consumer rights re second hand car

mikes10000

Hi
I am hoping that someone can give me some advice regarding a second hand car that my daughter recently purchased, My question is, is a dealer legally required to provide a copy of the fail certificate and any advisaries that come with it? and can he refuse to send me a copy if requested? I have now got a copy of both from the garage that did the mot and was shocked to learn that it contained 8 advisaries (4 of which have just cost me £155). the car was only purchased 2 weeks ago and we first complained after 6 days but the garage does not want to know.

Anyone help!!

olly300

Did the car pass the MOT or did you buy the car without an MOT?

All the dealer has to do is ensure the car is fit for purpose. If the car passed the MOT then the dealer can argue that it is as it complies with the law.

The_Pedant

When buying from a dealer, the sales of goods act still applies.
I would therefore expect the car to be of a suitable quality expected of a car in the description given. This would also include being free from defects, except those notified.

What I am uncertain of however is whether the MOT advisories count as defects, or whether they are simply considered to be part of normal maintenance. Did you ask if there were any known issues? If you did, I would have thought they would have been obligated to inform you of the advisories from the MOT, as any one of them has the potential to cause an MOT failure at a later date.

Take a look at the Consumer Direct advice here:-
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/before_you_buy/thinking_about/cars/dealer

A call to them for advice wouldn't hurt.

As they were not preventing the car from operating, or caused an MOT failure, it could be argued that there are simply part of normal maintenance, and not strictly a fault. If you did ask of any issues, I would still expect to be notified of these.

Anoyone else able to clarify?

Hintza

My understanding on cars is the age of the car is important ie if the car is 13 years old you can't expect it to be in mint condition.

I agree with pedant I don't know whether advisories count but if it was tyres for example I would have thought you had the chance to inspect and negotiate further on them before purchase. A duff track rod end or similar is not that easy to spot.

To me an advisory means that the part will need to be sorted shortly but at the moment the MOT was carried out then the car was in a safe condition.


So I would think if it was a banger being sold at a rock bottom price you are possibly asking too much; if it was a 3 year old car being sold at a premium then I think you have a complaint.

But I imagine you are in the middle and only you can decide if you are being resonable and whether it is worth fighting it.

Not much help I'm afraid.

custardy

for future reference you can check the advisory history online

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/internet/jsp/ECHID-Internet-History-Request.jsp

you will need to see the car documents in advance to get the required reference numbers