Liability for refusal of warranty repairs. Refusal of warranty repairs: myths and reality

When producing or selling products, the manufacturer (seller) establishes special period, during which they are responsible for the quality of the product and carry out free repairs. This period is called the warranty period.

The Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” states that free repairs are guaranteed only if malfunctions arose due to the fault of the manufacturer.

When a car is found to have faults that were caused by its owner, we are not talking about repairs under warranty.

In what cases can they refuse to repair a vehicle that is under warranty?

Every consumer should know when they will be denied free repairs. Let's look at situations where a car owner is denied warranty repair work.

Violation by the car owner of the terms of vehicle maintenance at official dealers

Most often, dealers refuse warranty repairs exactly because of this reason. The fact is that they do not make a very large profit from selling cars.

We can say that the main source of their income is maintenance cars. The cost of this service is quite high.

But at the same time, official dealers are very well equipped. But the high cost of work does not attract car owners, and they try to contact service centers where the price of work is not so high.

Unofficial car repair shops offer their clients enough wide range quality services at an affordable price. Therefore, they do not feel a shortage of clients.

Important! If there is any damage to your car, there will be a charge for repairs at an unofficial service station.

Despite the fact that the warranty period for cars is set directly by the manufacturer, they do not have the technical ability to carry out warranty repairs.

That's why they enter into agreements with dealers, transferring their powers to them. In accordance with these agreements, repairs are carried out by official dealers, but the manufacturer pays for the work.

That is why the owner of a new car should contact authorized organizations for warranty repairs.

But not everything in this situation is so simple. It is clear that dealers who make money from car maintenance are absolutely dissatisfied with the fact that a car under warranty is serviced in unofficial car repair shops, and they turn to them for warranty repairs.

In accordance with the provisions of the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights,” vehicles whose malfunctions arose due to the fault of the manufacturer are accepted for warranty repairs.

But if the opposite is discovered or it becomes clear that the operation of the car was affected by third parties, warranty repairs will be denied.

It is these provisions of the Law that the dealer points to when he does not accept the car for free repairs.

That is, he specifically states that servicing at unofficial bus stations means that the car owner completely loses the right to warranty service.

Note! To refuse a client, the dealer must have in hand the results of the examination, which confirm the occurrence of problems due to the intervention of specialists from unofficial car services.

If such an examination was not carried out, and the dealer proves your “guilt” unfoundedly, his actions will be illegal, in fact, like the refusal to repair itself.

It was installed on the car optional equipment at unofficial service stations

The position of official dealers in this situation is this: if you did not install additional equipment from them, but used the services of another car service center, then the repairs will be performed for you there.

It is clear that the dealer could have earned some money by installing the same music center or alarm system, but you did not provide him with such an opportunity. And their prices for such a service are too high, as well as for the maintenance itself.

Note! As in previous case, refusal without a preliminary examination will be illegal.

Let's look at the following example. You installed an alarm system on your car from an unofficial technician. As a result of this action, some electronic unit in your car has broken down. In this situation, refusal of warranty repairs will be completely legal, but only after an examination.

But if the malfunction did arise due to the fault of the manufacturer, the fact that the alarm installation was not carried out by an official dealer, but by an outside specialist, will not be taken into account. The machine will be repaired under warranty.

Using low-quality fuel to refuel a car

Very often, car owners hear a refusal in response to a request for warranty repairs due to the fact that the owner used low-quality gasoline or other fuel to refuel the car.

Of course, it is quite understandable that the quality of gasoline sometimes leaves much to be desired, but the dealer will still have to prove that he is right. Expertise in in this case cannot be avoided, just as in previous cases.

Unfortunately, dealers can resort to rather cunning schemes in order not to repair the car under warranty, so there may even be manipulation of the conclusions of the expert commission.

Therefore, listen to our advice. When you hand your car over to a car service center for repairs, ask that the gasoline remaining in the tank be drained into several separate containers, and the tank itself be sealed.

Important! You should keep one container of gasoline. Thus, you will draw the dealer’s attention to your awareness of the presence of such unpleasant frauds, and if such a need arises, you will be able to prove that the examination results were falsified.

If the gasoline really turns out to be of poor quality, and experts prove that the breakdowns occurred precisely for this reason, you will not receive warranty repairs.

In this situation, you should slightly disturb the gas station where you were served. We'll tell you how to do this next time.

The machine was not used for its intended purpose.

Refusal of warranty repairs due to violation of vehicle operation rules is also quite common.

Let's say you want to become a participant in sports racing. Regular car is unlikely to withstand loads that are designed for special vehicles.

The result is vehicle breakdown. Keep in mind that in this case you will definitely not get free repairs. Although here, too, the refusal should be based on the results of the examination.

Malfunctions that arose as a result of a traffic accident or as a result of exposure natural Disasters, also cannot be repaired free of charge.

From all of the above, we can conclude that there are enough reasons for refusing warranty repairs. And if such a situation arose with you, demand a refusal in writing.

Having such a document in hand and being confident that you are right, you should initiate additional independent examination.

What to do if you receive a refusal to carry out repairs under a car warranty service agreement?

Being confident that you are right, do not sit idly by. Use everything possible ways in order to force the contractor to accept your car for warranty repairs. There are many such methods, although they may not all be very effective. But it's still worth a try.

Discard the threat immediately as a way to achieve the desired result. It is unrealistic to fight with lawyers, who, by the way, are in every service center. What else will you get? administrative punishment for such actions.

Important! All your attempts to change the service center’s decision must be legal.

IN difficult situations when you feel like you're not enough own strength, confidence, and especially knowledge, seek help from specialists.

What actions can be taken to achieve the desired result:

• Send a letter (written on plain paper) to the head office of the car sales company and state the essence of your problem and requirements;
• Send a complaint to the manufacturer, explain the essence of the problem, the actions of the dealer and your request to influence him, as well as accept the car for warranty repairs;
• Call the dealer and warn him of your intentions to go to court, referring to the articles of the Law;
• If there is no response to the above actions, file a statement of claim with the court. Important! To file a claim, it is better to contact specialists. Competent claim - more hope to his satisfaction;

• Visit court hearing, it is important to have a lawyer.

Going to court is considered a last resort in resolving a controversial situation that has arisen between a consumer and a dealer.

Often, a dealer, refusing warranty repairs, immediately removes the car from warranty. By a court decision, such an action by the defendant may be regarded as illegal, and the court will require the restoration of the warranty period. In addition, if the truth is on your side, your car will be repaired free of charge.

Unfortunately, to say that similar decisions the court accepts a lot, it is impossible. In most cases, the dealers win. Consumers whose interests were not protected by the court will not only have their car repaired at their own expense, but will also have additional expenses for payment of legal costs.

Therefore, it is worth carefully weighing the pros and cons before suing a large dealer company.

Situations when you should not count on warranty repairs.

From the practice of applying for warranty repairs, cases were identified in which it is not even worth spending your energy on contacting service centers for free repairs, contacting manufacturers, writing letters, complaints or filing a lawsuit.

Even if you are absolutely sure that you are right, do not think that all other authorities will agree with your opinion. The court needs strong documentary evidence, not your deep confidence.

Let's consider situations when you will be denied warranty repairs:

• Mechanical impact on the car as a result of a traffic accident;
• Operation of the vehicle that does not comply with the rules, resulting in certain problems;
• The warranty period has ended. In this situation, renewal of the warranty period is impossible, and repairs can only be paid;
• If you installed additional equipment yourself, the official dealer will refuse you free repairs and will also remove the car from warranty service.

Profit is the main goal not only of the manufacturer, but also of its authorized organizations, service centers and dealers. In this regard, all activities of these companies will be aimed at generating additional profit.

So if the dealer doesn't see material benefit in one case or another, he will try not to mess with him. Moreover, if he feels the invisible support of the manufacturer himself.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the methods we describe will help you achieve your goal. It all depends on specific situation.

Therefore, before achieving your goal, make sure that you are right, otherwise such attempts will threaten you with additional costs.

Sample of a claim drawn up in such cases

• The claim is drawn up in two copies and sent to service center;
• Prepare a package of documents required as evidence of certain actions;
• In the statement, describe the main essence of your problem;
• Make a list of your basic requirements;
• Submit one copy of the claim and copies of all collected documents to the authorized service center;
• Keep the second copy, with the mark of the person who accepted your claim;
• In addition to the mark, the document must contain the date of receipt of the complaint, personal data and position of the person who accepted the complaint. It must also specifically state that your claim has been accepted.

According to Art. 18, art. 20 and Art. 23 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, the buyer has the right to contact the seller (dealer, manufacturer) with a request for warranty repairs.

An illegal refusal may threaten the car dealership with administrative penalties.

Having been refused warranty repairs, the car owner can file a complaint due to the fact that his consumer rights have been violated. The Contractor cannot cite the lack of necessary spare parts, components, etc. as grounds for refusal.

If the car owner’s application is not considered within the period established by law (one and a half months), the client has the right to demand a refund Money spent on purchasing a car that they refuse to repair under warranty.

Interaction with some companies in Russia is simply impossible due to the lack of normal regulatory legislative framework. It should be noted that car dealers today feel very confident in the market of our country. They freely raise the prices of their cars in national currency, tie the cost of repairs to the dollar or euro, refuse without good reasons in warranty car repairs. And if you can somehow put up with the first points, then the latter are the real problems of the modern motorist. In particular, warranty repairs have long become a legend that everyone knows about, but in reality almost no one uses. Car repairs under warranty will be performed only if this process will be beneficial directly to the dealer or service specialists. It’s time to start fighting this problem with all available legal methods.

There are several options and opportunities to force the dealer to undertake warranty repairs of the car. But they all require you to know the laws, since you will have to act from this particular authority. It should be noted that in Russia the laws on warranty service quite complex, which clearly does not improve the situation in the automotive market. Most dealers take advantage of legal loopholes to find the necessary opportunities to refuse a customer. If the client, in turn, wants to legally prove to the dealer that repairs are necessary, a conflict may arise that will be considered up to courts. So you can go quite far on principles.

In what cases can the dealer refuse warranty repairs?

All automobile warranty contracts today contain an incorrect definition of warranty. A car warranty means the assurance of the manufacturer and the dealer, as its representative, that during certain period(3 or 5 years) the car will meet all the parameters specified in the specifications. If any problems arise in the operation of the vehicle, the dealer undertakes to fix the problem free of charge. But only if the client’s actions did not lead to breakdowns. That is, the dealer has a whole bunch of reasons that will allow him to refuse warranty repairs:

• it can be proven that the breakdown occurred due to the fact that the owner constantly operated the car, and if he had not, the warranty would have been honored;
• Almost all problems occur not through the fault of the manufacturer, but through the fault of the owner of the car, and this can easily be proven by putting technical expertise at a certain angle;
• Certain inconsistencies may also be associated with the warranty period - for example, a car was produced in 2014, and purchased in 2016 - the dealer may well state in the warranty that the period is counted from the moment of release;
• Some problems are not covered by the warranty a priori, and this is stated in the contract that you will sign with the dealer at the time of purchasing the car;
• any mechanical damage, consequences of accidents and other troubles will be a fairly simple reason to refuse warranty repairs, since such problems are not covered by the warranty.

Not only that, but the dealer can easily void your car's warranty if you're involved in an accident. It is believed that after an accident, components and assemblies may fail, and this is not the manufacturer’s fault. However, some points warranty agreement are actually quite reasonable, because otherwise some car owners would not leave dealership service stations. But it seems to us that modern treaties are too biased in favor of sellers and do not take into account many of the characteristics and requirements of buyers. However, for now the contracts are standard and cannot be changed at the time of purchasing the car.

We put pressure on the dealer and get warranty repairs

There are several ways you can put pressure on a company to accept your car for repairs. These methods are quite old, but they work relatively well. Let’s say right away that there is no point in scaring the employees of a service center or dealer office; they have savvy lawyers who will also sue you for threats if desired. So you need to act quite calmly, with an awareness of the legality of your demands. If it comes to litigation, it makes sense to involve good lawyer. Among the opportunities to put pressure on the dealer and force him to perform warranty repairs, it is worth highlighting the following actions:

• letter to on paper to the main office of the dealership company, which is responsible for promoting the brand in the country, explaining the reasons and asking them to take action;
• a letter to the manufacturer with specific and specific complaints against the dealer with a request to influence the latter and carry out high-quality warranty repairs of the car;
• a call to the dealer and a message that if measures are not taken for warranty repairs, you are going to court with a claim under such and such articles and with such and such requirements;
• if there is no response to all of the above processes, filing a lawsuit against the dealership company (the claim must be correctly drafted by professional lawyers);
• a court hearing, preferably in the presence of a good lawyer, which will significantly increase your chances of receiving warranty repairs and other benefits of working with the dealer.

Going to court often occurs when all available methods of influencing the company have already been tried. The dealer could already simply remove your car from warranty for certain reasons. In this case, the court may order the return warranty conditions for the car and carry out repairs with the restoration of all necessary parts. However, there are not many such precedents. In most of these cases, dealers win, and motorists are left without repairs, as well as with certain costs for a lawyer and other court expenses. So think three times before going to court with a powerful and large company.

Cases in which it is useless to wait for dealer warranty repairs

There is a certain list of situations in which there is no point in even contacting the dealer with a request for repair work. Despite this, many motorists contact the manufacturer, write letters and even spend a lot of money in court, but do not win their cases. Your personal confidence that you are completely right is one of the not very important for judicial system evidence, so you should be careful about this idea. Among the features that clearly exclude warranty repairs are the following situations:

• the breakdown occurred due to mechanical damage certain parts of the car, the car was in an accident, after which it began to show problems;
• the problem arose due to incorrect handling of the vehicle controls, failure to comply with the vehicle operating rules specified in the instructions;
• the car is removed from warranty due to the end of the warranty period; if a request for repair is received within this period, only paid repairs are possible;
• the car was equipped by certain means, which is excluded by the terms of the warranty, your car will immediately be removed from warranty service and transferred to the category of paying customers.

Service centers and official dealer stations do everything to save potential profits and gain certain benefits from their activities. And many manufacturers encourage this system of work. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether you will be able to get the desired result even using all legal methods. The only thing we can say with certainty is that we will fight to provide warranty services It makes sense only if you are confident that you are right. Otherwise, you will spend a lot of money and time on carrying out all necessary procedures, but you still won’t get the desired result. We invite you to watch a video with a report about the lawlessness of the service center in the case of warranty repairs:

Let's sum it up

There are many options for denial of dealer warranty repairs, so do not immediately expect that problems with your car will be repaired for free. It's worth getting used to the fact that vehicles are quite complex object warranty, this product costs too much money, and its repair and restoration sometimes forces dealerships and manufacturers to spend a lot of money instead of making the desired profit. So the system dealer centers It is quite understandable to resist the established rules in the market.

However, you can quite easily prove your case if it is supported by legal grounds. The dealer is unlikely to be able to win against you in court, in which all the legal advantages are turned in your direction. Most likely, such a trial will end with the company being obliged to repair your car. Of course, to replace any seal, this whole process does not make sense. But a complete replacement of an engine or gearbox in a modern car is simply unrealistically expensive. Have you ever argued with a dealer about warranty repairs?

In addition, the manufacturer is not responsible warranty obligations, if the product was opened and/or repaired by persons who were not authorized to do so official permission(authorization) of the manufacturer. Therefore, before submitting the product for repair, make sure that the service center is authorized. A list of such service centers can be found in the warranty card, on the official website of the manufacturer, and can also be found out by calling hotline. Since the warranty only covers defects due to manufacturing defects, a product that does not have design defects and whose defect only appears when used is not subject to warranty service. certain conditions(for example, a mobile phone does not catch the network in a particular locality). The circumstances listed above are grounds for refusal of warranty service for almost any product.

Refusal of warranty repair: what to do?

In addition, the organization carrying out the repair provides information in writing about the date of application for warranty repairs, the date of correction of defects, spare parts (or materials) used for repairs, and the date of delivery of the serviceable product to the consumer. However, there are situations when the consumer, instead of a serviceable product, is denied warranty repairs. The wording of the reasons for the refusal may be as follows: “removed from warranty due to violation of operating conditions,” “refusal of warranty repair due to detection of traces of mechanical damage.”
To prove that he is right, the consumer should study the Consumer Protection Law, the text of which does not contain the wording “remove the warranty.”

Step-by-step instructions: refusal of warranty repair

In accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 18 of the Law, if you disagree with the service center’s refusal to provide warranty repairs during a quality check, within warranty period the consumer must contact the seller with a request for an examination to establish the cause of the defect, filling out the request in writing. The seller is obliged to conduct an examination at his own expense, the consumer has the right to be present during the examination of the goods and, if he disagrees with its results, challenge the conclusion of such examination in judicial procedure. According to clause 6 of Article 18 of the Law, the seller is responsible for defects in the goods discovered within the established warranty period, unless he proves that they arose as a result of violation of the operating rules.

consumer actions in case of refusal of warranty repair of a product

In case of a dispute about the reasons for the occurrence of defects in the goods, the seller (manufacturer), authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, the importer is obliged to conduct an examination of the goods at his own expense,” and you have the right to be present during its conduct. “The consumer has the right to be present during the examination of the goods and, in case of disagreement with its results, to challenge the conclusion of such examination in court.” In general, to restore your right, conducting the examination in this moment not necessarily, but if necessary, the court itself will order its implementation. As can be seen from the text of the law, the examination of goods is carried out at the expense of the organization to which you addressed your requirements, in our case this is the ASC. It also follows from the text that if you do not agree with the results of the examination, then you can appeal it in court.

What to do if warranty repair is denied

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• Consumer rights Protection
The power tool is broken. I took it to a service center under warranty. A few days later they called from the center and said that warranty repairs were denied. I asked to indicate the reason for the refusal. They said that the operating rules were violated.
I asked them official act inspection. They emailed me an inspection report that described the problem and decided that warranty repair was denied. There are no explanations of the reasons for the refusal, how they determined that the operating rules were violated! I ask you to advise me on the legality of the s/c’s decision to refuse me warranty repairs.

Product repair under warranty

Article 18, clause 6 of the Law of the Russian Federation “In relation to goods for which a warranty period has been established, the seller (manufacturer), an authorized organization or an authorized individual entrepreneur, the importer is responsible for defects in the goods, unless he proves that they arose after the transfer of the goods to the consumer as a result of a violation by the consumer rules for the use, storage or transportation of goods, actions of third parties or force majeure.” What to do next? You need to carefully study the conclusion of this act. In most cases, the issued conclusions reveal or confirm only the cause of the malfunction, and not who caused the malfunction (manufacturer, seller, service center or consumer). Do not panic because, for example, during the inspection, the service center found traces of liquid ingress in your device, if the time of its entry into the device is not established.

Actions of the consumer in case of refusal of warranty repair of the phone

Attention

But keep in mind that in court the defendant can challenge it, and the court, as I said above, can order a forensics, the conclusion of which will mainly affect the decision made by the court. To summarize, we note that, ultimately, if you want to restore your right to gratuitous elimination of deficiencies, you will need to go to court. If the ASC decided to refuse to satisfy your demands in this way, then most likely he will not agree to make peace with you and will defend his point of view to the end. Now let’s consider the option when you presented your demand for free elimination of defects to the seller, and received the same refusal to satisfy them as in the case of ASC.

Refusal of warranty repair due to violation of operating rules

Buyer mobile phone, who has discovered a malfunction or defect in the device, can, using the warranty card in hand after purchase, immediately come to a representative of the manufacturer to receive a working phone or free warranty repair in return. You should contact the manufacturer's store or authorized service center (ASC). Today we will give step by step instructions in case of refusal of warranty repair of the phone.

It should be? The ASC carefully checks whether the warranty card is filled out correctly, checks the phone itself with its documents, and only after that accepts it for repair. The buyer is given a certificate indicating the faults, describing the phone itself, as well as the period for warranty repairs.

On the legality of an authorized service center refusing warranty repairs

Only such an act (in some cases it may be called an expert opinion) can be evidence that the consumer himself is to blame for the resulting shortcomings and on the basis of which the consumer may be denied satisfaction of his requirements. If such an act, or any other similar document will not be provided to you, and the refusal of warranty service will be issued without explanation, then according to Article 18, paragraph 6, it will not be proven that you are the culprit of the malfunction, and, therefore, the service center, as an authorized organization, continues to be responsible for the defects of the product .

In what cases can repairs under warranty be refused?

Within the time limits specified in the acceptance documents, but not exceeding those established by Article 20 of the Law of the Russian Federation, serviceable equipment is issued to the consumer. At the same time, a happy consumer does not always pay attention to the fact that, along with good product, an organization that performs free elimination of defects, is obliged, in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 3 of this law, to provide the consumer with information in writing: about the date of the consumer’s request to eliminate the defects discovered by him in the goods, about the date of transfer of the goods by the consumer to eliminate the defects of the goods, about the date of elimination of the defects of the goods with their description, the spare parts used (parts, materials) and the date of delivery of the goods to the consumer upon completion of the elimination of the defects of the goods. But there are cases when, instead of a repaired product, the consumer receives a refusal to satisfy him, as it seems to him, legal requirements, i.e.

Grounds for refusal of warranty repairs

An examination should be required at the expense of the seller or ASC in the presence of the buyer.

• If the buyer believes that the examination report is not true, then the examination can be appealed in court.
• Sellers who refuse to accept a phone for warranty repairs, as a rule, do not provide certificates of work performed and conclusions independent experts, but the buyer has the right to demand such. Most often, the examination is carried out by the same ASC.
• In the event that the examination certifies the validity of the actions of the seller who refused free warranty repairs to the buyer of a mobile phone, the buyer is obliged in accordance with clause 5 of Art. 18 ZPPP to compensate the store for the examination costs.
• Further defense of your position is possible in court.

Refusal to repair a car under warranty is a refusal to satisfy a claim, or the seller, dealer, or manufacturer ignores the car owner’s request to eliminate a defect in the car under warranty. Refusal to carry out repairs under warranty can be expressed either in a written refusal or in orally, or that your request for warranty repairs of the car is not satisfied in statutory term.

Nikita Kharitonov tells what to do if warranty repairs are denied

In fact, every time a car owner contacts a dealer with a breakdown during the warranty period, there are two possible scenarios:

• or repair of the defect under warranty, that is, free of charge for the car owner
• or a refusal to provide warranty repairs to the car, that is, in fact, any situation in which, after the car owner applied for warranty repairs, such repairs were not carried out.

Pay attention to how to properly contact the dealer if a defect is discovered in the car, so that there are no problems later and you can protect your rights in case of their violation.

Refusal to carry out warranty repairs is not a disaster or the “end of the world”. And this does not mean at all that now you will have to repair the car at your own expense, which, of course, the dealer really counts on.

First, you need to understand that it is part of your vehicle's manufacturer's policy to refuse free warranty repairs.

If dealerships satisfied the demands of all owners of cars under warranty for free repairs, manufacturers would suffer colossal losses. Indeed, according to statistics, only 1-3 car owners out of 10 who were refused repairs under warranty take some action to force the dealer to repair the car for free.

That is why, in the event of a dealer refusal, you just need to perform a series of certain actions, after which either your car will be repaired or you will receive monetary compensation, covering repair costs.

Reasons for refusal of warranty car repairs

The reason for refusal of warranty repair of a car is the basis on which a dealer, car dealership, or manufacturer refuses to carry out free warranty repairs of a car to the car owner.

Reasons for refusal to carry out warranty repairs can be divided into two categories:

• legitimate reasons for refusing repairs
• illegal reasons for refusing repairs

According to the law, the reason for refusal of warranty repair of a car can only be established by conducting an independent examination of the fact that a defect in the car has occurred due to the car owner’s violation of the rules of operation, storage, transportation of the car, actions of third parties or force majeure.

Illegal reasons for refusal of warranty repair of a car are any other reasons besides the above.

For example, if the dealer, refusing to carry out repairs under warranty, refers to the fact that you operated the car incorrectly, but did not conduct an examination that established this, then this is also illegal reason refusal.

Cases of refusal of warranty repairs are different. And most frequent basis for refusing to repair a car under warranty is the absence of any basis whatsoever.

In fact, the dealer does not need any reason to refuse you, or simply delay warranty repairs. This is what happens, your demands are simply ignored without explanation, or under some incomprehensible pretext.

There are situations when a dealer, hinting that repairs under warranty will be refused, offers to “chip in” for repairs, that is, the car owner must compensate part of the repair costs from his own funds.

The logic is simple: a person, fearing a complete refusal of repairs, for example, for 150,000 rubles, thinks that it would be more profitable to pay half, but the repairs will definitely be carried out. And it seems like it’s not entirely at his expense.

In fact, the cost of repairs at a dealer station is usually several times more expensive than at any other certified station, so in fact it turns out that a person not only does not save anything, but also incurs real losses. Which, by the way, no one will reimburse him.

The most common reasons for refusal of warranty car repairs:

• violation of vehicle operating rules
• Carrying out repairs or maintenance of a vehicle other than at a dealership
• use of low quality fuels and lubricants(fuel, oil, etc.)
• repair of a failed component or assembly is an exception under the terms of the manufacturer’s warranty

At what point do you consider that you have been denied warranty repairs for your car?

From the point of view of consumer protection legislation and from the point of view of the consumer himself, who by definition should not have any special knowledge in the field of automotive technology or jurisprudence, the fact of refusal of warranty repair of a car can be considered to have occurred in two cases.

• at the moment when you were somehow informed about such a refusal, for example, you were given written refusal with or without explanation of the reasons for the refusal, or simply any of authorized persons the dealership or the car seller verbally informed you of this decision.
• at a time when such a refusal did not occur, but the period established by law for warranty repairs of the car expired, while in fact no one started repairs. That is, they didn’t seem to refuse, but at the same time they didn’t do anything

Warranty car repair is the elimination by the seller, dealer, car manufacturer, at the expense of the car manufacturer, of defects of the car discovered by the consumer during the warranty period that arose for a reason that arose before the transfer of the car to the consumer

If any repairs at the manufacturer's expense are considered warranty repairs, then repairs by the manufacturer can also be considered warranty repairs. significant shortcomings goods discovered after the expiration of the established warranty period, but within the service life of the vehicle.

In the minds of most people there is a belief that refusal to satisfy your legal requirements, in particular, about the elimination of car defects, can be considered to have taken place only after you have received a “refusal” or a Certificate of Refusal for Warranty Repairs in response to your claim.

Therefore, very often, car owners demand that the dealer give them this very “written refusal” or an act of refusal to provide warranty repairs to the car, believing that only after receiving it will some legal consequences arise significant consequences or that you can go to court only after receiving such a “refusal”. This is wrong.

But what to do then, if, for example, you turned to the dealer about a defect in your car, the car is at the dealer, but you objectively don’t know what’s happening to it there.

According to the warranty engineers, repairs are being made, spare parts are on the way, and similar arguments. That is, it seems that you were not refused to have your car repaired under warranty, but at the same time, the repair itself never happens.

Therefore, you need to clearly understand and separate such concepts as refusal of warranty car repairs and violation of the warranty period for car repairs and understand legal consequences, which these two facts entail.

A common misconception is that car owners wait 45 days for car warranty repairs and consider the period to be violated only after expiration given period. It is not right. More precisely, it is not always correct.

By law, vehicle defects must be corrected immediately, that is, minimum term, objectively necessary to eliminate the deficiency, taking into account the commonly used method. As a rule, this period does not exceed several days even for the most complex repairs.

The delivery period of spare parts necessary for warranty repairs is not taken into account when determining the period required for repairs, which means that the warranty repair period begins to run not from the moment the spare parts arrive at the dealer, but from the moment you contact him with a repair request car under warranty.

Procedure in case of refusal of warranty repair of a car

In general, the procedure is as follows:

1. Show the available documents to a lawyer to assess the situation.
2. Examination technical side question about the reasons for the car's defects. Drawing up an expert inspection report.
3. If necessary, prepare a claim to the dealer for refusal of warranty repairs.
4. Preparation and submission of documents to the court.
5. Trial, during which, as a rule, the main stated requirement changes from a requirement for warranty repairs to a requirement for a refund for the car.

The first thing to do is to correctly assess the legality of the refusal. There are situations when misunderstanding of some legal aspects prevents the car owner from acting correctly. These are situations when “both are right” - both the car owner and the dealer.

The legislation on the protection of consumer rights clearly defines the algorithm of actions of both the consumer and the dealer in the event that the former contacts the latter with a requirement to repair the car under warranty.

In 99% of cases, this algorithm is violated, but, as a rule, it is the car owner who suffers from this, since the dealer is familiar with this algorithm and is aware of the consequences of its violation, for example, not conducting an independent examination to determine the causes of the car’s defect, and the car owner he doesn’t even know.

When you are denied warranty repairs, there are two aspects that need to be checked: technical and legal.

• Technical. To clearly understand whether there is a defect in the car and what are the objective reasons for its occurrence.
• Legal. To provide yourself with the necessary evidence for the future and oblige the dealer to carry out warranty repairs or even return the car with the defect and get money for it.

The point is that there are a lot of aspects to these cases that need to be taken into account, but nothing is written about in the law.

You need to be aware that for you, a controversial situation with a dealer may happen only once during the entire warranty period, but for a dealer, dealing with such requests is an everyday activity.

As you understand, dealers, or more precisely, the manufacturer, are not interested in paying for the repair of your car at their own expense, even if the defect arose through his fault.

Therefore, the policies of dealers and their actions when you contact them have already been clearly worked out and verified, starting with placing an order. Or starting from its lack of registration. This also happens often.

Therefore, the most the right advice For a person who has been denied a car repair under warranty, it will be necessary to consult with specialists from the consumer protection society who have experience in resolving such issues.

Further actions depend on what stage of communication with the dealer you are currently at and what evidence base you have the documents so that you can influence the dealer.

Claim for refusal of warranty repair of a car

A claim is a requirement to eliminate the violation of an obligation committed by the dealer or seller of the car. That is, in other words, the dealer was obliged by law or contract to do something, but did not do it, and now you are writing a complaint to him about this and demanding that the violation be eliminated

In relation to the situation with warranty repairs: the dealer has an obligation, if you contact him with a warranty deficiency, to carry out free repairs.

If for some reason the dealer does not carry out such repairs, or refuses to carry them out, the question arises: it seems like the dealer needs to file a claim, but what do you demand in it?

After all, you have already contacted him with a problem with your car, and he should have already eliminated this defect. It turns out that in the claim you need to demand that the defect be eliminated again, that is, demand the same thing a second time from the dealer who already refused you the first time.

It is clear that nothing has changed since your first request and the dealer’s decision regarding your deficiency will be the same as the first time. Then what's the point of writing a complaint?

It is naive to believe that if for the first time you were refused repairs under warranty, then after drawing up “ competent claim» with references to legal norms and threatening to go to court, the dealer will get scared and rush to repair your car.

In controversial situations involving warranty repairs or refusal to carry them out, we usually understand the warranty claim to the dealer as the requirement to eliminate the defect free of charge, i.e. about car warranty repairs.

Such a requirement can be expressed in a work order, in a statement, or even verbally. Therefore, in case of refusal of warranty repair the main objective filing a claim with the dealer is to provide yourself with proof of your appeal to the dealer with a request for repairs.

What matters here is the date of application - so that the claim is made within the warranty period established for the car, and the demand itself must be clearly expressed - to eliminate a specific defect of the car free of charge.

In order to understand whether you need to write a claim to the dealer in case of refusal to carry out warranty repairs, you need to check several circumstances:

• Do you have proof of contacting the dealer with a request to eliminate the detected defect under warranty?
• if there is one, then you need to check the presence of dealer powers of the person (company) to whom you addressed your demand, or in whose name the purchase order was issued (often when contacting a dealer station, documents are specially drawn up in the name of the “left” company so as not to incur any future liability to you in the event of a repair failure or other dispute)
• whether the fact that the dealer received your claim or the fact that the claim was properly sent is confirmed (if one of the station employees signed and dated the copy of your claim, this is not evidence)

These and some other circumstances are usually checked by our lawyers for one purpose only: to provide ourselves with evidence of a certain legal fact– the fact that you contacted the dealer with a request for repairs under warranty, so that this evidence could subsequently be used in court and win your case.

At this stage of your communication with the dealer, we advise you to contact the consumer society and seek advice on how to act correctly, because this stage, as our arbitrage practice, is decisive - the success of the entire business depends on the correctness of your actions at this moment.

That's why, main advice, which can be given to a car owner who is going to write a claim to the dealer - this is not to write it until the lawyer tells you to do this and tells you what should be reflected in it and when it should be sent.

It often happens that the car owner’s own writing of a claim or several claims later prevents us from building a position in court. Therefore it is better to free consultation consult a lawyer.

We'll look at how to file a claim for refusal of warranty car repairs below.

Sample complaint to the dealer for refusal to repair a car under warranty

Here you can familiarize yourself with a sample claim to the dealer in case of refusal to carry out warranty repairs on the car, as well as download a sample claim.

Please note that this is only general sample, which we present in order to have general idea about the claim form. But the content should change depending on the specific situation!

(specify the name, OGRN of the dealer)
From ______________________________
(indicate your full name)
Address:___________________________
(indicate the address for sending a response)
Tel.: ____________________________
(indicate phone number for contact)

CLAIM
for refusal to carry out warranty repairs

I am the owner of a car brand ____ model _____, VIN No. _________________________________.

The warranty period for the car is set by the manufacturer for 3 years or 100,000 km. mileage depending on which event occurs first.

At _____ km. mileage after 1 year and 3 months. During the warranty period, I discovered the following defects in the car, not specified by the seller: _______________________________________________.
(describe in detail the deficiency, how and under what conditions it manifests itself)

Due to the discovery of the specified defect in the car, I contacted your dealership with a request to repair the car.

After carrying out the diagnostics, the service station employee told me that this was not warranty case and offered to order spare parts for repairs at my expense.

Since I believe that the defect arose for reasons not related to my violation of operating rules or other reasons for which the manufacturer is not responsible, I hereby demand:

Carry out warranty repairs of the vehicle within the minimum period objectively necessary to eliminate the existing defect.

date
signature

What to do if there was no refusal of warranty repair, but the repair was not done?

"WITH legal point point of view, if the warranty repair of a car is not carried out by the dealer within the period established by law, this is equivalent to a refusal to carry out repairs,” this is the position taken by lawyers of the consumer rights protection society Consumer Alliance.

After all, the dealer, under various pretexts, can postpone the decision to carry out repairs indefinitely. For example, they will tell you that spare parts have been ordered to repair your car, and they are coming from Moscow, or from the country of the manufacturer, for example, England.

In this case, your request for warranty properly is not recorded, and if after a month or two problems arise with the repair, then legally it will turn out that you did not even contact the dealer and everything will have to start again.

It also happens that the dealer forces the car owner to sign an agreement under which the period of warranty repairs is extended by the period of delivery of the necessary spare parts. That is, it turns out that the warranty repair period does not begin to expire until the spare part arrives at the dealer.

This is illegal and such agreements to extend the repair period are declared invalid in court.

We had a case when a person contacted us who had been waiting for repairs for almost 8 months, and all this time the dealer had logical explanations for why the repairs were being delayed.

In such situations, without clearly understanding legal significance what's happening in currently, car owners can remain in this “limbo” for months, and only when they are completely tired of it do they begin to take some action.

Guided by own experience judicial work In such cases, specialists from the consumer rights protection society can easily determine by a number of signs whether in a given situation one should expect warranty repairs from the dealer or whether one should act differently.

As practice shows, if warranty repairs are not done in reasonable time frame If some problems start (no response from Moscow, spare parts are on the way, etc.), then, most likely, the dealer will no longer carry out warranty repairs voluntarily and you need to start taking action.

Therefore, in such a situation, when the dealer constantly asks you to wait for something, it is better to take certain actions and speed up this process.

When can a dealer actually refuse warranty repairs?

Legislation on the protection of consumer rights allows situations in which the dealer has the right to refuse to satisfy the car owner’s request for warranty repairs of the car.

A legal refusal to repair a car under warranty is a refusal to repair a car under warranty, which is based on the conclusion of an examination.

The entire procedure for the relationship between a car owner and a dealer, when the car owner has discovered a defect in the car and demands its elimination under warranty, is clearly defined by law.

So, if the car is under warranty, then the dealer has the right to refuse warranty repairs if, through an examination, he proves that the defect arose due to a reason for which he is not responsible, namely, due to the car owner’s violation of the rules for operating, storing or transporting the car, or the actions of third parties or force majeure.

It should be noted that the examination of a car is carried out according to the law only in the event of a dispute about the causes of the defects, that is, the presence of the defect itself at the time of the examination is already obvious and cannot be determined.

In what cases, at whose expense and how to properly examine a car, you can find out by clicking on the link: the procedure for conducting an independent examination of a car under warranty.

If a dealer, when refusing to carry out warranty repairs on your car, refers to the examination he conducted, this does not mean that such a refusal is legal.

As a rule, dealers have “their” experts who give opinions that are pleasing to the dealer, but the expert does not bear any responsibility under the law for such an opinion, so they are usually not taken seriously in court.

A dispute about the reasons for the occurrence of car defects is a situation when the car owner believes that the defect arose for reasons that arose before the seller handed over the car to him; roughly speaking, there is a manufacturing defect, i.e. the reasons for the defect discovered by him are, for example, some error in the design of the part or its design, assembly

If there is a dispute as to whether there is a defect in the car at all or not, this is the subject of a so-called car quality check.

In fact, everything happens completely differently. Expertise in most cases controversial situations not carried out by dealers at all. In the best case, the “examination” will be carried out by an expert friendly to the dealer, and it is clear whose side he will take.

How to challenge an unlawful refusal to provide warranty repairs

So, you have received a written refusal to repair your car under warranty, or the deadline for satisfying your repair request has passed, and the dealer is clearly not going to repair your car, or under various pretexts this question remains open.

What to do in such a situation? Where to start: write a claim, complain somewhere, conduct an independent examination or go to a lawyer.

General algorithm action should be like this:

consult a lawyer

lawyer preparing Required documents

the dealer carries out warranty repairs

you receive a penalty for violating the repair deadline

If you find yourself in a similar situation, then you probably also now feel a sense of uncertainty in your actions and do not know one hundred percent what your actions will lead to. the desired result, and which ones are not.

In order to understand the legality of refusal of warranty repairs, including the correctness of the examination carried out by the dealer, give legal assessment your situation, and also to understand what actions you need to take next, it is better to contact the consumer protection society and get advice from a specialist.

Even if you plan to solve this issue yourself, a couple of tips from people who solve such problems every day will certainly not be superfluous.

It should be said right away that if the refusal to carry out warranty repairs is recognized by lawyers as illegal and you do not intend to repair at your own expense warranty car, then in this case, it will be possible to challenge the dealer’s refusal to carry out repairs under warranty by filing an application in court.

This does not mean that you are putting yourself into a lengthy and expensive legal battle. In our practice, most of these cases end with the conclusion of a settlement agreement after filing an application with the court.

If the car dealership objectively understands that it refused you unlawfully, then there is no point in suing you, since by a court decision it will also be subject to a fine under the law on the protection of consumer rights.

The policy of car dealerships is usually that until the car owner, who was denied warranty repairs, has filed an application in court, he is not taken seriously. This happens because at the pre-trial stage you have no idea for the car dealership. real threat, and out of 10 car owners, at best, 1-2 go to court.

When the case is already in court, the dealer understands that one way or another, it will be considered by the court and the court's decision, most likely, will not be in his favor. Therefore, it is no longer possible to ignore the situation and it becomes more profitable to reach an agreement with the car owner and satisfy his demands now than by a court decision, when the amount of collection can be many times greater.

So, we received a dealer’s refusal to carry out warranty repairs or the resolution of the issue took more than a week ⇒ we consulted with a consumer society lawyer on how to proceed correctly ⇒ we got the result.

Judicial practice regarding refusals of warranty car repairs

Let's give an example of one of our court cases, when a dealer refused to repair a car under warranty to a car owner. You can find other similar cases in the Won Cases section on the website.

A car owner came to us with a problem when the dealer did not satisfy his request to repair the deficiencies he discovered in the suspension of a Chevrolet Cruze under warranty.

Our lawyers had to be fully involved in handling this case in district court St. Petersburg, since the dealer even after filing statement of claim the court continued to take the position that the manufacturer was not responsible for these shortcomings.