Should air conditioning gas be covered under Peugeot's warranty?
My sister drives a Peugeot 308 bought new in 2012. About a month ago the air conditioning system stopped working and I brought the car to my local dealer and was annoyed that it cost me €60 for gas to be refilled in the system, and not under warranty. I was told it was "a lack of use" that caused in.
Is it really true that if you don't use your air conditioning it will sieze up? And why didn't Peugeot pay for it under its four-year warranty?
Ian Abbott (Longford)Aug 2014 Filed under: warranty
Expert answer
Hi Ian,
As discussed with you offline, we talked to Peugeot Ireland about this, and the contact there spoke with the dealer in question. The dealer response was:
- The customer booked a two-year service, which would include an air conditioning inspection
- There was no defect detected with the air con (thus no warranty coverage needed)
- The technician used his air con machine to check that there was no leak present in the system - there wasn't
- There was a gas top-up needed, which the customer was charged for
Peugeot then commented: "We would like to offer the following explanation to the customer - even if an air con system isn't used, if a customer uses the front window demister they do inadvertently use the air con system, which over time would use up gas. I hope this helps. Should the customer wish to have contact with our Customer Services department, I can arrange a call to them."
Hopefully that's helped you understand the situation to your satisfaction, but you know where we are if you need us again.
Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Adviser@Shane_O_D