Hi! Drama Llamas!!

Begood2me

Hi Everyone.
Thought I would write on here to explain my story and hopefully get a bit of insite to whats going to happen now!
Brought a car for £5495 on 17th August 2011, Broke down and had to be towed to a garage 7th November 2011. New gearbox is needed £2000!!!!! So contacted CAB and also trading standards. They advised me to write a letter giving the dealer 14 days to reply to my request for a repair.
This morning I got a letter saying that being a second hand of a certain age it is now outside the cover afforded by the sales of goods act which they believe is 3-4 weeks :mad:
The car had 38,000 miles on it and its 4 years old!
Phoned Trading standards and they have forwarded the details to my local trading standards.
Does anyone know what will happen from here?
Many thanks XXX

Optimist

Well Trading Standards "might" take it up but I wouldn't bet on it. Did you not ask whoever said they were going to refer it ?

Not sure what you put on your original letter as recommended by CAB/Trading Standards but really rather than enter into a long dispute writing to garage again if it were me I would at this point raise a claim in the Small Claims Court. Hopefully you kept the letter from the garage. Once the garage get the court forms they might reconsider their options.

It is quite easy but CAB have a how the process works here

InsideInsurance

Alternatively, if you have Legal Expenses insurance on your Home Insurance then they may well fund a case against the retailer if they feel there is a reasonable prospect of success

Begood2me

Bit of an update. Had my area trading standards ring me and basically said it was " bad luck on my part! " So rang up the normal trading standards and they have advised me to write another letter....! Had a read through the OFT guidance for second hand car dealers, made an interesting read, but emailed them none the less asking why they were giving out misleading information on the website. They say i have a case, Someone in trading standards tells me bad luck! I just want honest advice!

Optimist

Begood2me wrote: »

Bit of an update. Had my area trading standards ring me and basically said it was " bad luck on my part! " So rang up the normal trading standards and they have advised me to write another letter....! Had a read through the OFT guidance for second hand car dealers, made an interesting read, but emailed them none the less asking why they were giving out misleading information on the website. They say i have a case, Someone in trading standards tells me bad luck! I just want honest advice!

Unfortunately the small claims limit is £5k so if you took them to Small Claims Court you would be limited to that. If you wanted the full amount its the high court with all the relevant costs

You could see a solicitor your local CAB should have a list of any that give a free half hours consultation but if you ask them to do any work they will charge.

arcon5

op wouldn't be entitled to a refund, if anything they would sue for the cost of repair (having given the garage the opportunity to inspect/put right which they are doing now).

The garage would need to prove the damage was caused by wear and tear or misuse rather than an inherent fault. What car is it?
A letter before action would be recommended before filing a court action.

Optimist

arcon5 wrote: »

op wouldn't be entitled to a refund, if anything they would sue for the cost of repair (having given the garage the opportunity to inspect/put right which they are doing now).

The garage would need to prove the damage was caused by wear and tear or misuse rather than an inherent fault. What car is it?
A letter before action would be recommended before filing a court action.

True, given the time between delivery and the fault acceptance would probably be deemed to have occurred.

Therefore small claims is the route.

Begood2me

I also brought the car on a credit card, so have been advised to start a claim with that. But all I am asking for is a repair, and if they refund me the money ( credit card ) I lose the car I guess!
They did seem to think the solicitors letter was a bit weird with the fact they came up with 3-4 weeks, and the fact that i had asked for a repair,and he came straight in with a solicitors letter, before i had even mentioned starting legal proceedings. The dealer has basically said not his problem, contact vauxhall for a post warranty contribution. But they have refused as I didnt buy the car from them, which to me makes sense, but as it was brought up in the solicitors letter, i wanted to show that i had tried and been refused.

arcon5

Begood2me wrote: »

I also brought the car on a credit card, so have been advised to start a claim with that. But all I am asking for is a repair, and if they refund me the money ( credit card ) I lose the car I guess!
They did seem to think the solicitors letter was a bit weird with the fact they came up with 3-4 weeks, and the fact that i had asked for a repair,and he came straight in with a solicitors letter, before i had even mentioned starting legal proceedings. The dealer has basically said not his problem, contact vauxhall for a post warranty contribution. But they have refused as I didnt buy the car from them, which to me makes sense, but as it was brought up in the solicitors letter, i wanted to show that i had tried and been refused.

they will unlikely refund the amount of the car anyway -- when presenting them with your evidence the dealer is refusing the assist, they will find the most cost effective way possible of dealing with it.

Begood2me

If it did go to small claims i would be trying to get back the cost of repairs as he clearly isnt going to fix it! Ringing up CAB tomorrow to get an appointment. I have all the paperwork, so seeing someone face to face would be much better, then trying to explain everything over the phone!
Forgot to say its a 2007 Vauxhall Astra Automatic 38000 on the clock.

arcon5

Begood2me wrote: »

If it did go to small claims i would be trying to get back the cost of repairs as he clearly isnt going to fix it! Ringing up CAB tomorrow to get an appointment. I have all the paperwork, so seeing someone face to face would be much better, then trying to explain everything over the phone!
Forgot to say its a 2007 Vauxhall Astra Automatic 38000 on the clock.

if you do end up repairing it yourself & find yourself needing to go to small claims, makesure you get several quotes for the work to demonstrate you tried to mitigate your losses.

if the CC company agree to assist, they may also ask for these