Three month wait for headlight as car '˜too new for spare parts'

The driver, who had his first accident just a few days after buying a new car, has been waiting three months for it to be returned, because the manufacturer says it’s too new for spare parts.

Joe, from Cardenden was told that he’ll have to keep waiting until a simple headlight is available.

Now the popular singer with rockers Joe’s Band, hasn’t even been given a courtesy car.

He bought the Peugot on June 7 this year, but unfortunately had a small accident a few days later.

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His daughter Lisa tried to source a replacement part, but she was told that car manufacturers often don’t make replacement parts until many months later.

Joe (69) said: “The very first week that the car was in the garage, all the bumps were all fixed, and the garage were really great.

“It’s just the headlight. It’s really frustrating.

“We keep being told that it’s coming next week, then the next week, and the next week, and it never arrives. It’s just terrible the way they’ve treated us.

“I feel so lost without my car. I’m just gutted at the whole situation.

“I have to get one of the guys to come up from Kirkcaldy to give me a lift to gigs.

“I normally go out and help people with their shopping, but I feel rotten that I can’t do that now.”

Lisa has logged hours of calls and correspondence with both Peugeot and the insurance company to try and resolve the issue.

She said: “I just feel so frustrated for my dad.

“I spoke to Peugeot initially and some of their staff have said that they hadn’t started making spare parts yet.

“They now say it’s been made but it’s sitting in France waiting to get through some customs checks.

“My dad hasn’t had any form of transport for three months.

“The insurance company refused to give him a courtesy car. They say it’s Peugeot’s responsibility, and Peugeot say it’s the insurer’s responsibility.

“It just seems like no one’s going to help him.

“If people knew that you may not get parts for these cars, would anybody buy one? I’ll never buy another new car.”

Steve Fowler Editor-in-Chief at Auto Express said that the scenario had been known to happen with new cars.

“It’s not common, but it’s sadly not unusual. We’ve had some stories about windscreens, and various other parts. It’s ludicrous because they’re producing thousands of these cars out of a factory every day.

“But they don’t want to have headlights lying around, so they make the right number of headlights turn up for the right number of cars being built. There can and sometimes are shortages.”

spokesman for Peugeot said: “We’re sorry to hear of the issues experienced by Mr McCormack and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Whilst we endeavour to return all vehicles under accident repair to our customers as soon as possible, there can be rare instances where delays occur due to a part being out of stock.

“In this situation, we are reliant on our suppliers to provide more.

“As the delay experienced by Mr McCormack has taken longer than anticipated to rectify, Peugeot has offered a financial contribution towards an alternative mobility solution until the vehicle is returned.”