Bought a car with a fault - need advice please

*Rainbow*Warrior*

My husband bought a 2nd hand 2007 Renault Laguna from a dealership a few weeks ago. During the test drive he noticed the ABS light was on, but they agreed the garage would fix it before he collected the car. He collected it a week later, and about 3 days after that the light came on again.

He's taken it back to the garage and they claimed they had fixed it, but within 24 hours of getting it back, the light came on again.

The dealer says he has taken it to Renault who want £1500 to replace an entire unit, but he reckons it doesn't need the whole unit replacing. He has said it might just be an intermittent fault we have to live with.

He also offered to go halves on buying an insurance policy which he says will cover the repair - we have declined his suggestion to commit insurance fraud, but I'm mentioning it here as I think it shows the type of person we are dealing with!

I think the dealer is obliged to fix the car - end of. Am I right? We've had it only a matter of weeks, and more importantly (in my view) he agreed to fix the fault as part of the purchase negotiation. Can anyone advise me how to proceed with this please? I know we have some rights under Sale of Goods but I'm not too sure how to get the dealer to fix the fault.

Also we're not happy with the idea of having to keep taking the car back to the dealer to get it reset (his suggestion) as the garage is over an hours drive away from where we live so we are incurring fuel costs, toll charges, and having to take time off work. This is not acceptable in my view, to just accept it and have to take it back every few weeks to get it reset - and I hope we have some rights to force the dealer to just fix the problem as agreed. Please can someone advise me?

Thank you

colino

Yes he does have to fix it, but with a Laguna, if he has any experience at all, he'll offer you your money back.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

:eek: Are you saying there is a known problem with these, or is it just that you don't like them?

Actually, we have heard that this is a known fault, but I don't have that officially.

How do I force him to fix it? At the moment he's taking the stance that we should just keep taking it back for him to reset it and just have to live with it.

hartcjhart

you cannot 'force'him to fix it, you either live with it or get your money back

verityboo

Looking here the fault is one of the few not mentioned!

When a fault appears a code is recorded in the cars memory and this should indicate what the fault is. It sounds as though Renault hooked up their computer, read the fault codes in the memory & have said the ABS control unit needs replacing but I think you need the seller to confirm exactly what Renault have said

motorguy

hartcjhart wrote: »

you cannot 'force'him to fix it, you either live with it or get your money back

Correct.

Within a week or so the O/P could have asked for their money back, however its down to the dealer now whether to repair it, replace the car with a similar one or refund.

Either way, the problem lies with the dealer to be resolved, certainly it shouldnt be just swept under the carpet.

Joe_Horner

An ABS fault immediately makes the car unroadworthy - it's a brake fault - so his choice is fix or money back or get reported. Telling you to "live with it" isn't an option because it's a safety issue.

Lum

I'd be careful throwing about terms like "unroadworthy" cars can be safe without ABS in the hands of a competent driver who doesn't just mash the stop pedal at the first sign of danger.

That said, it needs to be working if fitted in order to pass an MOT, so this is still very much a problem.

One suggestion if you really think this dealer is dodgy. Notice how when you start the car it tests all the lights, including the ABS light. If the dealer does actually "fix" the car, check that the ABS light still comes on during this startup sequence and that he hasn't just removed the bulb!

Bob_the_Saver

Isn't this an MOT fail under the new rules? as mentioned above

http://conversation.which.co.uk/transport-travel/new-mot-rules-warning-lights-car-safety/

MOT fail = un-roadworthy in my eyes

atrixblue.-MFR-.

the insurance thing is a bit dodgy. you sure he didnt mean warranty, but still he's trying to wipe his hands of the problem.

i would be putting a recorded letter into him or hand delivering it (getting a reciept for the letter), asking for a swift resolution before intended legal action.

asking you to put up with a fault that will fail MOT (new regs abs lights etc are failures) and was present at sale is a bit of pee take TBH i would of said i tell you what give me my cash back and you put up with the fault, but your not me.

Joe_Horner

Lum wrote: »

I'd be careful throwing about terms like "unroadworthy" cars can be safe without ABS in the hands of a competent driver who doesn't just mash the stop pedal at the first sign of danger.

That said, it needs to be working if fitted in order to pass an MOT, so this is still very much a problem.

One suggestion if you really think this dealer is dodgy. Notice how when you start the car it tests all the lights, including the ABS light. If the dealer does actually "fix" the car, check that the ABS light still comes on during this startup sequence and that he hasn't just removed the bulb!

I agree - none of ours have ABS. But if it's fitted then a fault makes it unroadworthy. NOt only in the sense that it won't pass an MOT but, more importantly, because it makes its behaviour unpredictable.

If it detects a fault is SHOULD disable itself but it's in the nature of "fault" that it might not do what it should (self-accelerating Toyotas anyone?). With an intermittent fault it's potentially even worse - if it intermittently fails when you're in the middle of relying on it yo could end up with locked wheels or no brakes suddenly and at just the wrong time!

So, no ABS fitted = ok, ABS fitted but faulty = deffo NOT ok.