a problem with the turbo, the car is under warranty so I could get it seen to be the dealers mechanic however im worried that they might try to temporarily hide this error instead of fixing the problem (not a well known or large dealership). should I take the car to my local garage to see if its a serious problem first? or should I just staight up ask for a refund ? the car has done 120k miles.

not sure on the best way to proceed

thanks all!

[john.wigley]

Any 10 year old used car may have faults. The only way to avoid that is to buy new, and that's not guaranteed. If you ask for a refund and buy another, it is still possible for you to have issues with whatever car you buy.

What makes you think that the dealer would be less than honest over the fault? In my experience, smaller, independent traders usually need to work harder and offer better customer service than the big boys to protect their customer base.


Surely the point of having a guarantee in the first place is in the event of situations like this. Why not give them a chance and use it? If you should be dissatisfied with the outcome, then would be the time to consider further action.

You may also have further additional protection if you paid for all or part of your purchase using a credit card.

Regards, John.

[MikeGMT]

Sorry to hear of your ‘new’ car problems Engineer. Begs the question, how long and how good is the warranty. As you rightly mentioned it could be a multitude of things that are throwing the Check Engine Light, especially if it is the D4 VEA. Ideally you need to have the codes read by a authorised Volvo Workshop or Independent Specialist with access to VIDA rather than a generic tool that a lot of small dealers use, that way you will get a proper diagnosis of the problem.

If I were in your situation, and you don’t have much confidence or doubtful of the dealer you got the car from, I would give the supplying dealer 2 options. Either a refund, or I take the car to a authorised workshop and they foot the bill. It maybe that they might find a few more things that need attention, and at least you will have a good appraisal of the car. Problem is the dealer may dig in and suggest you give them a chance to put things right first.

Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction.



* ps. Your original post was in the correct forum, this is for the SPA generation cars.

[john.wigley]

You are right to point to the quality of the guarantee, MikeGMT, they do vary! I suspect that 'Engineer's may be of the generic insurance backed variety sold by many smaller dealers. If so, it will almost certainly impose limits and exclusions; as always, one generally gets what one pays for.

I'm a little confused why Engineer does not appear to have complete confidence in the dealer's integrity when he trusted him enough to buy the car from them in the first place. Not all are rogues; I know of several smaller outfits who are always prepared to go the extra mile to keep their customers happy whatever the circumstances.

Regards, John.