New car - 2 weeks later stopped working...where do I stand?

kamperkat

I am hoping someone might be able to give me some advice.

We bought a car from a dealership 2 weeks ago - it isn't a new car (52 plate) but within two weeks it has stopped working, it starts briefly but then stalls.

We phoned the dealership on Saturday who phoned us back this morning to tell us that they can't get us a courtesy car until tomorrow and have now informed us that we have to get the car back to them - at our expense.

It has a three month warranty so hopefully we will not be charged for repairs but I actually don't know what it covers.

To add to the drama we have a 5 month old baby & we spent every penny of our savings on this car so that we had had a safe family car to drive rather than the old heap that we have now had scrapped!!

At the moment I just want them to take the car back and refund us - is that an option?

Can someome with any legal know how tell me where I stand?

Many thanks!

bris

They have the right to inspect the car, they can insist you bring it to them to do this. If the fault is discovered that isn't your fault you would be able to claim the recovery cost from them, but be prepared to fight them on this when they say no. Do you have anyone that can tow the car to the garage with you? this would be the cheapest any easiest way.
You won't get a refund but under the warranty they will fix it for free as long as it's not something you have done, i,e put petrol in a diesel car.
By giving you a courtesy car, a day late, isn't the end of the world and some don't even do that.
They have not done much wrong here, a 52 plate car could go at any time, just as well it did it before the 3 months were up.

kamperkat

Thank you Bris for the helpful advice - not neccessarily what I wanted to hear after handing over over 3 grand two weeks ago but it has made me calm down and stop seeing red.

pinkshoes

Have you got a mechanically minded friend who can give the car a look over before taking it back to the garage? This way, you can have a good idea of what has gone wrong so that the garage you bought it from can't try and fob you off!

How many miles have you done since you bought it?

gjs6385

At the side of it?

wannabehermit

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_195923

There's lots of info here. Under Sale of Goods Act you are covered for 6 months after purchase. You can either get them to repair the vehicle or you can request a refund (not 100% on this but don't think it will be full refund due to the nature of the purchase). TBH how they have handled it is pretty good ime.

unholyangel

Just also to add, if you have breakdown cover with home start cover, they'll tow you to a garage.

It may be something quite simple to fix. I had a similar problem on a old car of mine and it was just the battery that needed replaced.

arcon5

Under sales of goods act you can reject faulty goods within 'reasonable' time, afterwhich a rememdy must be offered.

Personally i'd say 2 weeks is reasonable to reject it (any more and i'd say otherwise), but this is subjective, others may disagree -- and actually getting the garage to honour this could be a challenge.

The fault though must be inherent.... ie not down to wear and tear as a result of age. For example, if you bought it at 115k miles knowing the cambelt needs replacing at the 120k interval, a cambelt failure two weeks later if you close to this interval is unlikely to be a fault, but W&T.

arcon5

wannabehermit wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_195923

There's lots of info here. Under Sale of Goods Act you are covered for 6 months after purchase. You can either get them to repair the vehicle or you can request a refund (not 100% on this but don't think it will be full refund due to the nature of the purchase). TBH how they have handled it is pretty good ime.

Not strictly correct.

You can reject faulty goods for a refund within 'reasonable' time. After which they must offer a remedy (repair, replacement or refund -- effectively sellers choice).

The 6 months refers to burden of proof -- less than 6 months a fault is considered to be inherent unless the seller can prove otherwise, and visa versa.

Correct they can make deductions from a refund to take into consideration the use a product has had. But I can't imagine this being much (if anything) after 14 days.

s_b

youve had the car 2 weeks and seller is willing to look at it if you bring it to him
this is standard practice
you can asking for your money back but i very much doubt you would get it even if you went to law
pay for the recovery
get it to them soonest
let them tell you what the problem is diagnosis and whether theyare going to fix it

then come back and ask for advice
a 52 plate car is nigh 10 years old and under any soga you have to take this into consideration big time