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Car woes - do I have any rights?
Hi there,
This is my first post so please be kind!
In June '11 I bought a Ford Puma out of desperation. I live in the sticks and have 2 children who I need to get to school, need to get to work etc, with no public transport options available and I had just had a crash in my other car.
It only cost £800 but I thought it would do fine as a runaround and as I bought it from a garage I felt quite secure. They assured me they had bought it off a lass who had it and the clutch went and she didn't want the hassle. They said they'd fixed the problems and it was good to go.
I took the car and immediately felt concerned, the steering wheel rattled like heck when driving, it felt unsafe and I spoke to the garage who told me to have it back in. I took it in, also noticing the indicator on the off side was blinking double time at the back, not at all at the front and the headlight blew on the off side.
They fixed the issues and away I went...
Only it still didnt feel right, it made a wierd noise when I turned the wheel and I said as much to the garage. A week later I was driving down a country lane with mil and 2 kids and went to break to pull to a passing place and the brakes just went. I managed (somehow, with help of god im sure) to steer into the hedge and gently work down gear and use handbrake to stop. I called my friend who came to help and knows the garage owners dad so as the guy who recommended them is feeling pretty bad. I got the car towed to another local garage who worked it over and showed me some bad stuff that came to about £7-800 to fix. It was things that the garage said they sorted the first time I took it back, theyd cut out a wheel arch, they had not fitted a steering rack properly, the wheel had 3 and 1/4 turns one way and 1 and 3/4 the other so was rubbing on the arm, this had also caused the wheel to sever the break hose (i think that was it!) Anyway, long story short (ish) the garage who looked it over to, rang the garage i bought it from and suggested they return my money, told them they would not put their name to that car and that had i been a further 100mtrs down the road when the brakes went, on a 20% inc hill, we would have died as we would not have stopped. So, garage I bought it from took it back for 4 weeks, we eneded up paying £250 for parts (half of the parts bill apparently) and nothing for the labour.
Trouble is, I took it back to the good garage to get my tyres changed and for them to inspect the work done and they said they could barely see any change, they had not sorted the front shocks, steering rack, wheel makes god awful noise and has too much turn on it still, so it is still rubbing. Have asked the garage for a full list of parts and works carried out as invoice just said "parts charge....£250"
they said I would get this on Friday, then I sent them mail, then called again and still nothing...
I am not sure what to do now and where to go with this as they admitted to the other garage they hadnt done all the works they claimed to first time round and this was meant to rectify that...
I dont expect a new car for £800 but I expect what I am told I am getting, I expect the work they said theyve done to be of good quality and for the car to be roadworthy....
Do I have anywhere to take this?!
thanks in advance for reading my mega-essay! Any help or advice appreciated.
Vix
This is my first post so please be kind!
In June '11 I bought a Ford Puma out of desperation. I live in the sticks and have 2 children who I need to get to school, need to get to work etc, with no public transport options available and I had just had a crash in my other car.
It only cost £800 but I thought it would do fine as a runaround and as I bought it from a garage I felt quite secure. They assured me they had bought it off a lass who had it and the clutch went and she didn't want the hassle. They said they'd fixed the problems and it was good to go.
I took the car and immediately felt concerned, the steering wheel rattled like heck when driving, it felt unsafe and I spoke to the garage who told me to have it back in. I took it in, also noticing the indicator on the off side was blinking double time at the back, not at all at the front and the headlight blew on the off side.
They fixed the issues and away I went...
Only it still didnt feel right, it made a wierd noise when I turned the wheel and I said as much to the garage. A week later I was driving down a country lane with mil and 2 kids and went to break to pull to a passing place and the brakes just went. I managed (somehow, with help of god im sure) to steer into the hedge and gently work down gear and use handbrake to stop. I called my friend who came to help and knows the garage owners dad so as the guy who recommended them is feeling pretty bad. I got the car towed to another local garage who worked it over and showed me some bad stuff that came to about £7-800 to fix. It was things that the garage said they sorted the first time I took it back, theyd cut out a wheel arch, they had not fitted a steering rack properly, the wheel had 3 and 1/4 turns one way and 1 and 3/4 the other so was rubbing on the arm, this had also caused the wheel to sever the break hose (i think that was it!) Anyway, long story short (ish) the garage who looked it over to, rang the garage i bought it from and suggested they return my money, told them they would not put their name to that car and that had i been a further 100mtrs down the road when the brakes went, on a 20% inc hill, we would have died as we would not have stopped. So, garage I bought it from took it back for 4 weeks, we eneded up paying £250 for parts (half of the parts bill apparently) and nothing for the labour.
Trouble is, I took it back to the good garage to get my tyres changed and for them to inspect the work done and they said they could barely see any change, they had not sorted the front shocks, steering rack, wheel makes god awful noise and has too much turn on it still, so it is still rubbing. Have asked the garage for a full list of parts and works carried out as invoice just said "parts charge....£250"
they said I would get this on Friday, then I sent them mail, then called again and still nothing...
I am not sure what to do now and where to go with this as they admitted to the other garage they hadnt done all the works they claimed to first time round and this was meant to rectify that...
I dont expect a new car for £800 but I expect what I am told I am getting, I expect the work they said theyve done to be of good quality and for the car to be roadworthy....
Do I have anywhere to take this?!
thanks in advance for reading my mega-essay! Any help or advice appreciated.
Vix
0
Comments
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Take it back to the garage and request all your money back. If they tell you to sling it, remind them that you've got two engineer reports from another garage that Trading Standards and your local paper would be interested in reading.0
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Thanks so much for the reply.
To get them to "repair" it when the brake line was severed I did threaten to take it further (having no idea what further is!) So I will google it on trading standards! Thanks again!!0 -
The worst part about it all is that the steering issue would have been ridiculously simple to solve. So simple I can't believe they didn't do it.0
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Devon Trading Standards website advises all consumers to contact Consumer Direct national helpline for consumer issues: 08454 040506
I'd post the Devon Trading Standards link but am not allowed to yet (damn my newbie status)0
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