Bought a car and wheel nearly fell of 2 hours later!!

jimmynewadvice

not too sure if this is right section sorry.

Hi everyone, looking for a bit of help here..

Ok i bought a polo 9N 1.9TDI on wednesday, when i first test drove it it needed a little work doing for example a new rear tyre and the tracking. Anyway i collected the car wed afternoon after the work been done and started driving up to my workplace in glasgow. I noticed a vibrating sound about 70 miles into the journey so i slowed down and stopped at a garage. i checked all the tyre pressures and they were fine. So i carried on for another 20 miles and the noise was steadily getting worse. eventually about 25 miles i had to stop as it was now knocking loudly. I do have a bit of knowledge about cars and it did just sound like A cv joint or a drive shaft. I phoned the AA and whilst waiting i thought i would have a look at the area where the noise came from and nearly s**t myself when i saw there was one stud holding the front left wheel in place!!! The aa came out gave me a reciept and i took some pics of it, he swapped the studs round so there is now 4 on each wheel. I phoned the garage i bought the car from and at first he was shocked, he phoned the garage he had the work on and apparently they didnt even take the front left wheel off?? I have stated i want the car checked out at a VW garage for any damage which he says he is refusing to pay for as he doesnt want to pay there £90 an hour charges!, he said he has posted up a new alloy wheel inner cap and 5 new studs for the wheel. He also says if i drive the car back to him (newcastle) he will get it looked at by the same garage. do you think this is acceptable?? i am not really happy drivivng it 200 miles without it being checked correctly as damage may have happened to the brakes or anything? do i have a legal case here to threaten him with???

Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated

Optimist

Well you could report him to trading standards, the garage has committed a offence by selling a vehicle that is not roadworthy.

As to threatening him with that it, then that depends on how worried he is by trading standards !

jamesb1239

What ever happened to basic checks before setting off each time in a car? or is it just me that does that?

Anihilator

So whats to say they didnt fall off or get stolen once it was in your posession.

I have had this with a car before due to faulty threads on the nuts and would be hard to spot without it happening

Frankly I would ask him to do what he has done already and be happy. Only if you discover further damage which I would be surprised if you do could you have a case.

scullster

You can demand that the car be checked over by VW but the dealer is not obliged to pay for it.

He's offered to check it over for you, he's in the business of dealing with cars, the courts would consider him to be knowledgable on cars, so I'd take him up on his offer to get it checked over. I've said it before but main dealers aren't necessarily better mechanics or more thorough - careful what you wish for!

Out of interest, how did you come to do business with this particular dealer? Car at the right price, or a referral and a car at the right price?

tbw

jamesb1239 wrote: »

What ever happened to basic checks before setting off each time in a car? or is it just me that does that?

I might check that all the doors are shut - but its never occrred to me to check that none of the wheels are falling off!

Optimist

jamesb1239 wrote: »

What ever happened to basic checks before setting off each time in a car? or is it just me that does that?

I think it is just you. I have never considered checking the bolts on the tyres each time I set off, just to see if they are loose.

DCFC79

jamesb1239 wrote: »

What ever happened to basic checks before setting off each time in a car? or is it just me that does that?

must be you as i dont,

fozzeh

I always do a 63 point safety check before setting off! At least I know I'm not the only one now!

custardy

i like to strip down the car to a shell and rebuild before setting off just incase
get a grip jamesb1239,so you torque the wheel bolts up before every journey?

personally i wouldnt want to drive that far without getting the hub checked
you may want to offer the seller the opportunity of getting the car delivered to a garage of their choice for inspection
if they refuse(and the most likely will)then you may have to pay VW to check and take the seller to court for any costs if any damamge is found

Anihilator

Unless the car is displaying symptons or has evidence damage has occurred then any inspection imo is unjustified.

If the OP wants it inspected he should pay for it himself. If they find something then ask the dealer to reimburse and repair.

If they don't accept that they had an unjust request and its cost them to find out it was unjust.

Whilst checks are a pain I would suggest when driving 200 odd miles in a car you have just purchased which I am assuming isnt brand new then you should have done some basic checks including tyres and I would suggest if you checked the tyres you would have noticed the problem.