Thousands of car owners face a harsh dilemma: keep a potentially defective vehicle or accept selling it for a pittance.
This year many motorists are confronted with a puzzle. Thirteen years after the launch of the 1.2 PureTech engine, which equips several popular models, the cars have aged and owners naturally want to resell them.
But these drivers run up against market realities. In view of the reliability scandals that have erupted in recent years, it is difficult to have a car taken back—or one must agree to a large markdown.
An owner of a Peugeot 2008 was told by a dealer: “If I take your car in, I’ll get fired.” The dealer confessed that the poor reliability of her car’s engine makes take-backs problematic.
The PureTech engine, despite being named “engine of the year” four times between 2015 and 2018, suffers from two major, recurring faults. On the one hand, premature wear of its timing belt, which can lead to complete engine failure. On the other, a tendency to burn excessive oil. More worrying still, debris can sometimes end up in the braking system and stiffen the brake pedal, which can increase stopping distances in an emergency.
The Peugeot 2008 owner is not an isolated case. One consumer association says it has collected dozens of similar accounts. According to them, “mechanics don’t really want to see these PureTechs on their lots anymore.” And when they do accept these cars, it’s often for half their resale value.
A president of a Peugeot agents’ group calls it a “sensitive subject”: “The 1.2 PureTech has a bad reputation with a tough market. You therefore have to adjust trade-ins to the fair price, without overpaying, but with us no car is refused. Moreover today there are new manufacturer warranties that reassure, and engine failures do not concern all vehicles.”
Why are professionals so reluctant? Quite simply because these cars are hard to resell; they suffer from breakdowns that have been widely publicized and are known to the public.
Faced with this critical situation, one manufacturer offered a €700 trade-in incentive to owners of PureTech engines who wished to give up their car in favor of a new hybrid. In addition, a warranty of up to 10 years and 175,000 km has been implemented for these engines, but with strict conditions: maintenance must have been carried out according to the brand’s recommendations.
The used market is now full of these cars offered at attractive prices but fitted with the older version of the PureTech engine with its fragile timing belt. A situation that can benefit buyers willing to take risks, but that constitutes a real double punishment for current owners, forced either to sell at a loss or to keep a vehicle whose reliability is sometimes compromised.
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