I bought a used car with damaged disc brakes.

GSDog

I bought a used car less than two weeks ago from an Evans Halshaw dealership 250 miles from my home address. I traveled to the dealership by train and drove the car home which took 4 hours.

During the drive home I noticed that something was wrong with the brakes; under light braking there was a sort of surging as if the brake discs were warped, and under moderate or heavy braking from anything over 40mph there was quite a bad vibration throughout the car which was enough to shake the sun visors. I had to drive the car home very carefully.

The next day I took it to a local independent garage (my local HiQ) who immediately diagnosed it as warped/damaged front disc brakes. I was quoted £195 to replace both front brake discs and pads.

I phoned the Evans Halshaw dealership and was bluntly told to drive the car all the way back (250 miles) so that they could inspect it. When I explained that it didn't feel safe to drive at all, especially not that distance, he became very rude and said that I had no choice!

After this I got my local garage to phone Evans Halshaw and explain the problem. I then received a call back from Evans Halshaw informing me that their final decision was that I could drive the car to my nearest Evans Halshaw dealership (which is still 65 miles away) to have the car inspected. If the damage was confirmed it would then need to be approved and by them before they would pay the invoice.

I still didn't feel safe driving that distance and I didn't like the fact that the cost would need to be approved by them before they would pay. That would probably mean two trips to my nearest dealership, which is 65 miles each way (260 miles in total).

I felt I had no choice but to have the discs and pads replaced at HiQ locally at a cost of £195, which I did. Since then the brakes have been perfect and the vibration and surging has disappeared. HiQ said that it looks like someone had "skimmed" the brake discs to try and prolong their life and in doing so had warped them. Either way, the discs were completely unsatisfactory and not roadworthy.

I now have both discs in my possession as evidence.

I have since written a letter to the Evans Halshaw head office which I sent recorded post requested a refund and referencing the Sale of Goods Act. I am now awaiting their reply.

My question is, should I be dealing specifically with the Evans Halshaw dealership which sold me the car or should I be dealing with the head office? My reason for writing to the head office is that the dealership were very rude and totally unwilling to help. I very much doubt I will get anywhere with them.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

wealdroam

Evans Halshaw have acted quite reasonably here.

You have to allow the seller the opportunity to rectify a problem.

You did not have to drive the car back if you felt it unsafe.
You could have arranged for it to be transported back.

You decided to buy a car 250 miles from home.
It was not Evans Halshaw's decision, but yours alone.

You have now chosen to completely disregard EH's advice so you are now solely responsible for the repairs that you have had carried out.

Which part of the Sale of Goods Act did you reference when writing to EH?
Did you write that you were rejecting the car under SOGA?

You have probably now formally accepted the car.
By having the car repaired yourself, it could be said that you have acted in a manner "which is inconsistent with the ownership of the seller".
(from SOGA)

Hintza

As above .

shocky_2

Personally I think it would be very difficult to prove there is a breach of SoGA. Just because there is a problem doesn't mean the car isn't "satisfactory quality". It is very normal for there to be problems with second hand cars, this is why second hand cars are so much cheaper than new cars. It is normal practice to take cars for a test drive so you will probably be deemed to have knowledge of a problem with the brakes as these are one of the key things to test.

The other dealership *might* change the discs or give you free labour as a gesture of goodwill but don't count on it.

somethingcorporate

As all of the above you have shot yourself in the foot by not allowing them to remedy the situation.

Anything they do give will be goodwill and I think you will be lucky to get anything at all.

Equaliser123

I don't agree with the advice given. If the advice was the the car is unroadworthy then it is not in the slightest bit reasonable to expect someone to drive 250 miles. Or even 65 miles to the nearest dealership.

OP - you will need evidence as to the lack of road-worthiness to pursue a claim.

paddyrg

Absolutely - if it is 'unroadworthy' then OP should have either returned directly to the dealer if they felt unsafe driving it, or at least have pulled over and parked in a layby/carpark closer to the vendor and got a local mechanic, even if it meant taking a train home again.

It doesn't take 250 miles to decide if the brakes feel unsafe.

ILW

A slightly warped disc would not make a car unsafe.

Equaliser123

ILW wrote: »

A slightly warped disc would not make a car unsafe.

Maybe not. But we don't know the extent of the warp. Further, I think the law would side on the fact of the non-expert consumer who wouldn't necessarily know if it was safe or unsafe.

Flyboy152

Wouldn't it have been better to have used money?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Sorry, couldn't resist.

Equaliser123

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Wouldn't it have been better to have used money?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Sorry, couldn't resist.

Groan.........