Compulsory traction battery servicing?

[phevnz21]

Hi, I am in NZ. We had a 2018 PHEV and my then ex partner had the car and they made her get one for the “Battery Warranty”. It was Simon Lucas in Newmarket. I didn’t say much at the time as we were separated however after looking into it, I found that no other countries did it.

We have a very robust consumer guarantee act here in NZ and unless this procedure is specifically listed on the Battery Warranty documents and the scheduled servicing documents then they will not be able to enforce it. A quick call to consumer affairs will clarify that.

I believe this is nothing more than the dealers trying it on and making extra money from EV type vehicles as in general people don't understand the technology and they play on the fear around battery degradation to their advantage which is quite disgusting and if it is not in the Warranty Document then mbie would have something to say about it too.

All the battery info can be gained from the MUT3 scan tool. I know because I have one. The only thing they would carry out would be to check connections in the pack, check for any ingress of water or derbies etc but that's about it. They would have to replace the seal and also as the Air Con goes through the battery this would need to be de-gassed and re-gassed also.

I would definitely demand that they provide you with the battery warranty document and the scheduled servicing document from "Mitsubishi" and not some document that they themselves have made up and I would scan through that and find out where it calls for this procedure. I suspect that it is not in there. I would then contact them and ask them to explain where and why are they telling you this is required.

Also like our vehicle, this was not pointed out to us at the time of purchase and again I would think that under the consumer guarantees act that a significant service like this would need to be disclosed up front. Again I'm sure mbie would have something to say about this.

Hope this helps

Thank you: most enlightening.

 

[phevnz21]

Hi, I am in NZ. We had a 2018 PHEV and my then ex partner had the car and they made her get one for the “Battery Warranty”. It was Simon Lucas in Newmarket. I didn’t say much at the time as we were separated however after looking into it, I found that no other countries did it.

We have a very robust consumer guarantee act here in NZ and unless this procedure is specifically listed on the Battery Warranty documents and the scheduled servicing documents then they will not be able to enforce it. A quick call to consumer affairs will clarify that.

I believe this is nothing more than the dealers trying it on and making extra money from EV type vehicles as in general people don't understand the technology and they play on the fear around battery degradation to their advantage which is quite disgusting and if it is not in the Warranty Document then mbie would have something to say about it too.

All the battery info can be gained from the MUT3 scan tool. I know because I have one. The only thing they would carry out would be to check connections in the pack, check for any ingress of water or derbies etc but that's about it. They would have to replace the seal and also as the Air Con goes through the battery this would need to be de-gassed and re-gassed also.

I would definitely demand that they provide you with the battery warranty document and the scheduled servicing document from "Mitsubishi" and not some document that they themselves have made up and I would scan through that and find out where it calls for this procedure. I suspect that it is not in there. I would then contact them and ask them to explain where and why are they telling you this is required.

Also like our vehicle, this was not pointed out to us at the time of purchase and again I would think that under the consumer guarantees act that a significant service like this would need to be disclosed up front. Again I'm sure mbie would have something to say about this.

Hope this helps

Thank you very much for this detail. So, the smell I thought I smelt was genuine. And yes, a new term cannot be implied into a contract (like into the guarantee part of a sales contract) after the contract has been entered into, though this certainly wouldn't be the first time a car dealer has tried that on. Every time I've bought a new car (happily not often), except with Honda in 2002, I've had to strike out parts of the proffered sales contract. But 'official action' most probably won't stop individual dealers scamming unsophisticated individual customers and we don't now have good consumer protection publicity in the NZ media; really the only appropriate communication available is through this good medium. Let's hope many M. PHEV purchasers get to read this discussion to avoid themselves being scammed.

 

[crun]

On its 2-year service the dealer told me that next time I'd have to pay some hundreds of dollars for the battery to be taken out and serviced - with no real explanation. So, I've not been to see him since; can change the oil myself, thanks very much.

Mine also had the battery removed and a battery seal replacement early in my ownership, perhaps around that mileage. (so probably 2016/17)
I was wondering at the time if it was a rort they would try to pull annually, but it was a one off.
I haven't been unhappy with the servicing (sometimes Wairau , usually Manukau)

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Aside from that, I do advise anyone buying any kind of EV to printout and date every bit of sales / warrantee / spec bumpf they can find, (and also ask the dealer leading questions by email or by text that invite them to over promise). Simon Lucas and Mitsi themselves have made a range of loose assertions/statements, which would probably leave them well on the hook for premature battery issues - but only if you have them all printed out and dated. ( https://www.freetsa.org/ timestamps and signs webpages to a pdf that they can't really dispute later)

To be clear: I have had no problem with mine, no problem with the dealer and no problem with the servicing. The battery is pretty knackered now at >180k, but that is what I expected.