Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

About 10 months ago we bought a Zafira - at the time we had a big debate, do we buy from a dealership or save a few hundred quid and go private. Wind forward to today and one piston smashes its way through the block !

Result = catastrophic engine failure requiring one new engine at £4000. Found out today all covered by Network Q warranty ! I know all these dealerships get a tough ride in general, but fair play to Vauxhall. No quibble, no hassle and one new engine about to be installed.

Sometimes it pays to go to these guys !

Purpose of the post? I dont really know. Purely for general discussion as per the forum title !

Well I wouldnt be praising Vauxhall if their engine had just blown up on me! You were lucky you had the warranty.How long is the warranty on the replacement engine?

I bought a 2nd hand Audi A6 114,000 mls Non Main Dealer Should have gone the main dealer route :-
It did have an RAC (Reject All Claims) warranty but :-
1) Leaking Steering rack - replaced by Shi....r dealer - took 2 weeks, damaged the Wing and it leaked again after a few days
(Took it to Lincoln main dealer fixed in a Day £££ no problems for next 7 years to 245,000mls)
2) Thought Better have cam belt changed as couldn't trace last change - Turned out the engine had dropped a valve at 22,000mls & a bodge job was done meanwhile Shi..r dealer had changed hands! sorry none of our business mate!
Main dealer fixed it but needed 5 pairs of cam followers (£500+) Camshaft etc...£2k+ (ouch)
this would have been covered by the Main dealer warranty, but obviously wasn't by RAC

So My new Volvo (hope it's as reliable as the 944Turbo has been) is from a main Dealer, I would be very reluctant to go elsewhere

(Although did have a bad experience with a VW Main Dealer (Stork or something like that! - also did Audis) when the cam belt needed changing again, after they had done it it slipped a tooth the next morning on way past their garage, fortunately no damage - they FIXED it but after travelling 200 miles to Cardiff I found a socket wrench, Cambelt cover and retaining bolt in the rear tray under the bonnet. What a load of ....

Is it all worth it I wonder

I had new a Rover 420Gsi company car back in '94, main dealer serviced and at 48k and 12 months old I complained about pinking, they replaced the head saying the there was a manufacturing problem with a batch of heads and mine fell between this batch. A month later and now out of warranty I complained of excess oil consumption (250 miles per litre whereas previously it had been about 6k miles per litre) and Rover put a brand new engine in without any pressure which then ran another 100k miles

I think its more the point that they will do something about it - all engines can go bang ! Just read up on any 996 Forum

Or of course Alfa

I take the daily driver to the main dealer. Moved from Peugeot to Vauxhall as the garage is nearer, same company though. I've just ordered a new Insignia, old one was dirty, and the main dealer is always good at making sure the car is right. The insignia I have went through a set of pads and discs inside 12 months. Network Q garage said it was fault with the break system ( no handbrake, just a button ) and replaced everything under warranty.

Well its a long time since I had a new car but I dont remember ever having anything sorted under warranty.Must have been lucky I guess! Our ARO,Dean bought a 996 turbo which had just had a new engine put in even though it had only done about 30000 .So when you have a new engine fitted under warranty does the warranty start again or is the replacement engine just covered until the original warranty runs out?

I think Porsche give you 2 years on an engine replaced under warranty? I might have dreamt that though as I don't yet have a 996.