Car purchase problem

cubes_2

My brother and I bought a secondhand car on Saturday.

Collected it yesterday (Thursday). Went out to visit our parents in the evening and the damn thing cut out. Losing the power steering on the car (volvo s80 auto, so it's big and heavy) meant it was hardly controllable and losing the servo brakes didn't help either. Thankfully we were only going 30mph on an empty road but on a dual carriageway at 70mph...

Anyway, he took it back to the dealer and demanded a refund, it's not safe to drive with a problem like showing up within 4hrs/40ish miles. Suprise suprise, they would rather look at it. That was refused and a refund demanded again. In the end it was left there (as it was unfit to drive in our opinion).

We've looked at the Citizen's Advice website and have sent a letter to the manager setting out our rights under sale of good act and asking for a refund again.

I did pay the deposit by my CC but the balance was paid by my brother's debit card.

I'm really looking for advice to make sure I'm going about things the right way. Also, I believe I can claim off my CC company for this - does this still apply if I didn't pay the balance of the cost myself?

Thanks in advance.

anewman

You have to give them a reasonable opportunity to fix the problem I believe from what I have read in these forums. I don't get why you refused a repair and drove it in what you thought was an unsafe condition?!

Premier_2

Cars tend to cut out when they run out of fuel...

mrscb

Its annoying ,but I agree the garage should have a chance to sort the problem out..Its a used car so there are bound to be problems at some time.A lot of problems wont be known by the dealer as cars arent usually driven far by them.
Going in demanding refunds will just get their backs up especially since they probably didnt even know the problem.
If everything is done calmly and friendly they will no doubt sort it out.Dealers will be used to cars coming back and know what peoples rights are.
Hope it gets sorted out.

cubes_2

Premier wrote: »

Cars tend to cut out when they run out of fuel...

Funny... very funny...

They don't usually start afterwards though.

cubes_2

The main problem is a loss of confidence in the car. A few months in, I would have accepted a problem, but 4 hours and less than 40 mins?

The advice we got from citizen's advice was not to accept a repair etc as this could effect our right to get a refund.

mikey72

Don't accept a repair, listen to CAB, or get legal advice if you have AA or RAC cover, and take it from there.

anewman

Faults happen with cars. It's probably been stood on a forecourt for months undriven. Think of it this way, they could repair the car and it could be fine for many years. You could go all gung-ho rejecting this, then buy something else that's a complete lemon falling to pieces after a few weeks. I'd give it a chance and if you really are concerned have an independent vehicle inspection done.

vaio

anewman wrote: »

You have to give them a reasonable opportunity to fix the problem I believe from what I have read in these forums……..

Nah, that’s Mr Bobbles line. He’s a car salesman and I think he might be hoping that if he says it often enough people will believe it.

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file25486.pdf

is a guide for traders and gives all the details

hartcjhart

follow the advice from 'ANEWMAN'

let them repair it THEN get an AA or RAC inspection