Dodgy 2nd hand car, need advice plz!

H.P.Bazxter

Hello ppl!

It's been a while since my last visit here, but I'm in dire need for your advices, as am totally lost! I had a brief look around thinking that someone else must have posted a similar thread, but couldn't find any, so here we go.

I had 11 yrs old car with some problems, and after much consideration I passed on the scrappage scheme and part exchanged it for a 7 yrs old VW. I have a friend who was giving me tips when picking the car, so I personally didn't really inspect the car before buying it, (yeah, it was stupid, but I trusted my pal!)

Turns out my friend was, well, less than helpful, and the car had so many problems so I had to take it back to the dealer. The car's advertisement also had some error reg the sound system.

The dealer agreed to work on the car, and offered to pay for the transport fare for me to go to work, for a day which was needed to fix the car.

The car came back days later than promised, with the same problems, with miler symptoms. And the dealer is refusing to pay for all the travel expenses as the result of delayed work. There was no paper work to show what was done by them, either.

As the problems persisting were rather serious (one of which was that speedo was not functioning) I wrote an official complaint stating my wish to refuse the car.

But the dealer would not take the car back since they had to work on it already, as well as that they did some adjustment prior to the sales.
Since then I had to take the car to 3rd party garage for full diagnostics, which I paid for (the dealer refuse to compensate the cost.)

The car has many problems, and all the dealer says is that they will take a look at it.

I have also complained about the false advertisement but they would not discuss this, nor make any compensation.

I have been in touch with the Consumer Direct, but they would not say what the dealer is doing is illegal, or anything of that promising tone.

Please advice me, how can I either refuse the car, or fix the problem? I don't think this dodgy dealer has ability to fix the problem, but I can't spend any more money to do it for them so they wouldn't be sued by me!

Sorry for the long post, any advice will be appreciated.

Many thanks x

pault123

buying a second hand car is on a buy "as seen" basis I would have thought, did you not take it for a test drive?

a friend could reccomend a car based on an advert, but without actually having a good look around the bodywork, under the bonnet and driving it adverts mean nothing. The number of cars i've looked at in the flesh which are nothing like the advert describes is untrue :mad:

maninthestreet

Have you tried suing the 'friend' who inspected the car for you?
Didn't you notice the speedo wasn't working when you took it out for a test drive?
What was 'false' in the advertisement?

Silk

As far as I'm aware its illegal to drive a car with a defective speedo and as such I would have thought it would follow that they have sold you a car not fit for purpose.
As you have given them the chance to repair the vehicle and they have failed and you are still left without a car fit for purpose you can demand your money back.
Perhaps a trip to the CAB will help you more than Consumer Direct

H.P.Bazxter

Hey people,

Thank you so much for your posts. I shall add more info to answer the questions;

I did take it to test drive, and speedo seemed to be working then, while driving in town, doing 30 - 40 mph. The problem became apparent only after I bought it and took it to M4 doing 70mph. There is also losing the power at around 75 mph, which could not be spotted at the test drive.

I did notice some noise when test driving, which I mentioned BEFORE buying the car, so they can fix it, which they said they did at the time of sales, which still is here now!

I would love to sue my friend especially since he is now saying he never recommended the car to me, but he is my best friend and he helped me so much in the past. So, no!

False advertisement was to state the CD player is a multi-play, while it was just a single play.

CAB recommends that I call Consumer Direct, which I have a few times.

Any more advice from people, particularly from whom had similar probs would be deeply appreciated!

xx

maninthestreet

So what car is this? It's a VW, but a Polo, Golf, etc, and what size/type of engine, e.g 1.4 petrol. Does the speedo not register speeds over about 40mph?

H.P.Bazxter

Speedo needle pops when going up in speed, and stays when slowing down. It is kind of working but hideously inaccurate.

many thanks.

maninthestreet

H.P.Bazxter wrote: »

Speedo needle pops when going up in speed, and stays when slowing down. It is kind of working but hideously inaccurate.

many thanks.

Probably just needs a new speedo cable.

H.P.Bazxter

maybe. The VW place says it needs a new dash, though. Fuel gauge also not working, showing 2/3 full when it's completely full, so maybe that's the case.

regards

H.P.Bazxter

Finally dropped the car off at their for the second time, I give them this chance to fix the car and that's it, I will ask for refund if they fail.

They were so horrible to me, asking why I am making such a big deal out of this when they are fixing the car for me. WHY, they ask, I was speechless!

BECAUSE YOU FORCED ME TO DRIVE AROUND THE CAR ILLEGALLY,
BECAUSE YOU SOLD ME A COMPLETE LEMON,
BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T FIX THE CAR AND MADE ME PAY EXTRA SO ANOTHER GARAGE CAN FIND THE PROBLEMS FOR YOU,
BECAUSE YOU ARE A BIG JOKE!

Can I write their name? Why do I have to be verbally attacked like that? Where is my right???

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

H.P.Bazxter wrote: »

Finally dropped the car off at their for the second time, I give them this chance to fix the car and that's it, I will ask for refund if they fail.

They were so horrible to me, asking why I am making such a big deal out of this when they are fixing the car for me. WHY, they ask, I was speechless!

BECAUSE YOU FORCED ME TO DRIVE AROUND THE CAR ILLEGALLY,
BECAUSE YOU SOLD ME A COMPLETE LEMON,
BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T FIX THE CAR AND MADE ME PAY EXTRA SO ANOTHER GARAGE CAN FIND THE PROBLEMS FOR YOU,
BECAUSE YOU ARE A BIG JOKE!

Can I write their name? Why do I have to be verbally attacked like that? Where is my right???

You are a bit simple tbh

You bought a 7YO car with faults and didnt check it properly.

It was 7 years old what did you expect.

What exactly did you pay and what type of car is it?