A problem that Toyota should acknowledge

HELPDESK:Answering all your motoring queries

From D Kirwan, Lucan, Co Dublin:

I've been following the recent articles about melting headlights in 2003 and 2004 Toyota Avensis. I have my 2003 Avensis three years and it's successfully passed two NCTs, the latest in 2009 when it had 42,000 miles on it. Over the past two months or so, I noticed that the headlights were poor on back roads.

I decided to take my car to the Toyota dealership where it was originally purchased. The service manager took five minutes of inspection to tell me the metal hood that holds the lightbulb on the right headlamp had melted. He advised that it would cost €315 to replace the unit. He also said that the left one would most likely go in time too, so €630 in total.

I informed him that I knew these cars had a history of this manufacturing fault and I asked him if there was anything he could do. He said that, due to the car's age, they couldn't do anything. I told him that I knew for a fact that they had replaced headlamps free of charge, so asked why I couldn't be treated the same – the problem simply hadn't materialised, due to lack of use. The car now has 47,600 miles on the clock. I then called Toyota customer service, who basically said the same thing.

I don't see why people should pay to fix a manufacturing fault.

This is the latest of a litany of customer complaints that have been received by us on the matter. It really does seem to have affected a significant number of owners for Toyota to take notice and recognise that they need to cover this problem. Melting headlights should not be a problem on a car with 47,600 miles on the clock.

From C O'B: We got a new car and my old Fiesta is gone to the garage under the scrappage deal. When we were doing the deal, the garage accepted the insurance certificates. But when we checked the log book later, we found that the car was in my husband's name, while the insurance is in mine, so we don't qualify after all.

You are in a bind others have found themselves in of late. The rules are clear: a car must be owned by the person scrapping the car for 18 months, and insured for at least 12 of those 18, prior to being scrapped. While there might be problems with adjusting the rules of ownership, it would seem logical to adjust the rules to allow registered owners to be listed as named drivers on the insurance policy. Such situations are common, particularly where younger drivers find it is cheaper to put a parent or older adult as the main driver on the policy and list themselves as a named driver.

For the moment, there seems to be no solution, but it is hoped that an amendment to the rules to allow named drivers to apply for scrappage on cars they own may be included in the Finance Bill going through the Oireachtas.

Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail motorshelp@irishtimes.com