Car dealer liability - Free legal advice

Questioner

In June 2011 I bought a Grand Vitara from September 2005 from a Suzuki dealer. A beautiful Suzuki with few kilometers, so with the assumption that I could enjoy it for years to come. I drove without any problems for 4 years ……. In June 2015 I drove to the dealer again for the annual maintenance. Because yes, you want your car to be in good hands and be sure of good maintenance. Unfortunately, a month later I was stuck with the car and could no longer go forward or backward. No malfunction light had come on and so I was not warned that something was wrong. The Suzuki mobility service towed the car to the nearest Suzuki dealer in the area. After investigation it turned out, to their surprise and also to mine, that an ignition coil had completely melted/exploded. They had never experienced this before. This is the result of an outdated, malfunctioning spark plug/cable, causing the car to run on 3 legs and the ignition coil to become too hot. In any case, they had to replace everything, 2 coils, cables and spark plugs, cost €539- I should now be able to drive again without any problems, however... until now! Now there appears to be consequential damage. Both catalytic converters are full of chunks. This is the result of the previous damage to the coil. I am now again faced with repair costs of over €1300,- And all this because of an outdated/not properly working spark plug/cable. I have the car serviced at a Suzuki dealer because you assume that this is done properly. Now I am left with damage of almost €1900,- because something was clearly overlooked. According to the dealer where the car was towed, there must have been signs visible during the maintenance. To be clear, this is a different dealer because my dealer was too far away to tow the car. Can I hold the Suzuki dealer where I bought the car and have had it serviced for a number of years liable for this?

Lawyer

You can hold the dealer where you bought the car liable. If it has been established that the damage was caused by poor maintenance or defectiveness of the car, then there is a chance of success. The problem that arose also depends on the condition, year of manufacture and price of the car. The question is whether the garage could have discovered the problem during maintenance or whether this is due to old age/technical problem. Based on your story, the garage should have noticed the outdated spark plug cable/non-working cable during such a maintenance service. Now that the last dealer confirms that this was indeed due to that cable, you can hold the first dealer liable for this. Experience shows that a letter from a lawyer produces better and faster results to get the matter back on track. For this or for more information, please contact me directly and free of charge.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. I am now in negotiations with the dealer. If this does not yield any results, I will gladly contact you.