Urgent help please, car bought 48 hours ago

Laura721

Urgent help needed please

Bought a car 48 hours ago from a car dealer (not private seller). fiat punto, £1700.

Test drove, no problems, yesterday start hearing a noise and garage today tells me the gearbox is finished. Cost almost £800.

We have called the dealer who tells us it isnt his problem as we didnt pay for his "3 month warranty offer". He will not give us our money back or even pay for repair. He is telling us he may consider sharing cost of repairing but with second hand gearbox.

Do we have any rights here? He claims we do not as the car was under £2000 so is considered scrap - please anyone can you advise on this?

Thank you.

jaydeeuk1

Yes. He needs to repair, refund or swap car. Theres numerous threads on here how to handle it, but involves writing a recorded letter to him, detailing the problem and he has 14 days to resolve the issue if he's not playing ball.

So yeah, it is his problem. You were brave wanting to buy an old fiat punto though.

Laura721

Thank you. i bought an old fiat punto previously, my friend now has it, never had any problems whatsoever and I drove it all over europe without a single issue. Which is why I wanted to buy one again.

Laura721

Btw what about his idea that we didnt accept his warranty offer and that we dnt have rights as cars under 2000 are considered scrap?

jaydeeuk1

So you had the reliable one then Neighbour had an old one from a dealer which kept going wrong every week with silly electrical faults, not starting etc. Dealer swapped it for a similar model and that too went wrong, ending with the head gasket going.

Weird_Nev

As a dealer he has to sell cars that are fit for purpose and there is no lower price. FOr £1700 you have the pick of the market with fiats and have a right to expect that a car at that price is in functioning and reasonable condition.

There is no "lower price point". I take it the advert didn't say "spares or repairs" or "Sold as Scrap" in it? (take a copy of the ad now for future reference).

fivetide

As jaydee said, have a look at some of the other threads. He's a dealer so you have rights up to six months under the sale of goods act.

It is his problem. He has to fix it or you can get your cash back. You need to follow what jaydee said though and get tough from the start with this clown.

5t.

jaydeeuk1

Laura721 wrote: »

Btw what about his idea that we didnt accept his warranty offer and that we dnt have rights as cars under 2000 are considered scrap?

Thats a load of crap!! Contact trading standards if he's trying to pull the 'sold as see' rubbish. And I can guarantee that this warranty would magically not have covered the problem any way, or they would have bodged it to make it last another few months. It will be obvious to a judge that the fault was there at purchase, unless you're the type of driver who doesn't use the clutch!

Laura721

Thanks so much all For your advice.

Have just spoken to consumer direct, Very helpful. They advise sending the letter recorded to dealer. I am going to call him and let him know plans to do this so if he wants to comply now either with paying for full repair or giving us a full refund. Is this correct thing to do?

What dealer is now saying is we can do 'a deal' on them assisting us with payment for repair, but with a second hand gearbox they have with 3 month guarantee - i assume this is a big no no right? Why trust him with this if things have already gone wrong and why make a deal? i do not want to pay for any of this repair, why should i?

vax2002

Is this dealer a LTD company.
this is a VERY important question indeed.

Laura721

I dont know if it is. This is the dealer, http://www.streathamcarsales.com/

My dad has just been speaking to him, and the dealer has been shouting down the phone at him telling us he isnt going to give us any refund or pay for the new gearbox and basically screaming down the phone telling us to go to consumer direct.