Refund on a used car purchase from a main dealer

GlasgowGal

Hi

Just wondered if anyone has experience of getting a refund on a used car they have purchased. My husband has just bought a 5 year old Merc from and a Mercedes Benz dealer down south. A fault developed in the car after two weeks and he took it to our local dealer. They inspected the car and came up with a further 4 faults on the car. The car was sold with a 2 year MB warranty and they refused to pay for the work under the warranty as they said the car should never have left the showroom with those faults. The dealer down south is refusing to pay for the repair though our local dealer is trying to get them to pay for it. They also fax a fudged PDI sheet claiming there was nothing wrong with the car before it left their dealership, however, the correct one has now come to light showing some of the faults which our local dealer has reported. My husband has had the car for almost a month now, two weeks on the road and two weeks in the garage and still it is not repaired yet. Also this has left us without a car for two weeks now. The level of service and customer service from MB has been awful and now my husband is so fed up with the car he does not want it and wants his money back so he can go elsewhere. When he called the dealer down south about a week ago and said he would like his money back, the dealer replied that this was “not an option”. Just wondered if anyone out there has been successful in getting a refund from a dealer on a used car and could pass on any tips. Many thanks.

steveeeee

That sounds like a really sh!tty situation! :eek:

How about starting off by writing to MB head office cc the dealership down South detailing everything that's happened (including the original and doctored PDI sheets). Explain what you expect them to do to resolve the situation to your satisfaction (full refund + compensation for time wasted dealing with the issue + cost of car hire in the interim? or replacement car of a higher spec at no extra cost?) and give them a reasonable deadline (10 working days?) in which to respond. Oh, and don't outright threaten them with court, but make a mention that you will seek legal advice if the matter can't be resolved to your satisfaction.

I would also be tempted to report the dealership to trading standards, as forging the PDI to cover up their negligence is inexcusable. Was the car actually roadworthy, as in would it have passed an MOT?

ADM

That’s sounds awful!
I am thinking of getting a Mercedes Benz myself. I’ve heard bad reports before about Mercedes service.
Good look with this problem

Ps What is a PDI sheet?

steveeeee

ADM wrote: »

Ps What is a PDI sheet?

PDI = Pre-Delivery Inspection

albionrovers

Mercedes Benz are now owned by Chrysler.
And guess what?
Everything has turned into sh*t. Build quality and customer service.

My brother's Merc. blew up with 56K on the clock. He was outside of the warranty period but he asked them how many miles the car should be good for? They replied at least 200K. He then asked why his would blow up after one quarter of that. They just shook their heads and looked puzzled. After contacting head office etc etc and getting nowhere, my bro then cancelled his pre-order on his new Merc. The salesman turned grey at this point but too late the damage was done.

plane_boy2000

albionrovers wrote: »

Mercedes Benz are now owned by Chrysler.
And guess what?
Everything has turned into sh*t. Build quality and customer service.

Almost they are both owned by Daimler-Chrysler, but as the Chrysler brand is losing money quickly they are just about to offload it. A deal should be done soon and chrysler will no longer be anything to do with them, although I dont think this was really the driving factor in poor quality. During the late 90's the then CEO stated that their cars were overenginered. They then also embarked on a cost cutting exercise, and the result is what we see today - a poor brand struggling to live on its past merits and losing market confidence fast. Reminds me of Rover........

I have a smart car at the moment and cant wait to get rid of it. It was a bit of an implulse buy, for which I cant blame them, but the quality is awful, and teh service from them is poor (also M-B in the south). A lorry hit the side, so I called them, and was told to have the car recovered to them. 4 days later they called me to tell me that they could not find nay starting problem with my car? I was confused and explained that the car was bought in for bodywork damage, not mechanical problems. They then asked me why I had given them the car as they did not have a bodyshop there......................I almost expected Jeremy Beadle to pop out from somewhere.

GlasgowGal

Thanks guys for all your advice. Hubby has written and has received calls from MB, the want to fix the car and put it back on the road. Hubby is so fed up with all the hassle he just wants his money back. He is emailing MB today to tell them they can pick the car up from our local MB dealer, he has left all the keys and documents etc with them and please send a full refund asap. We are not holding out much hope for a refund but need to give it a try anyway. Regards.

plane_boy2000

I really do hope you get a refund, but to be honest I dont hold out much hope for you, and teh fact that they are willing to repair counts against them as you wil lhave to give them fair chance to fix the problems. At least it looks like they might fix it though.

Gold_Shogun

GlasgowGal wrote: »

Just wondered if anyone has experience of getting a refund on a used car they have purchased.

... I don't suppose you used a Credit Card to pay for ANY part of the deal (EVEN if it was just £5), did you?

IF SO, then the CC company is EQUALLY liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for the ENTIRE deal, and the CC companies are FAR easier to obtain costs/refunds for (including the cost of having the faults repaired now)

GENERAL CONSUMER-PROTECTION TIP :- When buying anything over £100, ALWAYS pay for at least SOME part of it with your Personal & Primary Credit Card.

Exemplar

Hi there, sorry to hear about your situation. As someone who has worked in the trade previously I can say that I do not think that you will get a refund because the dealer is willing to put it right. You will probably find that your garage locally and the original dealer are squabbling about warranty repairs because neither of them wants the time charge on their hands (MB normally charge £90 an hour labour, but for warranty work it is far far less as is billed to MB). Alex.

manda1205

Glasgowgal, got any update on this, I've just read this thread with interest and would like to know if you've had any news, particularly a refund???