News & Features
Car Servicing Complaints Rising
Posted in General News on Friday, October 20th, 2023
The Motor Ombudsman accepted a total of 1,348 servicing complaints from motorists between July 1st and September 30th 2023. This is a rise of 10% from the 1,226 complaints recorded in the second quarter of 2023. Worryingly, the number of disputes received by Ombudsman in the third quarter of 2023 surpassed last year’s total by 9%.
Diesel cars accounted for more than half (52%) of all service and repair complaints in the third quarter of 2023. This was followed by petrol vehicles (40%), EVs (4%), and hybrids (4%).
Further analysis of the data shows that 51% of servicing and repair complaints were as a result of disputes in the ‘drivetrain’. Within this, the engine was responsible for 73% of these complaints, followed by the transmission (15%), and the fuel and exhaust systems (12%).
According to the Ombudsman, during the third quarter of 2023, the three most commonly requested resolutions from consumers to help bring their dispute to a close, were a free of charge repair (28%), followed by compensation (25%), and a full refund (22%).
Bill Fennell, Chief Ombudsman and Managing Director of The Motor Ombudsman, said: “This year has seen a notable uplift in the volume of contacts received from consumers, and the number of cases accepted with regards to a service or repair. With the rising costs to maintain and keep a car on the road, combined with other significant financial pressures on households, this is driving a greater likelihood to make a complaint. With the current trend showing no let-up in the volume of cases accepted by our service, we expect to receive in excess of 5,000 service and repair disputes by year-end, and as we look ahead to the coming months, 2024 is likely to follow a similar trend according to current projections.”
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Comments
Edmund Hobby
Wednesday, November, 1st, 2023
I am fortunate? in that I lease my car from Motability. I am waiting for a change of vehicle. BUT I have to say the servicing done by the Renault Dealer near Newquay has been excellent. They even do a video regarding the service. Reading in the respective Forums the one big moan is the electronics and the inabillity of garages to be able to cope PLUS very long waiting times for a fault to be investigated. It seems that 'technicians' are in short supply. No longer is as in my experience a long time ago where a good ear and knowledge of a vehicle and its foibles is sufficient. Cars are far too complicated now. I am hoping the new Peugeot is as reliable as the Renault has been. From what I read it is not surprising that complaint are on the increase. Unfortunately motorists tend to go to a dealer that sells the make of car they have. In fairness Manufacturers tend to insist on this as a condition of the Warranty. Certainly here the independant garages are excellent and a lot cheaper and reliable. I am not saying the main dealers are not just that I have read that up and down the country there seem to be more complaints about main dealers than others.