Please urgent help with 'illegal' car sold by garage

rigsby1967

Daughter bought car on Friday got it home and from then wouldn't start, the garage she got it from kicked up a stink saying they told her about the battery and she needs to replace it, EVENTUALLY they came out and replaced it.

Garage got a MOT the day daughter picked it up.
Daughter took car to a garage on Saturday, she was told if the police pulled her over she would have the car taken away and she'd get done for it, the problems are as follows....

Front break disks and pads need replacing
tyres at mimimal level
Battery not clipped in
CV not sealed properly
gear box seal leaking
coolant leak
fog light cable cut
mid/rear exhaust need replacing
front washer not conected
positive cable on battery melted
coolant level very low
bonnet clip broken and held down by cable ties.

Where does she stand on getting her £2000 she paid for getting this car? what can be done if they refuse. Daughter gave them her (decent) car for £80 and now she has loss of earnings as she needs a car for work.

Please help
Thanks

DUTR

If the Police stopped her , she would get done for what?
Did you not look at the car with her when she was considering purchasing?

nuttyp

Is the mot from the same place the car was for sale from?? Maybe the mot station is turning a blind eye to some things?? Did no one go and look at the car prior to buying it with her, did she get an independent mechanic to look the car over??

rigsby1967

All sense went out of the window with her that day so to answer you questions no, no one went with her even after me telling her this would be a good idea.
The MOT was done at another place and was hit by something when daughter went to pick it up as ther was a dent in the car and the bonnet not sitting and staying down.

rigsby1967

No i told her to take someone as i was working and she wanted to go out straight away.

rigsby1967

DUTR wrote: »

If the Police stopped her , she would get done for what?
Did you not look at the car with her when she was considering purchasing?

She would get done for the things wrong with the car. not everything thats wrong with it some things.

mad_rich

I'm not sure if any of those should/ would be an MoT failure.

Check the tyre tread depth. If it's more than 1.6mm, it will be a pass. They may have been all worn, but still legal.

Brakes - again, could be worn but still legal.

Loose battery - mine has been loose for years. Every time I get it MoT'd, they say 'it'll fail next year'. It never does.

Bonnet catch - all sorts of weird ad wonderful bodges are acceptable for a pass, depending on the whims of the examiner. A good friend of mine has had a door with no interior handle for a year. After giving up on trying to fix it, he sourced a new door from the scrapyard, only to get a phone call from the garage saying 'Good News: I've managed to get it through its MoT with a cable tie'.

Coolant and gearbox oil leaks. Don't think these are covered by MoT, but I could be wrong.

If you think it shouldn't have passed an MoT, you should contact VOSA as soon as possible.

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/problems-with-your-test-result

What was your daughter told about the car when she bought it?

mad_rich

Also, remember that the presence/ absence of an MoT certificate is no guarantee of a good/ bad car.

It does sound like a pig of a car though. But a lot of it hinges on what your daughter was told about the car when she bought it.

I would have thought that if you contact VOSA and get it retested soon, and it fails, you would be within your rights to get the garage to repair those faults FOC. I suspect you would rather have a refund though.

rigsby1967

Brake disk and pads are not just worn and still legal, they need changing.
the battery isn't just lose, its not clipped in AT ALL.
Bonnet is being kept down by cable ties.
Coolant very low....im sure this is part of MOT.
Thank you for the link mad-rich

gilbert_and_sullivan

I hope she can get her money back but i doubt it.

Seems to be the way with modern youngsters though, they know it all and want to go out and do things like buy their own car, then when it goes wrong they know who to get to sort it out.
Similar has happened in my family, the one in question never does anything car wise now without asking for and receiving good advice.

I'm quite sure its fixable for around £100 if you get your overalls on and DIY it.
Tyres?, well she really should have looked at those.

paddedjohn

Take the car for another test and see if it fails, if it does then go back armed with the fail sheet.