Sold a car under false pretense?

coinxoperated

I brought a Ford Puma from a 'reputable' garage once, with a 12 month warranty I paid 350 for...

7 months in, bottom end in engine want, 1,200 bill - warranty conviently only covered the first 300 of a claim! So I paid more the 'warranty' than it even covered me for! I did a similar thing to you and didn't have the T & C's in writing, it was just confirmed verbally about 4 times. I had my Dad present, but he doesnt count as a witness as he is a family member!

Lesson learnt: ALWAYS GET WHATEVER THEY PROMISE YOU IN WRITING BEFORE YOU PAY / TAKE THE GOODS! It's a horrible lesson to learn, but you won't make the same mistake again.

ukjoel

Bit of a can of worms this one.

Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, warranties are all manufacturer backed and are fairly robust in that they do seem to honour them in my experience. Was in a Kia dealer last week and they have done several clutches at 5 years although worth pointing out only the original part has the 7 year cover. The replacement only has 1 year from fitting.


With the Vauxhall lifetime warranty, its not provided by vauxhall but a third parts. I think Vauxhall still do years 0-3 but its then taken on by someone else. Its also reliant on an annual check at a Vauxhall dealer (please not its a check - not a service).

The Vauxhall dealer has to pay out for this warranty and I think this is the problem here. When they stacked the deal they didnt include the £350 cost of the lifetime warranty. It sounds like they were clearing out pre reg stock at cost and that kind of money would turn a skinny deal into a loss making one.


As with other posters I dont fancy your chances arguing this one through. IF you dont have the paperwork at point of sale then going back later to argue the case will always be a struggle.

I find some googleplus feedback often does wonders as it is flagged up in any searches people do for them. I would also contact their head office and as the product was an insurance product I would also contact the financial ombudsman who can raise a complaint on your behalf.

This will go into their head office (who will realize at once) this complaint will likely escalate into an official complaint if not resolved within I think its 8 weeks) and at this point it gets looked at more seriously with an audit of the deal file.

Never sign anything in a dealer your not happy with. Never agree to anything your not happy with, and if your not sure - take a friend or 2 with you and record every word that is said at a salesmen desk.

The problem is everyone is looking at the nice shiny car and nowone looks at the credit agreement, insurance details, or the f&I docs they should be checking thoroughly.

Only once in many years have I seen a customer take the docs home to read overnight before signing. Everyone should do this.

neo1607

So i got a reply off vauxhall head office, they don't seem like they are going to be much help in this case, i see that the autoexpress article says (which i have read online as well) that they warranty can be transferred as long as the car was sold to me with less than 200 miles and is not ex-rental (it was sold to me with only 11 miles on it). Is it worth trying to fight this point with vauxhall or should i just give up?

Joe_Horner

Watchdog it.

missile

I would copy the Autoexpress article to Hayley Davis and ask her to reconsider.

neo1607

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Watchdog it.

This will be my next step, i have forwarded the article to Hayley Davis at Vauxhall and quoted a few important bits out of it, so hopefully i will get the response i want...

If i am contacting watchdog, is it worth replying to Hayley Davis saying this in my next reply, or don't say anything and leave it as a surprise so vauxhall have no way of preparing to get themselves out of it

missile wrote: »

I would copy the Autoexpress article to Hayley Davis and ask her to reconsider.

I have just done this, she did say in her reply "please advise me if there is anything that confirms your eligibility... im pretty sure that autoexpress article does just that. I have also wrote to the author of the article as well to see what he suggests, they maybe use this as a case study in one of their next issues

mickburkejnr

I've a similar situation regarding Peugeot and my car which was brought under their Just Add Fuel scheme. The salesman screwed me on the milleage and PPI. But I asked a solicitor about what I could do and he said to go to Peugeot Finance and lodge a formal complaint but to include all of the extra costs I would get because of the dealers blatant misselling and misrepresentation. (A contract might be binding but it's useless if it was signed after being misrepresented). The solicitor reasoned that this might not be enough as it is my word against theirs (although my insurance documents contradict the annual milleage I had aparently agreed to - in my favour), so you would then go to the small claims court as the money I'm incurring is under £5,000. But even then he warned that if it got this far then it's really a 50/50 case and it's all dependent on the judge.

So really, if you are going to incur unforseen costs etc, I would complain and state to them that because of the misrepresentation and misselling on a key part of this contract (for you to sign it) you'll incur £x,xxx of extra costs, and then if it still doesn't work go to the small claims court. All you'll loose doing this is a few quid to actually lodge the papers in the court.

neo1607

Just had a phone call from Hayley Davis at Vauxhall, she has been in touch with the General Manager at Bristol Street Motors (who are the new owners of the garage i bought the car from).

The 2 of them are working very closely to help me resolve this issue, i then had the new GM of the garage phone me and he was basically saying he's working closely with vauxhall and the lifetime warranty team and he wants to help me more out of courtesy than anything else because really it's Dobies at fault and not them which is fully understandable

The interesting thing is he said he's currently dealing with about 5 seperate cases including mine where Dobies have offered something to do with warranty or services that they haven't fulfilled so im not alone on this...

He did also state that the pre-registered cars were registered to Mr Dobies Hotel rather than the actual garage so it might complicate things a little but he sounded really helpful and Im holding up good hopes for this situation now

neo1607

Just wanted to give an update on this situation, vauxhall have decided to give me the Lifetime Warranty as a gesture of good will.

Thanks for all the advice from people in this thread