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Bought used car, needs repair - repair or refund?

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mistrihelen
mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 19 April 2010 at 10:41PM in Motoring
Hi - advice needed, any received tonight particularly welcome!

Bought a used car today. £2.5k, automatic Ford Focus 2002, 66,000 mileage, one year's MOT. Test drive seemed okay. On the way home it starts doing the most terrible shudder while it's in reverse.

Google suggests this happens quite often and can be transmission or number of other things. Dealer has said we can take it in for repair.

But in this situation, would you rather have a refund and look for something new (providing he will give us a refund) or trust a repair could work, given that on the surface it was in great condition and we won't get much more for our money?

For those who want more detail: we have 2-2.5k to spend, and ideally want five doors as I'm expecting a baby in two months and don't want to faff in a three door with a child seat. Our current car (which we have part-exchanged to get this) doesn't lock (amazingly no one has stolen it since that fault appeared!) and is basically a total state, given to us free and now on its last legs. So we do need a new car, but I don't think there's much out there that fits our requirements that isn't too old (over ten years) or with loads of mileage. Neither of us know much about cars, which is why I've been looking at dealers rather than private sales. It took us ages to find this one, but I don't know if I trust it after seeing/hearing this fault today.
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Comments

  • somech
    somech Posts: 624 Forumite
    get a report by the garage stating what the fault is then post back it could be something minor and nothing to worry about
  • mistrihelen
    mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 20 April 2010 at 9:57AM
    The garage have given us our old car back (only worth a couple of hundred on the part-exchange so I don't think they're missing it) while they look into the problem.

    But I guess what I'm asking is if a used car developed a fault in the first drive after purchase, would people generally prefer to get a refund straight away, or hold out to see if it's easily fixed?

    I'll post again once I know specifics. I would be more relaxed if we weren't on such a tight budget with a baby about to arrive!
  • mistrihelen
    mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 20 April 2010 at 5:27PM
    Hmm well the first garage can't deal with it as it's an automatic apparently (they knew this when we took it there) so they've passed it on to someone else now. I still feel uneasy about taking it back but I guess I should see whether it's a little or big problem before deciding once and for all. Husband says it's a nice drive when it's not shuddering in reverse.
  • MX5huggy
    MX5huggy Posts: 7,167 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Unfortunately its not really up to you, the garage has the right of offer repair or refund. Its not your right to demand refund.
  • mistrihelen
    mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    MX5huggy wrote: »
    Unfortunately its not really up to you, the garage has the right of offer repair or refund. Its not your right to demand refund.

    I've read you can reject a car under the Sales of Goods Act soon after purchase.

    http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/advice/problemswithvehicles-sum6.cfm

    In which case I should be able to get a refund considering we told the dealer of the problem within an hour of driving the car away.
  • jd82
    jd82 Posts: 306 Forumite
    I believe the dealer has to be given a fair chance to fix the problem. So far they are investigating and may fix the problem for you.

    Second hand cars will always have faults, I think it is unreasonable to demand a refund unless the dealer can't fix it.
  • Kilty_2
    Kilty_2 Posts: 5,818 Forumite
    Are you in Scotland?

    If so, yes, you CAN demand a refund, and I have :)
  • mistrihelen
    mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 20 April 2010 at 10:06PM
    jd82 wrote: »
    I believe the dealer has to be given a fair chance to fix the problem. So far they are investigating and may fix the problem for you.

    Second hand cars will always have faults, I think it is unreasonable to demand a refund unless the dealer can't fix it.

    Hi,

    It doesn't say that in the link I provided though. And, not to seem too snippy, I hope, but what I'm actually asking, and have asked in every post, is given a choice (let's say the dealer will let me have a refund), what would most people want to do - refund or repair?

    Also, I don't believe that second hand cars will always have faults. They won't always be in top condition, and they might start to develop more serious faults later, but they should be roadworthy (as per the link I put up). This car isn't.

    I'm well aware the dealer may not like the idea of a refund, but it can't hurt to ask. At the moment, aware I have to buy a car that's safe for a new baby to travel in, I'm perhaps a little bit more stressed about this situation than I would be normally.
  • mistrihelen
    mistrihelen Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 21 April 2010 at 10:02AM
    Update - husband rang dealer this morning, he was happy to offer a refund (and asked us if there was anything else he could do for us), which we're going to take.

    I think we've learned a good lesson from this - ie that being relative car novices we need to do a lot more research before a purchase (it probably doesn't help that I don't drive, and only car OH has had was given to him).

    Obviously we were lucky that the dealer was good enough to give us a refund quite easily and I do appreciate that. I was never going to wade in demanding one (though I think we were within our rights to), but simply wanted advice on whether refund/repair was the best way to go when a new (used) car is seriously problematic straight away.

    Of course now we go through the lovely search for another car, which will be a challenge on our budget. Might need some luck :)
  • davemorton
    davemorton Posts: 29,084 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Car Insurance Carver!
    If I was you I would ask the same dealer to try and find one for you, as he seems to have given you excellent service, not many second hand dealers would be so easy to trade with.
    “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
    Juvenal, The Sixteen Satires
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