Buying a car with bad breaks

granny-mo

Oops, I mean brakes!

I'm after a little advice please. I have put a deposit down on a Fiesta, 2010 plate, and am due to pick it up on Saturday.

The thing is, when I test drove it the breaks were soooo horrendous they were near on negligible and required 'double pumping', I pointed this out to the sales man who informed me that the car would be checked over prior to me picking it up and he would request they pay extra attention to the brakes.

I did say explicitly that unless the brakes were sorted I would not be taking the car as felt it was near on dangerous the way it was.

My worry now is that what if I turn up on Saturday, have a little test drive to check and the brakes are not suitable?? Can they then say that i have to take it or loose my deposit?

jaydeeuk1

If the brakes are as bad you say they are, then no, they can't sell you a car that it not fit to be driven. Most new cars, esp fiestas kas etc have over assisted brakes, if you so much as look at the brake pedal the car screams to a halt.

thenudeone

or bad brakes, even?

vax2002

The putting down a deposit was a huge mistake, you should have insited the brakes be sorted first and a new test drive booked once they had made the car fit for sale.
You will lose your deposit if you back out.
You will have legal remedies but in real street terms they rarely work.
What was said is hot air unless in writing.
Hope to God they fix the brakes !

Ultrasonic

Surely the car must at the very least be road legal to be sold, which if it really was as bad as discribed it can't be.

I'm utterly baffled why anyone would test drive a car, find a major fault and then pay a deposit to buy the thing though :huh:.

paddedjohn

vax2002 wrote: »

The putting down a deposit was a huge mistake, you should have insited the brakes be sorted first and a new test drive booked once they had made the car fit for sale.
You will lose your deposit if you back out.
You will have legal remedies but in real street terms they rarely work.
What was said is hot air unless in writing.
Hope to God they fix the brakes !

Load of rubbish, if the brakes aren't fixed you can reject the car and get your deposit back.

Looksguywalker

vax2002 wrote: »

The putting down a deposit was a huge mistake, you should have insited the brakes be sorted first and a new test drive booked once they had made the car fit for sale.
You will lose your deposit if you back out.
You will have legal remedies but in real street terms they rarely work.
What was said is hot air unless in writing.
Hope to God they fix the brakes !

You really do make stuff up!

DalePie

vax2002 wrote: »

The putting down a deposit was a huge mistake, you should have insited the brakes be sorted first and a new test drive booked once they had made the car fit for sale.
You will lose your deposit if you back out.
You will have legal remedies but in real street terms they rarely work.
What was said is hot air unless in writing.
Hope to God they fix the brakes !

This is complete rubbish, obvious duty of care owed by the garage to its customer. They would be completely screwed if the OP suffered a bad accident as a result of defective product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson

I mean it's the basic stuff they teach in GCSE business studies lol :rotfl:. The garage has to ensure the breaks are in good condition and the customer can get their deposit back if not satisfied. If the garage didn't do that they would lose within about 10 seconds at the small claims.

I would say talk to the garage about your concerns and don't accept the car unless it's repaired to your satisfaction. Then take it from there. To be honest brakes are such an important safety item and fairly cheap to put right I can't see them moaning too much.

vax2002

Yes It is basic stuff, but trying to enforce it is far from basic stuff, it involves spending money and time obtaining CCJ's which often then get put with the rest against a LTD company with little assets other than a desk and a telephone.
Nobody is doubting and if you had read my reply I did say from base 1 they are legal remedies, but unfortunately what you think are you rights and enforcing them against LTD companies are two different things altogether.
If this advice is regarded as rubbish by the google lawyers on here, then all well and good, it is based upon years of dealing with reality, not some idealism that google throws up.
If the company refuse to refund this deposit, the OP will have a fight that may result in obtaining a CCJ but still not result in return of the money.
Whilst occupied in google, do some CCJ searches upon some big high street names car dealers, see how many CCJ's they have and see How many they have actually paid.
The results may shock.

The putting down of a deposit was foolish on a faulty car, very foolish, lets hope the garage are honest.

maninthestreet

Personally, I would have said 'fix the brakes, then let me have another test drive to confirm they are fixed, then I'll put a deposit down'.
Any car that you have to pump the brakes is not safe to to drive.

Notmyrealname

Looksguywalker wrote: »

You really do make stuff up!

It is vax2002, the only poster in the history of this board not to make one factually correct post ever.