Taking a car dealer to court

sgt_bilko_2

At the end of last year I purchased a used approved car from a main dealer and I feel I was deliberately misled about several aspects concerning the history and condition of the vehicle.

Numerous problems emerged shortly after purchase and to cut a long story short after about 2 months I discovered a rust problem with the bodywork, so I took it to another mainline dealer for the same brand of car who looked at the vehicle and concluded that it would cost several thousand pounds to repair. I do not feel the car is of sufficient quality.

Following numerous attempts to try and make my dissatisfaction known I wrote a letter under the sale of goods act and in a nutshell their response was simply an invitation to spend more money by either repairing the car through their garage at my expense or taking it back as a trade in at "market value" against another one. I should point out that at every stage they have been deliberately slow and unhelpful, which has wasted a lot of my time.

I recently wrote a letter of impending civil action and they did not even reply, so I am now in the process of starting a civil action. I have registered at the moneyclaim site to file a small claim and feel I have a very strong case but I know these things often come down to technicalities and I want to make sure I use the right words. Does anybody have any advice? I've found consumer direct are no help at all.

deanos

Would rust be covered by the SOGA, not sure it would ?

bris

More info is needed to determine if you have a claim. The age of the car is a big factor in the process. You would not expect to have a rust problem on a three year old car but six year old one may start to develope problems if it's been left to corrode in the salty winter conditions. What other problems are you having, have you been in contact with the garage regarding the other problems.
Please bear in mind a civil action will have more chance if you have been having on going problems that the garage have failed to remedy, complaining about a used car 8 months later will not have much hope of success. The biggest factor is the age and cost of the vehicle, this will be used to determine whether you should expect more from the car.

alistair.long

you state at the end of last year you bought the car.

I would contact VOSA to see if you should have been sold the car of that quality.
If VOSA say its ok then I dont see a claim, if VOSA say it should never have been sold, then you can get a refund, plus cash for your time wasted.

Equaliser123

alistair.long wrote: »

you state at the end of last year you bought the car.

I would contact VOSA to see if you should have been sold the car of that quality.
If VOSA say its ok then I dont see a claim, if VOSA say it should never have been sold, then you can get a refund, plus cash for your time wasted.

VOSA won't make a determination as to whether the car was of satisfactory quality at the time of the sale. Ultimately, only a Court can do that.

OP has probably lost the right to a refund. Depending on the value of the car vs cost of repair, it may be mitigating losses to claim the repair costs.

And Courts don't award "cash for time wasted".

Flyboy152

deanos wrote: »

Would rust be covered by the SOGA, not sure it would ?

Wouldn't it be covered under the manufacturer's anti-corrosion warranty?

Flyboy152

bris wrote: »

More info is needed to determine if you have a claim. The age of the car is a big factor in the process. You would not expect to have a rust problem on a three year old car but six year old one may start to develope problems if it's been left to corrode in the salty winter conditions. What other problems are you having, have you been in contact with the garage regarding the other problems.
Please bear in mind a civil action will have more chance if you have been having on going problems that the garage have failed to remedy, complaining about a used car 8 months later will not have much hope of success. The biggest factor is the age and cost of the vehicle, this will be used to determine whether you should expect more from the car.

If it was sold under the manufacturer's approved scheme, it wouldn't have been very old, certainly not at the age where one would have expected to find rust as acceptable.