Rejecting a new car

danlojo

I asked on the motoring board about this but I think this may be the better place for it now.

The car was purchased new from a dealer in March. As soon as we began using the aircon at the end of June, the problems began.

The aircon was taking up to 20 mins to kick in and was also causing a 'engine malfunction' light to come on which then put the car into restricted acceleration/use.

The car has been on the garage more than we have owned it since then. On the last occasion they had it for nearly 3 weeks. The main problem is that the fault is intermittent and the last time we took it back in they could not find any fault with the car (via fault codes on the onboard computer system).

Prior to the last incident it was in the garage and we were asked to collect it. Whilst we waited the mechanic took it out on a test before they handed it over and sure enough it faulted whilst out on the test run and we again left the garage with a hire car.

We then formally rejected the car on the grounds of it not being fit for purpose and that we have no confidence with it any more. I cannot risk being in the middle of nowhere and the same thing happening with 3 children in the car.

It is now in the hands of Head Office (HO) as I am sick to death of it and have no confidence in the car whatsoever. A 'field engineer' was sent out by HO where he could find no fault with the car. HO have now said that as their engineer could not find a fault at that time that we must have the car back. (Bear in mind 3 different garages know full well how intermittent this problem is) This fault could have been due to a manufacturing error as it did not occur until the first use of the aircon.

What legal grounds do we have now? I thought that if we formally rejected it then the dealer (who we have the contract with) should help sort out a way of refund/replacement of the car.

We actually got a good deal on the car but this is now turning the purchase into a living nightmare which I could really do without. £17k is a lot of money and I would expect that a car of this value to do as it should.

Help!! Any legal eagles??

Optimist

There is case law in rejecting expensive items like cars, indeed one such was 11 months after purchase, but in these cases the fault had become apparent within a couple of weeks after purchase and it was only after the buyer was at the end of their tether that they rejected.

Your problem is acceptance, and whether having had the car for several months without any problems before you rejected it, you are actually deemed to have accepted and can now claim rejection. As your problems are to do with the air con it might be a reasonable argument that you could not be expected to find any problems until the weather allowed the use of the air con however that would be for a court to decide assuming the car company do not play ball.

Given the cost of the car, any legal comeback is highly likely to be a High Court matter and I would suggest you get a solicitor involved.

danlojo

Thankyou for your reply Optimist.

We are going down the route that we had never used the aircon before so we wouldn't have known until it's first use.

We just don't want to be out of pocket with this nor be in possession of a car which is obviously 'intermittently' faulty.

I cannot see how the onboard computers are not picking the fault codes up either? Maybe they are faulty themselves?

The garage had it in when it was showing a fault but the computer wasn't recognising the fault.

I'm so angry over this and the stress is terrible. All I want is a car which I have full confidence in. We obviously would like a replacement but they have suggested that they would have to source a 6 month old similar mileage car to what we have. We don't want a 'second hand' car which someone else has had. If we had a faulty vacuum then Dyson wouldn't source us one which was 6 months old and had been used by someone else....they'd give us a new one!

For 25 years we have been loyal customers to this manufacturer and not had a problem until now. Obviously our loyalty means diddly squat.

I don't really want, nor could I probably afford a legal advisor so my first port of call Monday morning will be to see if the CAB can help.

I hope the dealership are going to be fair too but we'll see on Monday.

somethingcorporate

Have you looked at your home insurance? these often come with legal services.

unholyangel

danlojo wrote: »

We don't want a 'second hand' car which someone else has had. If we had a faulty vacuum then Dyson wouldn't source us one which was 6 months old and had been used by someone else....they'd give us a new one!

Well the problem with that is that a) there is a huge price difference and b) how often do people sell on dyson's with price varying depending on mileage/damage etc?

The law doesnt state that they have to give you new. It says if replaced it should be on a like for like basis. For example, mobile phones.....its not uncommon to be given a refurb if your handset breaks. Your own car is technically now second hand. So by offering you a car of same age and mileage, they technically are giving you a like for like basis. You could perhaps ask that your warranty be extended.

You can reject outright if within a reasonable time, however i think you'll struggle to prove it was within a reasonable time. After that time has passed, you can request one remedy (repair, replace, refund) over the other but the seller can refuse if it is disproportionately costly. Also, any refund given can take into account use you have had of the item.

I know you've said you cant afford a solicitor, but are there none in your area who offer a free half hour consultation?

danlojo

Well, I got the car returned to me today as F*rd have repaired it and have assured me that the problem will not happen again. The computer was showing a fault code from 5 months ago which apparently showed that the DPF was faulting. Why the hell it's taken since the beginning of July to work they out I have no idea.

Lovely clean sparkly car and a full tank of fuel (although it did have 3/4 in when it went in) and now the bad bit..........:mad:

they have added an extra 1843 miles onto the clock from the mileage it had when it went in. So our 7 months old car has 7170 miles on it but in total over the amount of times that the garage have had it they have put on well over 2000 miles:mad:

I have to say that all this stress over a brand new £18k car has taken its toll and I burst into tears to which the service guy returning the car said, "but we have to thoroughly test it!".......Test it adding 2-300 miles yes, but not over 1800......

I've been lead to believe that they have been using it as a run around in their 'testing' process :mad:

I cant believe the stress this car and F*rd has caused. cry

I'm normally a tough old boot but this has ground me down.