Car Bought On Finance - New Engine Required - Case For Refund?

dh247

Hi All,

I am looking for some help with claiming a refund on a car I have recently bought.

The car is a 2003 Mazda RX8. It was purchased from a dealer on 12/11/2009.

On the day of sale the car did not start up when warm however I was told this was due to it having no fuel in. It was then filled up with petrol and was fine so I went home with it.

Since then, when the car is warm and then off, it will not restart well. It can take 10-15 mins to restart.

I have been advised that the car requires a replacement engine.

The dealer I bought it from has offered me two options:

1* Have the engine replaced (at dealers expense)
2* Return car and take another car from garage

I have some concerns with the points above:

1* If I have the engine replaced, I believe the cars value will be decreased when it comes to the resale. I would obviously have to explain to any buyer that the engine has been replaced and this may put alot of people off.
2* This is the car I wanted and I do not want any of the other vehicles that are available from this dealer. I took the finance etc. based on this make/model etc. and not another.


I have asked for a refund but was only offered the two options above. Can anyone advise me of any laws etc. that I can quote in this situation to be able to push a refund to the dealer again. I am wary that I may well be eligible for a refund but do not know what I can use to fight my corner.

I have spoken to the dealer again today and stated that I should be eligible for a refund based on the "Sale of Goods Act" stating that goods should be "fit for purpose" but this was ignored. I was told to just get the car fixed by the dealer.

Any info much appreciated.

Thanks
dh247

ukjoel

Ok number of issues here.

First is the finance and the car are not tied. They are totally independent so whatever happens with the car you will still need to pay the finance in accordance with the terms and conditions of the loan. So basically keep paying the loan whatever happens as otherwise you can get into all sorts of legal grief.


Secondly regarding the refund. Personally I think if you pushed it you could get a refund if the whole engine needed replacing from day one as car clearly not fit for purpose. Retailer wants to avoid that as it means unravelling the finance which he has probably made decent money on (whats the APR% and terms out of curiousity)?

I doubt the retailer would put a new engine into a 6 year old Mazda. From memory they use the wankel engine so are pretty specialist and expensive. My guess is they would refurb, repair, or try and find a reconditioned unit.

In terms of devalueing the car - I dont think on a 6 year old car its going to make a massive difference (yes a small difference but not much) also if you get a reconditioned engine thats done significantly less miles than yours then you could be a lot better off.

I would probably take the engine repair providing they warrantied it (or ideally the whole car with a decent aftermarket warranty for 3 years). This would cost them £600 or so but would give you 3 years of worry free driving which in a car that age and (with a lot of expensive bits) would be a nice bonus.

hewhoisnotintheknow

hand the car back, you dont know what state this new engine is in really

dh247

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

hand the car back, you dont know what state this new engine is in really

i need a little substance to be able to do this i think.....:money:

Hoof_Hearted

I think the RX8 is the only production car with the rotary engine. This is a fantastically efficient design, but no other manufacturer has bothered with it as it is plagued with engine problems. From recollection the rotor tips wear out very rapidly. The original rotary-engined car, the Ro8o was impossible to sell because of the number of replacement rotary engines they used. I honestly don't think these are a good buy second hand. The MX5 is tried and tested, as is the Honda S2000. Go for one of these. I would go for a refund, if possible, and get some proper advice before buying something else,

atrixblue.-MFR-.

i would let them replace the engine even if recon but i would try and get a say on where the engine is purchased/ordered
ivor searle are a good british remanufacturing company. and detail and outline what thier engines are manufactured with (usually manufacturers own parts and do remanufacture mazda engines) and you can also send your engine to them to remanufacter/recon so to keep the same engine with the car. mazda rx8 has the rotary engines and are more complex to repair if dealer is offering to replace i would ask him if he would pay to have engine from this company this way you know what work goes into an engine and what has been done and how much warrenty is with it.
http://www.ivorsearle.co.uk/public/index.asp?cbofile=5&ht=2&sh=5&cp=23

DaveMacD

I'd go with what Joel says above, if they will warranty the work, take the repair option. It's a six year old car, so resale value in 3 years is likely to be low enough to not worry a new buyer, and the engine you get may be lower mileage.

However, the original question is how do you get a refund, and in that respect, I'm not sure how you go about it, but I think the seller has to be at least allowed to try to attempt a repair.

Anihilator

You're entitled to either a refund/replacement or repair although the courts will look at reasonability of the decision.

A new engine for a reasonably expensive car after 4 weeks and I would suggest a refund could be guarenteed


You could alternatively request as a goodwill gesture that the replacement car is a bit more expensive or such what.

computershack

If they replace the engine, if anything it will INCREASE the resale value of the car. I don't know anybody who'd pay less for a car thats had a new engine.

harveybobbles

People I know in the Trade get scared of them RX8's when they get to about 40,000 miles. Infact, they wont touch them... And thats from a Mazda dealer...

rikbar

Hi there,

welcome to the wonderful world of the RX8, I own a new R3 and have spent quite a bit of time on the owners club website getting lots of useful information.

The problem you are experiencing is probably caused through low compression caused by wear to the tips. This happens in the RX8 and depending upon maintenance has been known to happend within the warranty period of the car. As such the fact the car has lasted for over 6 years is pretty good going and indicates that it may have been looked after quite well. What kind of mileage has it done?

Anyway, this is one of the reasons that the RX8 can appear a rather cheap motor in the second hand market, and buying an '03 without doing some research is a pretty brave move. The fact the dealer is prepared to put a recon engine in it is probably a really good thing, as most RX8s of around this age will probably have a new engine fairly soon, thus it will make little difference to the resale value to be honest. The key thing is to make sure that if the engine is replaced it is sourcd from a reliable reconditioner, someone who knows their rotarys. The best way to find out about all of this is to join the owners club and come and ask a question there.

If you do decide to keep it, with a new engine, I cant imagine that any other car will return as many smiles per mile for the money. They are a bit thirsty, use a bit of oil, but they really are so much fun

Anyway if you do decide to keep it, join the owners club, you will save the membership when you buy your first batch of oil alone, and the guys there are really good at helping out with all kinds of car related things. There is also a really good social scene too, if you are interested in track days and other meets.

HTH

Rikbar