Bought a used car and its gone wrong

hungledink

I bought a used car on Saturday. The drive home in it was fine, and the next few days were incident free.

Today, however, the car took several takes before the engine started and when it did there was an engine warning light showing on the dash. The warning light went off after a few seconds but I am now concerned the car may have some underlying fault which wasn't made aware to me at purchase. I feel I need a new batter and a new throttle sensor

My question therefore is, what rights do I have in terms of having the car repaired and charging the garage I bought from for the work? I did get a year warranty but the things I need aren't covered as part of the warranty. The garage I bought from is just a showroom and was several miles away from my home so taking it back would be a real last resort.

Thanks in advance

oliverr

Ring them and ask, try and get it looked over by the AA or RAC and see what they make of it. Then take it from there...

forgotmyname

You think it needs a battery and throttle sensor?

What are the fault codes that are showing?

Do the work and charge them. Not a chance.

Take it back and get them to sort it.

cootuk

What car and year?
Which error light?..engine maangement, oil, other?
Was it turning over strongly? (battery)
Have you done the obvious like check the oil?

steve-L

cootuk wrote: »

What car and year?
Which error light?..engine maangement, oil, other?
Was it turning over strongly? (battery)
Have you done the obvious like check the oil?

Also how much did you pay.....?
Why do you think you need a new throttle sensor? (You must have a reason)

Your options at this point are all under SOGA and especially how it relates to used cars.
If its something serious, your best option is to FORMALLY REJECT the car ASAP. You do however need some reason, the sooner you do it the better.

They might not accept this but putting it in writing NOW will in the worse case stand you in good stead! Make sure you read this:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/OFTwork/publications/publication-categories/reports/consumer-protection/oft1241;jsessionid=2A1076827AB733A4D045E1CD42BC2431#.UO6bjY7C6aA

Don't do anything other not in writing .... count as if they will try and do nothing and then anything else is a bonus.

Personally, if you think these are underlying faults then REJECT NOW..... based on they might not be fixable economically

Hence why I asked what you paid!

hungledink

Sorry for not replying sooner, been in available cause the car keeps going wrong!!

It's a 2002 ford fiesta, 1.4 lx, paid £1400 with 12 month warranty although the warranty was a third party one through a company called CUSTOMER PROTECT.

The third time the green flag came out to it they finally tested the battery and discovered that was low on amps so I got a new battery fitted. This has sorted the not starting problem, for now at least.

The other problems now are that it revs at 2000 revs while idle. I've been told by the garage who fitted the battery that its over heating, although the gauge doesn't support this. The fault code EAC FAIL occasionally comes up on he dashboard which reduces power, the only way to resolve that it is to restart the engine.

Haven't noticed anything else yet.

Should I just take it back and ask them to give it a thorough service or would I be best off asking for my money back? Having read through the post my best option would appear to be to write to them and ask for my money back.

forgotmyname

Gauges are rubbish on these. Sister bought one and as she pulled up i could smell the hot engine. My nose is tuned to this. From working on many old cars.

I said its overheating, No she said gauge normal. Had a cup of tea and took the code reader out and it was still reading over 100 degrees.

Let it cool until below 8 and started it up. Within no time the temperature shot upto 115 degrees.

She took it back.