Sold faulty cars - want a refund

i_want_one_of_those_mum

We purchased a car last Sunday 12th May. Paid with part exchange, cash and some on a credit card. On sunday we found a knocking noise so took it to a local garage to ascertain the noise but coudnt find one.

on Thursday we found an oil leak so booked it at the dealers request to a local Manu. Dealers service centre. Monday 20th they had a look and They found oil seal gone on the gearbox, gearbox under tray completely mising, brake shims missing.

DH quite upset had to call the RAx out, travel with the car to NGxx for them to sort it out. Given a courtesy car drive back 250 miles home. On Wednesday advised replace gearbox oil seal and put in reconditioned gear box.

Now this car has only done 61k miles, is less than three years old. DH has lost confidence in the car and doesn't want/accept it back. I sent them an email advising them that I want full refund.

Now I've checked car websites and it appears that I can request a full refund as I have not had the car a reasonable length of time (9 days) and it was sold faulty. He is now threatening legal action, demands his courtesy car back and when am I gong to pick the repaired car up.

What should be my next course of action be? Is there a template letter that anyone has? Thanks for any comments.

TradePro

Is the car not still under manufacturer's warranty? If so, get the gearbox issue sorted that way, the missing undertray is 'meh', seen a thousand left off over the years.

i_want_one_of_those_mum

No it's out of warranty by 1000 miles. It's less than 3 years old. Drove home with the fault knowingly - you don't expect to buy a car at a dealers and look underneath the car? He's repairing but I've lost confidence in accepting back repaired.

scheming_gypsy

If i remember rightly, isn't it up to the seller to rectify and you can't just choose your own resolution? if he's offered a repair then he should be allowed to fix it.

colino

Once the, "local Manu". has found the knocking to be your stereo turned up to 11, by all means get all of your money back, a compensatory cuddly toy and a pointy hat in your hands.
Do you really think a trader would send you to a main dealer, let them have a shot, get it wrong and then slap in a recon gearbox on your say-so, and let you have a courtesy car too?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

you have fallen into an legal grey area.

you would have had the right to reject in the catagory that product was faulty and due to time frame had not accepted the vehicle and no when you take delivery or collection is not seen as accepted in the legal terms.

these are relatively minor issues, and on this basis i would say you dont have the right to reject.

due to committing to a repair, you have waived you right initially to reject the vehicle and allow the dealer or trader to investigate.

the dealer could have turned around and said ok its uneconomical to repair, give you a like for like swap or refund your money, only now if the repair is substandard, that you could reject the vehicle, so i strongly advise that you arrange with the dealer for an RAC.AA vehicle inspection on his site you would have to pay for this initially, if it turn out the repair is substandard or other major mechanical fault, then i would request refund for car plus costs related to the vehicle.
(subject to negatiation with the trader dealer although if he will only refund cost of car you could pursue in small claims for other expenses such as inspection costs tax insurance cancellation fee's but i would be happy to walk away with refund and put it down to experience etc).

if the vehicle is of satisfactory quality as deamed by your inspection then legally you do not have grounds to reject, you will also be subject to the terms and conditions of the warranty terms for the reconditioned gearbox, so ask the trader dealer for these terms and extra expenses related to the repair warranty be covered by him and book it in before the "mileage" clause, i would also be cheaky in saying that he should refund the cost of fuel as the sales of good act states, that any "repair" should not inconvienience the buyer, would also be cheaky to ask for a free advanced warranty aswell for the inconvienience.

shaun_from_Africa

Just because the OP has agreed to a repair being carried out does not mean that they have lost their right of rejection.
Even if the repair is carried out to a good standard, there is no legal obligation for them to accept the car back.

This scenario is covered by section 35 (6) of the SOGA.

(6)The buyer is not by virtue of this section deemed to have accepted the goods merely because—
(a)he asks for, or agrees to, their repair by or under an
arrangement with the seller, or
(b)the goods are delivered to another under a sub-sale or other
disposition.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

waamo

There was a court of appeal case, Bernstein v Palmerston Motors 1987 I believe, where Bernstein purchased a faulty car.

In that case the Judge stated that Bernstein should have given the motor trader opportunity to fix the car. If I remember correctly he said the trader should be given 3 attempts before the car could be rejected.

CKhalvashi

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Just because the OP has agreed to a repair being carried out does not mean that they have lost their right of rejection.
Even if the repair is carried out to a good standard, there is no legal obligation for them to accept the car back.

This scenario is covered by section 35 (6) of the SOGA.


http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

I agree with this opinion, on both legal and good practice grounds.

My car's gone back to Jaguar 3 times now, and one of these faults was minor (the other 2 were related to airbags deploying over speedbumps), as far as my relationship with the garage goes (they want another order from me, remember), they've been brilliant.

You can either go the whole way, as Shaun says, or you can accept a part resolution on both sides, and agree to disagree. Out of interest, what model/year/engine is it, and I'll search for common faults.

CK

i_want_one_of_those_mum

Many thanks fir al, your replies. It's a Lexus IS 220 d march '10 plate done 61k miles. It was the dealer recommended I take it to a arage so I thought the manufacturers arage ous be the bet place fr a diagnostic costing me £60.

OddballJamie

Pretty sure that's the engine Toyota/Lexus are extending the warranty to 110,000 miles due to a high rate of head gasket failure. Shame it only covers the engine and not the gear box.