Should I demand a refund on my Mazda CX-30?

QUESTION

Hi John,

I am looking for some advice on the next best steps and the best way of progressing. I purchased a Mazda CX-30 two-litre in late March 2020.

The first service was early June, delayed by COVID, and after contact with Mazda, two days later a tapping noise was coming from the engine and a different smell from the exhaust after stopping (not a new car smell).

I left the car at Mazda service to investigate with Mazda Australia. After many calls and emails to Mazda to extract what was happening and what the problem was, I was told parts were required from Japan! I was surprised the required parts were not in Australia. They said it required O-ring/s, rocker gasket and valve lifter. I made more calls to Mazda Australia about how long the wait for parts would be, which they expected to be available mid-September 2020. To replace valve lifter/s is a high touch invasive task for a new engine, I presume. 

I am concerned about ongoing issues.
1. How do I approach getting my money back?
2. Getting a new replacement vehicle?
3. Quantifying and justifying compensation?

Thanks in anticipation,
Mike

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ANSWER

Hey Mike,

Seems like Mazda and the dealership is doing what they can to help you.

I’m going to break this down for you, and you might not like it, but the facts are the facts mate: CX-30 is pretty new, and the full spare parts inventory might not be established locally on launch - especially with the impact of COVID-19 on all kinds of production and logistics.

They probably make sure they have the more common spares onshore, but it is common for less commonly needed spares to have to be ordered from overseas. Or there might have been a spate of these failures owing to a production defect, and local (or even global) supplies of spares might have been quickly exhausted (I’m speculating).

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This is clearly not ideal. Nobody buys a new car and expects it to be off the road, but to qualify for a full refund or replacement, the car has to experience a "major failure” - which is not specifically defined in the legislation because it’s left for a court to determine.

If you roll the dice in court on this it’ll cost you a few thousand dollars and you might easily lose, meaning the court will say Mazda’s conduct is reasonable in the circumstances, and they’ll order Mazda to fix the problem ASAP, which is what they’re (already) trying to do for you now.

I disagree with you that replacing a valve lifter (or lifters) is especially invasive. They just take off the rocker cover and undo a couple of bolts. There’s no particular deep rebuilding required. There’s no reason to suspect the engine will not be as good as new afterwards.

It can’t be too serious; if it was serious the engine would have dropped a valve into the combustion chamber. That’s bad. You probably could make a claim against them for the cost of a rental car if they haven’t supplied you with a load car while yours is off the road - talk to your solicitor about that. But bear in mind compensation just covers what you’re out of pocket for - it’s not for making you feel less cranky. (Plus, I don’t think there’s a deep emotional suffering dimension to consumer law compensation matters).

In short, you’re jumping the gun on refund/replacement. You might expect reasonable out of pocket expenses to be covered. Mazda is about to be reamed out in Federal Court by the ACCC, so they’ll probably be receptive to cost-covering right now.

It’s unfortunate this has happened, but cars are complex machines with thousands of failure modes. It seems they are trying to do the right thing, and there is a pandemic. This is an actual thing. It has an impact. It’s having an impact on you, and the expeditiousness of your resolution.

I advise people in your situation that your frustration is certainly justifiable and appropriate, because you didn’t buy a new car for it to be off the road, but this frustration is not a reason to pull a knife in the phonebox and start slashing. Especially as you might lose if you do - goodwill at the dealership might evaporate and that’s not ideal.

They’re stuck in this supply-chain predicament as well. They’d probably fix it for you tomorrow if they could.

Please accept my best wishes for a speedy resolution. I know some of this is not what you wanted to hear, but I’m in a place where the facts matter more to me than appeasing people.

Sincerely,

John Cadogan

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