Used car from dealership randomly dies, what to do?
 

My friend financed an 05 Jetta from a dealership. The car dies randomly on the freeway, and then springs back to life. Luckily nothing bad has happened yet.
I can't think of a more dangerous situation than a car that dies momentarily at any time.

I told my friend to take the car back, he just bought it a week ago.

Dealership said they fixed the issue, supposedly a shorted brake wire causing the drive-by-wire to malfunction (?).

The car continues to die now on the freeway.

My friend is going back and forth with the dealership, I'm off right now to go there and deal with the dealership now.

What recourse does my friend have? I'm telling him he should just get a different car. He likes the car and says if it gets fixed properly he'd like to keep it.

I'm thinking that because he brought the car in for this issue immediately, and they SAID they'd fixed it, but haven't, that if something bad happens the dealership is looking at a BIG lawsuit unless they fix the car or give him a different car.

They are not wanting to give him a loaner or rental either. I'm going with him now to try and straighten things out.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Mike

Semi-Joking: Well, the first problem is that he got a Jetta. That generation of Jettas was at the tail end of some widespread wiring failures, so the fact that your friend is having electrical probelms isnt really surprising

Seriousness: Some Dealers will have a short "Guarantee" period, though used cars may be exempt from that. Read the fine print of the purchase agreement and see if there are any options.

Does he have anything in writing? If not he is up shit creek without a paddle.

If the car was sold "as-is" might be f*cked.

Also check your state laws, there might be something that allows buyer of used car certain time to return it.

Every time I have bought a used car, I have gotten (in writing) a 48 hour grace period so I can take it to the dealer and have the car checked out.

If they certified it as pre owned and had their own mechanic look at it saying it was road ready, they might be at fault for selling a faulty dangerous car. Although I'm inexperienced with that kind of situation...so take my advice with a grain of salt

The car started doing this a week into his owning it.

I went with him and the service manager today for an hour drive, no cutting out. They've given him a rental/loaner and are going to continue to drive the car to try and reproduce the issue.

It's a tuff one, no codes related to dying, car runs good, but could die and any time and kill you, so I'm glad they're not jerking him around.

My daughter has a VW Beetle, and it does the same thing. It's only happened 3-4 times in the past 2yrs, but it's enough to worry me. From what I've read, it's pretty common. Many claim it's an issue with the fuel pump, others claim it's the crank position sensor (http://www.mjmautohaus.com/catalog/p...oducts_id=1367).

The few times it has happened to us, I noticed the fuel was low. It's never happened when my fuel tank was over 1/4 full.

Have you done a VCDS scan to see if there are any problems detected?

Make it a big deal of it. Threaten you gonna go public and local newspapers help if they don't resolve it. Reputation is everything . Btw, maybe contact your lender too? I am sure they don't want to finance your lemon

It's my friend's car, but I agree, if they balk on anything he should go ballistic and make a big stink.

I can't think of a more dangerous thing to happen than a car that could die anytime.

It sucks, because his last car he got screwed over buying from a used car lot. He went to the dealership saying he was most concerned about buying a safe car for himself and his GF, and what does he get?

They gave him the whole schmeil, 150 point inspection and all. I hope they find the issue and fix it.

Not necessarily.

OP, is it a MK4 or a MK5? They had both that year

Lemon Law applies to used vehicles in a limited fashion for California.

http://oag.ca.gov/consumers/general/lemon


So if the dealership had any implied warranty then get a lawyer and start pursuing compensation. If the vehicle was explicitly sold 'as-is' then you're up the creek, find a good local mechanic who specializes in VW or Euro cars.

Edit: Sounds like the dealership labeled this car as some sort of 'certified pre-owned' they're totally on the hook assuming he's within some kind of period described by their program.