The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

I need your advice on the following issue. I think a garage wants to take me for a ride.

I bought a car from a garage in 2008. I have been using this car regularly and now I am at 51,000km. It has now developed gear problems and I cannot engage in reverse gear. I took the car to the garage in May for repairs. I was told the car is under warranty but when I collected the car I was told that they had made some adjustment to the gear linkage bush but still it was not good enough. They claimed that they had tried to communicate with me earlier trying to find out if they should order the linkage, although when I phoned then they did not tell me that.

When I asked about the warranty issue I was told that my car is beyond that cover because it was now more than three years old. I am told the warranty says either 100,000 km or three years, whatever comes first.

If I am going to start repairing it at 51,000km one wonders what other repair will be next. Is this not poor workmanship on the part of the supplier? I have tried to reason with them but without success. What an inconvenience?

It appears the crime I am being alleged to have committed is my failure to blow up the mileage of 100,000km within the three years. What should I do??

Clearly the garage made a mistake when they initially told you that it was still under warranty after four years but you should really have known the length of the warranty you got with this vehicle. As you mention it was for three years or 100,000km, whichever came first. In your case the three years obviously came first.

I’m not a mechanic so I can’t comment on how long your gearbox should have lasted but it’s clear that it won’t be covered by the warranty. Sorry to have bad news.

Update: The reader contacted us again to ask whether the gearbox would be covered by his insurance policy. Sorry, I’m afraid not. Vehicle insurance usually just covers accidents and theft.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

I need your advice. I borrowed a friend of mine my VW car in January and he was involved in an accident, the car is not insured it was badly damaged in the front. He had it repaired by a backyard panel-beaters who joined the back of my car to the front of an old VW.

I told him I can’t take the car back, as the car was a cut and join. I told him if this car was insured the insurance company was going to write it off. He is insisting that I must take the car but I don’t want it back like this. Please advise.

OK, I think we both know that it was a mistake not to have insurance, don’t we?

Unfortunately given these circumstances I suspect your only option is legal action against your friend to recover the value of your vehicle. Clearly the vehicle is now worthless, given that it’s now two busted cars welded together.

Update: the reader got back to us and mentioned that he had already instructed an attorney but that he was “waiting for judgment”. I’m not sure what that means but at least action has been taken.

Dear Consumer’s Voice #3

Of late there has been news going around about investing in one of the biggest trades abroad known as Eurex. I’m hesitant to invest with this company because am not sure if its real or a scam. Could you please help me by tracing them and give a true picture about their operation and the like.

I really would NOT advise anyone to "invest" in this scheme or any other "High Yield Investment Program". We’ve researched and commented on this particular company and others of their type in the past. They make unbelievable claims about the money you can make from these schemes but always publish disclaimers tucked away on their web site saying it’s not really going to happen.