Rejecting year old car with faults for 9 months. My rights under SOGA?

blue_monkey_2

I am a tad confused, can someone help me in plain English.

We bought a new car in Nov 09. Within 3 months it has to go into the garage to have a judder fixed. It came back after a few days - it did it again. It went back. Within 6 months the window would open but not close so I could not have the window open. The judder remained.

Now, it has been back in 7 times and we are currently without it. To give them credit, the dealer has given us a courtasy car but it is small, we bought a top of the range 7 seater, I currently have a 4 seater basic model half the size on my drive. On Friday they told us that the specialist it went to could not fix it and they would try again. They have currently had it for nearly 3 weeks and want it longer. Frankly, it is embarrassing to have bought a new car and it is never on our drive.

In total we have NOT had the car for 3 months of the year.

I am so fed up. I just want my car back but I want it working properly.

On Friday I called them about rejecting the car and swapping it for another and they are getting back to me tomorrow.

In the meantime I have to decide on whether the service side 'try' something else to fix the window or to have it back now and then take it back to them after Xmas. Which implies that they are not going to be able to fix it indefinately, else we would get it back before xmas anyway (which is still 2 weeks away).

Can anyone please tell me what I can do if they refuse be sending back this car because surely it cannot be right. They told me that they have to fix it, but just how long I am supposed to wait - I have no idea? I really, really do not want to be able to go out without my car for any longer. Can anyone advise.

We are happy to pay more to get a different car (but not a pre-owned) but do not want to pay 'book price' as we do not think this is fair for a car that is a year old and that has been broken for most of the year we have had it. We even had to take it on holiday this year, broken, as they could not get the part before the holiday and we could not get on holiday without it. They said it was fine though as it had breakdown cover. We returned it to them when we got back.

Just trying to get some advise before I speak to them tomorrow. Just depressed and want my car back really, but it is broken and seems like it cannot be fixed the the only part left to replace is the loom - and there is no loom available.

PS. We paid with lots of different cards. We transferred full amount from our Saving account into the bank but Abbey refused to let us pay for it with the debit card so we went through all our debit and credit cards, using the max they would allow through the machine (and then went home and paid the credit cards with with the bank balance - daft or what) so we could take it away, so I don't know how we fall back on the credit card protection.

wealdroam

If you paid at £100 on a credit card, the cc co is jointly responsible for the whole purchase.

Read the Section 75 Refunds article for details.

blue_monkey_2

thanks weldroam,

I've just gone through all of the pages on the link you gave. Wow, I find it weird that the CC Co would refund the total cost of the new car though.

I am finding something difficult to understand, if I do the S75 refund, will they refund in full or the book price? If it is the book price then it is not worth losing so much money, this is what we feel we are up against. It only has 6,000 miles on the clock.

And how do I go about getting around? Surely I'd have to stop using the car to stop any further damage and we do not have the money to buy another. So what are my options with that? There is nothing on those pages (actually, going to ask the question on there now).

bris

Don't get carried away with the cc charge back, they will not get involved until all proper remedies have failed. The dealership is dealing with this the best they can to fix the problem so until this fails then there is not a lot that can be done as regards to rejecting the car. The dealership have the right to fix the car in a reasonable time frame, now this is a bit of a grey area as no one really knows what that timeframe is, trading standards need to be contacted here to decide if enough time has passed to warrant further action.
If all fails the dealership would be able to offer a car of the same age spec and mileage, or better. If a similar replacement can't be sourced then you will get the value of the car, they will never give you the full new price back.

dangers

AFAIK (unless things have changed in the last 12 years!), if you want to reject a car, you need to ensure that you have given the dealer enough opportunity to fix it (sounds like you have!) and then put it in writing to the Dealer Principal of the dealership, stating clearly that you wish to reject the car and why. I would also copy in the After Sales Department of the manufacturer for their information (and input). Keep the letter as factual as possible. Unfortunately a courtesy car is likely to be basic, and not to the same spec of the car you own. Once you have rejected the car, you may find that the dealership require the courtesy car back.

Everything above is from when I worked in the motor trade - but that was 12 years or so ago, so things may have changed. Good luck

Optimist

The fact you had the car for 3 months before the faults came to light might go against you for rejection but more probably not. I think in light of recent decisions in the high court and indeed earlier in the court of appeal you stand a very good chance of getting a full refund.

I would write to the garage rejecting and asking for a full refund or you will go to court. I assume the car is over the £5000 limit on small claims in which case a solicitor would be a good move.

You might like to point out to the garage that in a recent and somewhat similar case Edwards v Hartley 2007 the garage had to give a full refund and pay full legal costs.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for the advice. Please can I ask what happens when I reject the car? Do I take it to them and hand the keys back, or what? I cannot find anything despite looking. Do I stop driving the car rightaway? I have no idea what it all means.

The dealer is seeming at the moment to play ball but not sure he is fobbing me off until tomorrow. I am waiting to hear back from the manufacturer. There is a full paper train and the dealer IS being helpful as he said we have been a good customer and have been patient with them while they are trying to sort it but they HAVE admitted that they do not know how to fix it.

However, I am not sure how all of this works. I've looke don the CD website - I'd say 3 months without the car is unreasonable to be fair - also to be told that they might not be able to fix it and do not know when I will actually get my car back is also unreasonable. I do not want to drag it out for another 6 months and find out I cannot do anything about it.

Also to add: After I had the car about 4 months I was crossing a roundabout and it just cut out - no dash lights, nothing, I was terrified as the power steering and brakes would not work. It took me a while to figure out what happened and I had to turn the key off and restart the car but it did not stall as the lights were not on, it just turned itself off. I was scared about driving it for a few months after that and it seems it all relates to this wiring loom they are having trouble with at the moment - that cannot be replaced. I called them and told them what had happened and they told me to call the breakdown service if it happened again.

I just want it sorted now and I am asking these things so I know what my rights are, I do not want to make myself look like a fool because as usual, my husband is making me sort it out. If I left it to him it would never get done anyway, but I just want to go about things the right way.

Thank you.