Car wars are sparked by problem motor; Customer refuses to give courtesy vehicle back to garage

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), July 19, 2007

Byline: By NICK WHITTEN

A GARAGE is locked in a stand-off with a customer who is refusing to return a courtesy car.

John Gash has barricaded a Mini Cooper loaned to him by the Les Rayner Foxhunters Motor Company in Whitley Bay on his driveway in Marina View, Wallsend.

The 38-year-old civil servant is refusing to give the pounds 6,999 courtesy car back to the garage because he says the pounds 9,000 Saab 93 they sold him on May 31 is a faulty motor.

Mr Gash says the three-year-old Saab, which has 80,000 miles on the clock, has had three major problems in the five weeks since he drove it away from the garage.

First a problem developed with a rear window which meant rainwater leaked into the back of the car, then the engine failed and finally the clutch went.

Each time, the garage repaired the problem under warranty and gave Mr Gash a courtesy car.

But when they tried to return his Saab to him on Monday and take back their Mini Cooper, Mr Gash refused to give back the courtesy car and blocked it on to his driveway.

Garage bosses called the police, but the officers who arrived at the house said there was nothing they could do because the car had not been stolen.

Mr Gash said: "I do not want the Saab back. There are too many problems. I know they have repaired it, but I have lost all faith in the car itself and the garage.

"They keep telling me it is not their problem. They say they have got the money from the finance company I bought it through and so they now have no legal obligation.

"I expect a replacement car to the value I have paid or for my finance agreement to be cancelled completely and I will take my business elsewhere.

Garage owner Guy Rayner said: "We have repaired the car on each occasion and lent him a courtesy car. We cannot do any more to help him. But how do you reason with someone like this? I am not going to be held to ransom over my own car.

"His car is now in working order. He agreed to take it back and return the courtesy car and then at the last minute he changed his mind.

"I have sent him a solicitor's letter saying that if I do not get my car back, a licensed agent will be sent round to take it from him."

Mr Gash bought the Saab on a hire-purchase agreement. This means the car is technically owned by the finance company Mr Gash pays each month.

CAPTION(S):

DISGRUNTLED: John Gash has this Mini Cooper barricaded on his driveway