New clutch 13000 miles

[lewie]

Just took my daughters 71 plate corsa for a service and was informed the clutch pedal was right at the top of its travel - must admit I hadn’t noticed it
She bought it maybe 5 months ago from cazoo with 11500 on the clock
Vauxhall are suggesting £750 to disassemble- if it’s fault then it’s warranted but if it’s abuse they say around £1500
Apparently there is also air intake hose missing which I’ll need to source
According to the service history pdi on13/01/22 - serviced on 11/2/23 at 8700 miles and today at 13400
Caffyns said it had been serviced to spec
Thoughts for the collective

[awright101]

Seems strange but I guess if the previous owner had driven with the foot resting on the clutch it may have been “ abused”

[Longblackcoat]

Just took my daughters 71 plate corsa for a service and was informed the clutch pedal was right at the top of its travel - must admit I hadn’t noticed it
She bought it maybe 5 months ago from cazoo with 11500 on the clock
Vauxhall are suggesting £750 to disassemble- if it’s fault then it’s warranted but if it’s abuse they say around £1500
Apparently there is also air intake hose missing which I’ll need to source
According to the service history pdi on13/01/22 - serviced on 11/2/23 at 8700 miles and today at 13400
Caffyns said it had been serviced to spec
Thoughts for the collective

It's low mileage, your daughter's done under 2000 miles, it's been serviced to spec. Unless your daughter's a hooligan she won't have worn it out, but I wonder how you prove that unless there's a really obvious broken part. It could have been worn to death by the previous person and your daughter's been left holding the baby, so it's worn out and there's no real way to say when the wear occurred, just that then clutch is worn out. I'd certainly ask Vauxhall how they'd make the determination before I spent £750 to have it taken apart.

I'd go back and push Cazoo very hard indeed, maybe even look to return the car.

Other option - get a local garage to swap the clutch (which may well not cost even the £750 disassembly fee). That would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but at least then I'd know that I had a brand-new clutch.

[oldoakknives]

Previous owner might have been 'elderly'. Used to see a lot of worn out clutches back in the day when elderly drivers slipped the clutch. Remember replacing the clutch in a 2.0 litre MK4 Cortina under warranty, only to watch the owner pull away slipping the clutch at a valve bending Rpm.

[higham5]

Previous owner might have been 'elderly'. Used to see a lot of worn out clutches back in the day when elderly drivers slipped the clutch. Remember replacing the clutch in a 2.0 litre MK4 Cortina under warranty, only to watch the owner pull away slipping the clutch at a valve bending Rpm.

This ^^^^^^ I regularly see senior citizens revving the nuts out of their cars at the local supermarket. I also see the same demographic driving along with their brake lights on for hundreds of yds on the flat.

[Pitfitter]

I had an elderly customer that could kill a clutch in 500 miles! I suggested he should move to an auto but costs were against it, I did out in the car with him to check it wasn’t a part failure problem, came back white with fear, killing clutches was the least of his driving problems.
My cousin always rides the clutch at junctions rather than neutral and handbrake, a clutch every 3 years seems normal to her even at low ish mileage.
Warranties on clutches are difficult to manage unless it is an obvious breakage as ‘wear and tear’ are easy to inflict and hard to diagnose without dismantling the parts, good luck with redress to the seller.

[Mouse]

My cousin always rides the clutch at junctions rather than neutral and handbrake, a clutch every 3 years seems normal to her even at low ish mileage.

A little OT, but most people also don't realise the accelerated wear they're causing to the crank thrust bearing by doing that.

[Noaksey]

You could be describing my late Dad there

He was on first name terms with the clutch fitter at the garage

I had an elderly customer that could kill a clutch in 500 miles! I suggested he should move to an auto but costs were against it, I did out in the car with him to check it wasn’t a part failure problem, came back white with fear, killing clutches was the least of his driving problems.
My cousin always rides the clutch at junctions rather than neutral and handbrake, a clutch every 3 years seems normal to her even at low ish mileage.
Warranties on clutches are difficult to manage unless it is an obvious breakage as ‘wear and tear’ are easy to inflict and hard to diagnose without dismantling the parts, good luck with redress to the seller.

Sent from my SM-A736B using TZ-UK mobile app

[ralphy]

Previous owner might have been 'elderly'. Used to see a lot of worn out clutches back in the day when elderly drivers slipped the clutch. Remember replacing the clutch in a 2.0 litre MK4 Cortina under warranty, only to watch the owner pull away slipping the clutch at a valve bending Rpm.

When one of village 'elders' drives her car you can hear the revs varying constantly as she negotiates the (gentle) slope upwards when returning home, yet not on the way down...

R

[Mouse]

When one of village 'elders' drives her car you can hear the revs varying constantly as she negotiates the (gentle) slope upwards when returning home, yet not on the way down...

R

CVT transmission maybe?

[ralphy]

When one of village 'elders' drives her car you can hear the revs varying constantly as she negotiates the (gentle) slope upwards when returning home, yet not on the way down...

R

CVT transmission maybe?

Nope, manual gearbox.

R

[MB2]

It's low mileage, your daughter's done under 2000 miles, it's been serviced to spec. Unless your daughter's a hooligan she won't have worn it out, but I wonder how you prove that unless there's a really obvious broken part. It could have been worn to death by the previous person and your daughter's been left holding the baby, so it's worn out and there's no real way to say when the wear occurred, just that then clutch is worn out. I'd certainly ask Vauxhall how they'd make the determination before I spent £750 to have it taken apart.

I'd go back and push Cazoo very hard indeed, maybe even look to return the car.

Other option - get a local garage to swap the clutch (which may well not cost even the £750 disassembly fee). That would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but at least then I'd know that I had a brand-new clutch.

If the local garage is reputable you could still pursue a claim with Vauxhall once the clutch is removed as will have the parts ? The AA used to provide a service where they gave their opinion on worn parts - maybe a video of its removal and a mark put on it would prevent an objection have swapped the parts.

I think I would be going independent on this as clutches are considered "wear" items so can see it being more likely blamed as wear than faulty so I would look to get the most economical clutch replacement but be ready to collect evidence to support a claim if something strange is found inside.

[lewie]

My daughters is a good driver and doesn’t ride the couch but yeh probably the original owner
She’s going to contact cazoo but I don’t hold out hope
It seemed to drive fine to me - although I’m now driving an auto myself
I have a mate who owns a garage - hes moting my other daughters car Friday so I’ll sound him out on cost
If it were me I’d probably drive it it and if it goes or gets worse get an indi to replace it

[deepreddave]

I watched a Corsa being reversed into a driveway by an elderly driver the other day and they did it by feathering the clutch at c3krpm about 25x. I'm guessing doing that a couple of times a day would wear it out pretty quickly.

As an aside my other half sits with the clutch fully depressed at traffic lights etc whereas I do neutral/handbrake. I'm convinced it must cause additional wear but the web suggests otherwise.

[thieuster]

As an aside my other half sits with the clutch fully depressed at traffic lights etc whereas I do neutral/handbrake. I'm convinced it must cause additional wear but the web suggests otherwise.

I am with you. And I have my doubts when it comes to road safety: an easy way to hit the back of another car waiting for the lights when your foot slips off the pedal.

500.000 km (yes, that's half a milion), Honda Civic 1.5 Lsi, 1993

And the interesting part is, that when you take these Hondas apart, you'll notice that the materials they've used are not 5, 6, 7x better than other brands. Honda engineers are capable of making ordinary parts work better.

[PhilipK]

And I have my doubts when it comes to road safety: an easy way to hit the back of another car waiting for the lights when your foot slips off the pedal.

I was taught that the reason for not sitting in gear/clutch disengaged at traffic lights was in case you got rear-ended; you would be much more likely to end up in the middle of the junction than if you were in neutral/handbrake engaged. Sort of the reverse of your scenario.

When my Vauxhall Cavalier CDi was stolen in Belfast in the 1980s, the joyriders who stole it burnt the clutch out within hours (and the police who found it - with the engine still running - wouldn't go near it in case it had been booby trapped, just told me where it was). One of only two clutches that I've had to change in many years of driving.

[oldoakknives]

I watched a Corsa being reversed into a driveway by an elderly driver the other day and they did it by feathering the clutch at c3krpm about 25x. I'm guessing doing that a couple of times a day would wear it out pretty quickly.

As an aside my other half sits with the clutch fully depressed at traffic lights etc whereas I do neutral/handbrake. I'm convinced it must cause additional wear but the web suggests otherwise.

Only on the release bearing, not the friction or pressure plates on a normal clutch.