Can I reject New Car as being unfit to drive?

Inactive

Lum wrote: »

Surely if the car was valued at £2000 under the scrappage then they need to give you your original car back, or the £2000 value of it?

I don't think that the OP would want a cubic metre of crushed metal back.. :rotfl::D

traceye

Lum wrote: »

Surely if the car was valued at £2000 under the scrappage then they need to give you your original car back, or the £2000 value of it?

Well, thats what I thought!! In fact I'd welcome my beloved old VW back, it never had a fault!!

They infact knocked off £3600 in total for scrapping it (£1000 from government and £2600 from the dealer).

Lum

Does the paperwork actually say that the car was accepted at a value of £3600?

System

Since windscreen wipers are a critical component for safe driving, and the car WILL fail an MOT (if one was due) should the fuse blow, then the dealer should be disgusted with themselves, they should have never let you drive the car away until they had fixed the fault and confirmed it was fixed by extensive testing.

Also, any loan car they offer you whilst the car is in for repair should be of similar spec / quality - the manufacturer can usually help dealers with loan cars when the repair is taking a while.

Make sure that when you go to collect the car after they say it is fixed, this last time, run the wipers on wet and dry screen for a good length of time to double check they work. Try all speeds, and switch on and off several times fairly quickly, because when the wiper motor starts up it draws more current than when it is running, so the fuse is most likely to blow when the wiper motor starts.

If you purchased the car new, and they cannot fix this fault, and they offer a replacement, they should not simply expect you to accept a used vehicle as a replacement. But equally, you should not expect to get a new car at no cost either.
They should make you an extremely favourable offer to get you a new replacement of similar spec which they should either provide as a direct swap or at least the amount of cash they expect from you should be minimal, since it is their fault and you have only done 4K miles and it was only 7 months old when you first reported the fault.

In these cases, the manufacturer and the dealer should both contribute to the cost of the replacement.

This info may help too: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/know-your-rights/cars/

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

I would not say you have you would have grounds to reject the car; whilst Hyundai are having problems fixing the issue they are at least trying

atrixblue.-MFR-.

unreaonable, gosh the dealer could have it back and forth for five years they dont care if it takes that long to fix and when warrenty expires its the OP's problem then to fix it. i would have a chat with virgin credit card, then arrange a meating with the dealership you bought it from manager. allow them to fix it this time but before you drive away sit in it in the forecourt testing it if it blows again then you dont have to travel back to scream and shout.

traceye

Thanks very much for everones comments - all much appreciated...


I will post a reply to let people know the outcome!!

Thanks

Wig

I imagine being a new car it cost way more than £5000

That means if you reject it and they say 'we don't agree' you are going to the court where costs are higher and legal costs can be recovered by the winning party, which means you could lose and be faced with a very big invoice.

You can attempt to reject it - unless they agree, a court (a very expensive court) would have to determine if your rejection was acceptable.

If you don't reject it you are still covered by the SOGA, they have to Repair, Refund or Replace (it's their choice) .

Refund they can deduct a reasonable amount for your use of the vehicle for one year. If you argue that you have not had full use because you could not drive in the rain you may reasonably expect a higher refund amount.

Replace with a new or equal (used) car could also be an option

Repair, this is what they are working on, but they are failing.


If they chose to stop repairing or they offer you a refund or replace that you don't like, then (as I see it) you have 2 options
1. A possibly very expensive/risky court case, as previously mentioned.
2. Getting it repaired at your cost and recovering the repair costs in small claims court, but what if your repair goes wrong aswell? BIG problem.

Personally if it were me, I'd be inclined to let them carry on repairing it, and be reasonable & cooperative with them, and when they finally throw in the towel, hope that they make a good reasonable alternative offer. Because if they don't, the alternative for you doesn't bear thinking about.

It may be possible of they offer a partial refund to accept it under protest and small claims them for the extra you think you are due, but I imagine if you accept under protest they would just withdraw the offer and say "see you in court then" and that would mean the very expensive kind of court.

If you don't like their offer and they won't improve it, then you should seek professional legal advice before formally rejecting the car.

Wig

traceye wrote: »

Hi no I didnt get GAP insurance...When I said to Head Office that I would be writing to reject the car, she asked me if I had finance on it or not .... does anyone know why this would make a difference?

I believe it has to do with the type of law that covers you. If it's on finance I think it is "common law" ( I THINK it's that) which the car is rejected under, and the finance co. is jointly liable with the dealer, you can take either one or both to court. I can't remember what the specific differences are using common law to SOGA

System

Wig wrote: »

I imagine being a new car it cost way more than £5000

That means if you reject it and they say 'we don't agree' you are going to the court where costs are higher and legal costs can be recovered by the winning party, which means you could lose and be faced with a very big invoice.

Wig, you scaremonger you

There is very little chance that the OP would ever need to think or worry about taking anyone to court.

Hyundai, the manufacturer, are going to want to resolve this issue amicably if at all possible, they would not want the bad press associated with not being able or willing to fix such a serious fault within a reasonable time frame (5 attempts - 4 failures to date is approaching the limits of being reasonable)

I believe the OP will get a satisfactory response from Hyundai if this last attempt to fix the fault also fails - in the USA this car would have been deemed A LEMON a long while back :cool: in the UK SOGA protects the consumer, irrespective of the value of the item purchased.

Nobody in their right mind could expect a consumer to put up with a company continually failing to fix a fault that makes the item unusable - remember, a car with no windscreen wipers is unroadworthy and hence should NOT be driven at all, which means the OP will not in practice have any use of the car until the wipers are repaired once and for all (beyond any reasonable doubt).

traceye - I hope they do fix it for you this time - best of luck.