Dealing with a Car Dealer - Advice please

HumanBean_3

My son paid £1400 for a car twenty days ago. He drove to Scotland for a training course and stayed there for a week, not using the car. On the way back home after 10 miles, he broke down and was towed to a garage.

The mechanics gave him a long list of things which made the car unfixable without paying another £1400 pounds - you name it - cylinders, gasket, alternator, radiator, battery and so on. He phoned the dealer to say that the car was undriveable and that he wanted his money back.

The dealer said that he'd phone him the following day and has not picked up the phone since. My son and the car are in Scotland, the dealer is in the south of England.

It's a mess. Will my son have to pay out hundreds of pounds to get the car back to the dealer? How will he get his money back? How do you deal with a car dealer in circumstances like these?

I'm frantic with worry on his behalf and I'd be really grateful for your advice.

KonkyWonky

It depends what kind of guarantee the dealer offered when he sold the car, if the car is an ex trade in and is "sold as seen" then I'm not sure he has much come back to be honest.

I'm by no means an expert though so hopefully someone else can give you better news.....

Inactive

KonkyWonky wrote: »

It depends what kind of guarantee the dealer offered when he sold the car, if the car is an ex trade in and is "sold as seen" then I'm not sure he has much come back to be honest.

" Sold as seen " does not apply to retail sales from a dealer.

Contact Trading Standards if the garage will not help.

LandyAndy

Highlights the importance of membership of some sort of breakdown/recovery organisation if you are going to drive cheap cars long distances.

hartcjhart

it sounds like he has been unlucky,
TBH if he drove the car to Scotland from the south east of england then at time of purchase there would have been nothing wrong with the car,

perhaps there was no anti freeze and that caused a water leak

hartcjhart

LandyAndy wrote: »

Highlights the importance of membership of some sort of breakdown/recovery organisation if you are going to drive cheap cars long distances.

not only cheap cars,BUT any car can break down and for the smallish cost it gives peace of mind

Kurtis_Blue

A £1400 is not going, nor needs, to be perfect but it needs to be roadworthy and fit for purpose.

Get the written report from the garage and possibly a 2nd opinion then send a recorded letter giving 10 days to refund or fix, then commence county court.

That would be my course of action.

harveybobbles

What caused the breakdown? As you say

cylinders, gasket, alternator, radiator, battery

so which was it?

catflea

hartcjhart wrote: »

it sounds like he has been unlucky,
TBH if he drove the car to Scotland from the south east of england then at time of purchase there would have been nothing wrong with the car,

perhaps there was no anti freeze and that caused a water leak

If you know a car has a fault, its often easy to bodge something that will make it appear to work. For £1400 you would expect it to be working for more than ~900 miles.....

hartcjhart

catflea wrote: »

If you know a car has a fault, its often easy to bodge something that will make it appear to work. For £1400 you would expect it to be working for more than ~900 miles.....

I am assuming the OP means the headgasket has gone,eg cylinders/gasket/radiator??
very hard to 'bodge' a repair to a HG that would last for 900 miles

HumanBean_3

Many thanks for the helpful replies and practical advice.

To HarveyBobbles - I'm not sure what the cause of the original breakdown was. The car lost power, the lights went out, the warning lights started flashing and it stopped. It was initially diagnosed as needing a new alternator, but the mechanics who looked at it the next day, said that a replacement alternator wouldn't be enough to get it going. They diagnosed a number of critical faults including the ones I've mentioned above. Hope that helps - I don't know my way around an engine.

Following the advice from people here, he's going to email the dealer and tell him that he will get an independent report from the AA or RAC and that he wants his money back. He'll have to get some quotes from breakdown firms that can tow/transport the car back, I suppose.

I'm very grateful to you all.