Hi! Drama Llamas!!

Begood2me

Sent my letter giving him 14 days to respond, saying i have given them reasonable oppurtunities to resolve and they have failed to do so. If its not resolved i will instigate claim proceedings. Got a reply back today, again from his solicitor saying Our client regrets in th circumstances he is unable to assist me any furthur. Phoned Trading Standards to be told " Claim off your credit Card." So is that it now. Dodgy dealer off the hook? What is the purpose of Trading Standards if you end up doing all you was advised, for them to basically give up! I thought if things were not dealt with they got involved?
Many Thanks X

somethingcorporate

Generally they do not act on the instance of a single customer. They tend to put together "cases" before doing anything about it, unfortunately.

Have you spoken to your credit card provider? S75 makes them jointly liable for your product.

arcon5

Also to add...

if op was making a claim for the gear box, I don't think they would be entitled to the full cost of replacing the gear box as this would be betterment. It would be fair to calculate it by looking at the life expectancy of a gear box, looking at a fair price to do the work to workout a value of depreciation per year or per x miles. Then subtract the value for the yrs/mileage the car has done from the cost of the repair.

So op could be asked to contribute towards to cost, which I think is acceptable.

Akthough what would you expect a gear box to last on a Vauxhall Astra? Not sure it's such a straight forward answer. From what I read anywhere between 100k and 250k (so a good number of years for the average driver). So ops contribution could be anywhere from 40% down to 10%.....

verityboo

arcon5 wrote: »

Also to add...

if op was making a claim for the clutch, I don't think they would be entitled to the full cost of replacing the clutch as this would be betterment. It would be fair to calculate it by looking at the life expectancy of a clutch, looking at a fair price to do the work to workout a value of depreciation per year or per x miles. Then subtract the value for the yrs/mileage the car has done from the cost of the repair.

So op could be asked to contribute towards to cost, which I think is acceptable.

Akthough what would you expect a clutch to last on a Vauxhall Astra? Not sure it's such a straight forward answer. From what I read anywhere between 100k and 250k (so a good number of years for the average driver). So ops contribution could be anywhere from 40% down to 10%.....

The OP has only stated that its an auto with no exact fault details

arcon5

verityboo wrote: »

The OP has only stated that its an auto with no exact fault details

Op has told us "New gearbox is needed".

Doesn't matter what the exact fault is anyway, it can be applied to whatever part has gone kpumpt!

Begood2me

Hi, in total the repairs cost me £2252.94 Diagnostics showed output speed sensor circuit. Also the trackrod ends needed replacing. On a visual check they noted there was " engine noise" ( Something else to worry about! ) But for a 4 year old car with 38000 miles, i expect the gearbox to last me abit longer! The solicitors letter telling me 3-4 weeks SOGA is ridiculous. It cost me £5400 to buy. But SOGA only covers me for a month? A total of 11 weeks it lasted, so surely that makes it not fit for purpose?

arcon5

Begood2me wrote: »

The solicitors letter telling me 3-4 weeks SOGA is ridiculous. It cost me £5400 to buy. But SOGA only covers me for a month?

SoGA is continuous. It's just within the first 6 months a fault is considered inherent unless retailer can prove otherwise. After 6 months burden of prove is on the consumer.

Begood2me wrote: »

A total of 11 weeks it lasted, so surely that makes it not fit for purpose?

Not fit for purpose after it was damaged and unusable, not of satisfactory quality also due to the time it laasted. It didn't last 11 weeks though did it? It last 4 years -- wear and tear is something you would need to consider.


Seems to me the retailer is saying they consider 4 years reasonable for the part to last and therefore has lasted reasonable time.
If I was you I would calculate how much wear and tear has been placed on the item 38k miles and use that to calculate what you think they should pay. After that you have a basis to sue.

Flyboy152

Begood2me wrote: »

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

Write back to them advising them that they are talking b****it. Ask them to point to which part of the SOGA says that.

Flyboy152

Optimist wrote: »

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.

A common misconception. If both parties agree and the court allows it, then a higher amount can be dealt with by the small claims court.

Flyboy152

Begood2me wrote: »

Sent my letter giving him 14 days to respond, saying i have given them reasonable oppurtunities to resolve and they have failed to do so. If its not resolved i will instigate claim proceedings. Got a reply back today, again from his solicitor saying Our client regrets in th circumstances he is unable to assist me any furthur. Phoned Trading Standards to be told " Claim off your credit Card." So is that it now. Dodgy dealer off the hook? What is the purpose of Trading Standards if you end up doing all you was advised, for them to basically give up! I thought if things were not dealt with they got involved?
Many Thanks X

Not even close. I would say ignore Trading Standards in this instance. I am actually shocked at their attitude to this. It is nothing more than a delaying tactic, designed to discourage you from pursuing the case. I would advise you to continue with your threat to open a claim with SMC. I am pretty sure that once they receive the summons, they may change their minds.