Problems with a used car bought from a garage

mrmichaelf

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on a car I bought from a local garage back in April.

Ill keep it short and to the point.

I test drove a Vauxhall Vectra on an X plate. Everything seemed fine so I went along with the deal and paid cash.

After about 5 miles of driving the car home, I noticed the car would no longer rev above 4000 rpm and performance became very sluggish. I got the car to a relatives a short distance away. A neighbour (a mechanic) had a quick look and said there were sever faults with the engine.

I had the car towed back to the garage (at my expense) where they said they would take a look at it.

A few days later I went back and they told me they could find nothing wrong. I explained I was considering taking the matter further should there be a fault. They became evry aggressive to this at which point decided I would just drive away. After setting off again, after about 2 miles the cars engine stopped alltogether, and likely seized.

Got the car back to the garage again and said I would leave it there and contact trading standards after they refused to do anything.

Consumer Direct advised me I had done the correct thing in returning the car andf advised me to write to them advising I was refusing the car under the sales of goods act and request my monies back.

No reply came from my letter, so i sent another.

Again no reply. Phone calls to the garage were either hung up on or dealt with by threats or abuse (which was reported to the police)

Several weeks ago I recieved a call from Trading Standards who told me that without an engineers report I would not be in a good position to take the matter to court as I could not prove what I was saying. I did point out to them that consumer direct advised me to return the car and due to the garage having possesion of the car and not responding I could not arrange to have an engineers report. They could not help me any further.

Then today, I recieved a letter from the garage advising me they will take no responsibility for the car, claiming that I had put in excessive ammounts of oil that lead to the engine failing and also stating that they are now charging me storage fees!

I have booked an appointment with a solicitor. I also spoke to trading standars again who have advised me they are happy with the garage's "behaviour"!

I should also point out that on the invoice for the car it has stamped on "sold as seen, no warranties given". I have been told this is actually illegal!

Could anyone advise me any fruther and anything else I can do?

Thankyou

Money_Grabber13579

Maybe the Sale of Goods Act would be a useful point to start? The good or service provided has to be fit for purpose, and of marketable quality.

Do you put any oil in the car? If not, then it's totally their fault.

mrmichaelf

No I put no oil in the car - but trading standards said this is my word against theres and I have to be able to prove I put no oil in if it went to court. I have quoted the sale of goods act to them. They laughed it off.

Im seeing a solicitor who has advised me it might cost more than it is worth to take it to court.

mrmichaelf

They will now not release the car without me paying the storage charge of £7.50 per day as stated in their letter recieved today. This equates to several hundred pounds and money I cannot afford. They will also not permit anyone to check the vehicle whilst it is in their posession.

I put NO oil in the car. Surely they have to prove I did somehow?

The car did drive ok on test drive however I have been advised by several mechanics that alot of engine faults do not become apparent until the engine is suitibly warm has been driven for a while.

They say they have their mechanics report from the day of the sale to say the car was free of faults.

mrmichaelf

It seems that advise from consumer direct to return the car was wrong then?
They are demanding almost £700 in storage fees which I just cannot afford to pay out, so getting the car back isn't an option.

It makes me sick to think they can do this and practically get away with it.

Money_Grabber13579

mrmichaelf wrote: »

It seems that advise from consumer direct to return the car was wrong then?
They are demanding almost £700 in storage fees which I just cannot afford to pay out, so getting the car back isn't an option.

It makes me sick to think they can do this and practically get away with it.

The only other thing I can think of is:

BBC Watchdog starts again this Thursday. It now incorporates Rogue Traders. Perhaps you could get in touch with them?

Other than that, do you subscribe to Which? or any other magazine that deals with consumer affairs? Which? have a legal team to help sort out things like this, many of which are based around the Sale of Goods Act.

mrmichaelf

Mysolicitorisbetter wrote: »

That means they must have had the car for almost 100 days. This far weakens your claim.

And yes consumer direct are wrong. Its minimum wage do gooders who say what they think the people want to hear which is often wrong.

How does this weaken my claim? I have been pro active during this time in trying to sort the matter out (sending letters and making phone calls) without reply. They then decide to send out a ridiculous bill.

Trading standards say they are within their right to do this and can charge any amount they wish for storage.

I now fear they mayt take me to court for this storage fee - money I do not have. Surely they cannot get away with such a terrible (and in my eyes criminal) offence.

Money_Grabber13579

mrmichaelf wrote: »

How does this weaken my claim? I have been pro active during this time in trying to sort the matter out (sending letters and making phone calls) without reply. They then decide to send out a ridiculous bill.

Trading standards say they are within their right to do this and can charge any amount they wish for storage.

I now fear they mayt take me to court for this storage fee - money I do not have. Surely they cannot get away with such a terrible (and in my eyes criminal) offence.

That doesn't sound like they're wanting to enforce very many standards. I thought the idea of them was just that - so that people didn't get ripped off, through companies charging whatever they liked.

Smi1er

The initial fault sounds like a camshaft sensor problem, a fairly common fault on the Ecotec engine of that vintage.

Did the orange engine management light work? (common for them to blow it)

Have to say your initial tone with the garage (I'll take this further if a fault blah blah) was fairly agresssive. Why didn't you simply take car away and get a check done by Vauxhall as a report

They ignored your initial two letters, hung up on you when you called or shouted threats down the phone and you still left the car there?

I don't know where you can go with this one.

motorguy

Out of curiosity, i take it the garage did explain there was no warranty on the car before or as they wrote 'sold as seen' on the documentation?

Have you any evidence the engine was "seized"? Did it turn over when you tried to start it for example?

It does sound an awful lot like a sensor failure in the first instance as opposed to a 'severe engine fault' that your friend seems to have diagnosed (i assume without any diagnostic equipment?)

crittertog

pgilc1 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, i take it the garage did explain there was no warranty on the car before or as they wrote 'sold as seen' on the documentation?

"Sold as seen" has no standing in law, though, as it would affect your statutory rights - in fact, according to BERR, to state that as a condition of sale is unlawful.