Not happy with car bought from dealer

autonomy

Hi, my mother purchased a Nissan Micra from a car dealer for £10,000. she found a piece of gum on the carpet and asked the dealer to clean it off. When she got the car back after cleaning she found that the gum had been removed and in its place was a hole. The dealer had tried to conceal the hole with a mat. My mother is 75 years old and got very upset over the hole. The dealer response was "What do you expect us to do about it" My mother is very upset about the way she has been treated and is now not wanting the car at all. She purchased the car 4 days ago. Your help would be most welcome, thank you.

motorguy

autonomy wrote: »

Hi, my mother purchased a Nissan Micra from a car dealer for £10,000. she found a piece of gum on the carpet and asked the dealer to clean it off. When she got the car back after cleaning she found that the gum had been removed and in its place was a hole. The dealer had tried to conceal the hole with a mat. My mother is 75 years old and got very upset over the hole. The dealer response was "What do you expect us to do about it" My mother is very upset about the way she has been treated and is now not wanting the car at all. She purchased the car 4 days ago. Your help would be most welcome, thank you.

Ring and ask to speak to the general manager or dealer principal and explain the situation.

You will need to manage your mothers expectations though as shes not entitle to a refund.

arcon5

Was the gum there before purchasing it?

robatwork

Could you post a picture of the carpet / hole?

For £10k I would be expecting something pretty excellent for a Micra. But she can't reject the car because of this.

autonomy

Thanks Arcon, yes the gum was there but she never noticed it until she got back home. Also the petrol cap would not open correctly. The sales person scratched the paintwork forcing it open and offered to give my mother some paint to patch it up with. Mother is more upset about the way she has been treated as a customer than she is with the physical damage to the car.

autonomy

Thanks Robatwork, It's only a small hole but the garage made the hole and their attitude is rather unfair. Mother lives with depression and is probably being a little hysterical over the situation. She said to me that if she had bought a suit and it had a hole in it then she would be able to get a refund, so why not get a refund for the car?

TradePro

autonomy wrote: »

She said to me that if she had bought a suit and it had a hole in it then she would be able to get a refund, so why not get a refund for the car?

I think that would be dependent on the suit being brand new...

It sounds like the dealer could do a better repair from what you've said (there are now trim companies that can repair cigarette burn holes and similar), but it doesn't sound like the end of the World TBH.

tired_dad

IMHO you need to have a chat with your mum about buying anything used. If you bought a house and found gum somewhere surely there would be no expectation of the previous owner coming back to remove.

robatwork

Was it a Nissan dealer or a private garage?

You may like to draft a firm letter to Nissan UK on her behalf if it's the former