Is there anything I can do about car sales firm?

hoyles10

I'm wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on if I can do anything about my situation and if so how to go about it.

I bought a used car (54 plate) from a local dealership back on 1st July. Since then I have had nothing but trouble with it.

It all started off that I was 2 weeks without the car after paying for it as they found some problems and wanted to get them fixed before handing it over.

Since then I have done less than 1500 miles in it and it's been back to the garage 4 times totaling 8 days without my car and now it's broken down again. This time it seems it's only the battery that is knackered but it's just cost £40 quid for a new one.

They gave me a years warranty on the car when I bought it but it seems that batteries aren't covered.

I'm really not happy with the car and am now afraid of going out anywhere of distance in case we get stranded somewhere and my wife really doesn't want to go anywhere on her own in it in case she get's stuck somewhere.

What I am wondering is could I look at getting my £4500 back as less than 3 months and 1500 miles the car is broken again and i'm not getting out of it what I bought it for.

I have spoken to the garage about maybe swapping it for another car of the same value but they don't seem to want to take that option (surprise surprise).

Where do I stand with this or is it just a case of putting it down to experience.

Anihilator

hoyles10 wrote: »

I'm wondering if anyone could offer me some advice on if I can do anything about my situation and if so how to go about it.

I bought a used car (54 plate) from a local dealership back on 1st July. Since then I have had nothing but trouble with it.

It all started off that I was 2 weeks without the car after paying for it as they found some problems and wanted to get them fixed before handing it over.

Since then I have done less than 1500 miles in it and it's been back to the garage 4 times totaling 8 days without my car and now it's broken down again. This time it seems it's only the battery that is knackered but it's just cost £40 quid for a new one.

They gave me a years warranty on the car when I bought it but it seems that batteries aren't covered.

I'm really not happy with the car and am now afraid of going out anywhere of distance in case we get stranded somewhere and my wife really doesn't want to go anywhere on her own in it in case she get's stuck somewhere.

What I am wondering is could I look at getting my £4500 back as less than 3 months and 1500 miles the car is broken again and i'm not getting out of it what I bought it for.

I have spoken to the garage about maybe swapping it for another car of the same value but they don't seem to want to take that option (surprise surprise).

Where do I stand with this or is it just a case of putting it down to experience.

Can you document the faults involved and any costs to you.

You definitly cant return it or exchange it for a faulty battery.

hoyles10

If it was just the battery that was the problem then I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest but it's the fact that i've had to get the RAC out 4 times to help me because the flipping thing had broken down because of everything else that has gone wrong with it.

Anihilator

hoyles10 wrote: »

If it was just the battery that was the problem then I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest but it's the fact that i've had to get the RAC out 4 times to help me because the flipping thing had broken down because of everything else that has gone wrong with it.

Which is what.

A car can need the RAC from everything to a flat tyre to the engine catching fire. The case you have depends on the faults.

Either explain them or you wont get any help as people wont know.

hoyles10

First of all there was something wrong with the ECU unit which they said they have sorted out, then there was a strange noise coming from the engine when I got over 30mph so it went back in, then there was something wrong with the computers and it kept coming up with a warning about the tyre pressures which they said they sorted but I have found out today they just disconnected the sensor, then there was a problem which caused the fan to come on after driving short distances but the fan stayed on for anything between 10 minutes and 90 minutes which caused it to flatten the battery. Again they were supposed to have sorted this and all was fine until Sunday when I drove the 4 mile round trip into town and back, the fan came on for about 40 minutes and it was so loud that the neighbour came out to see what all the noise was, this again killed the battery. When it was all tested by the RAC the temp gage was reading 97 degrees which is why the fan had kicked in but when the RAC guy tested it with his equipment he was only getting a reading of 42.3 degrees.

I have been out again tonight and got home the fan came on again but this time for about 15 minutes. I have just been out to test it and it's started up ok this time. I had only driven 1.5 miles so surely this can't be right that the fan is coming on.

I am not technical in the slightest when it comes to cars so I apologise if what I have said is gobbledygook

smcaul

Sounds like your battery is the least of your problems!! All those issues would more point towards an ECU problem or sensor problems - it is those that have caused your battery to go flat.

Ignore the "1 yr Warranty", reject the goods under the "Sale of Goods Act" as "not fit for purpose", and "not being Durable".

You might ant to give them a chance to sort out the issues once again, but to be honest if it was me and I had already allowed them to fix the issues as many times as you have then I would just be rejecting the car now.

As it was only £4.5k then you can claim quite cheaply from "Money Claim Online" if they refuse. Another route is your credit card if you purchased it via that.

hoyles10

Thanks very much for that. I'll start looking into that tomorrow then and see where I stand.

Blacksheep1979

Are you a business user?

hoyles10

No I don't use it for business, apart from getting to work that is.