Claiming expenses on sales of good act

charlie_chappell

I was wondering if someone could help.

I recently purchased a second hand vehicle from a private dealer. We test drove the vehicle on minor roads and everything was fine. We arranged to collect the vehicle a week later. So the following Saturday travelled down (70 miles) to collect the vehicle from the dealer. All seemed ok until we were driving home on the motorway. 5 mins after getting on the motorway a fault light illumiated on the dash board. Needless to say I was concerned and as such when I got home I called the dealer and advised him of the issue. He requested I take the vehicle to get the 'codes' read to confirm the fault. So on the monday I took the vehicle to my local garage and had the codes given to me through the bosch diagnostic kit and called the dealer back with the issue.

There were two issues. One was showing a MAF sensor failure and the second was a p0299 code indicating tubo underboost. both of which i mentioned to the dealer. Now he arranged for a replacement MAF sensor to be sent to me as I agreed to fit it myself as I was confident to do so and he was sure the turbo fault code was only due to the MAF sensor. So 3 days later my new sensor arrived and I fitted it and took it for a test drive... to my disappointment the turbo code p0299 was still coming up. (i might note that it only comes up when driving in higher gears hence why when we test drove the vehicle on minor roads the fault never came up).

So I called the dealer again and he asked for me to get the codes check,.. again. Which I did, still P0299. Now he has agreed to get the vehicle fixed but only if i drive 70 miles back to his location and leave it with him until it gets fixed.

Which leads me to my question. Seeing as the vehicle is obviously not fit for purpose and 15 mins after purchasing the item to devlop a major fault is not a reasonable length of time (although I have been advised it is highly likely this vehicle had the fault when I had purchased it) am I able to claim expenses through the sales of good act as the dealer has told me. 'Get a train and figure your way around until the car is fixed then get the train back to collect it when it's fixed'.

Now getting the trains back and forth alone is going to cost me a fair chunk of money but seeing as the dealer will only authorise work on the vehicle if I bring it to him I'm not really sure where I stand. Seeing as I'm going to be left stranded, if I hire a car would the dealer be responsible for the expense or will I have to pay for this inconveneince out of my own pocket? Perhaps this could be considered an expense of the fault?

I'm taking the car down to him in 2 days (for which I had to take time off work) and I would love to know where I stand should they not be able to fix it the same day.

Any help would be much appreciated.

mattyprice4004

The dealer has to have the option to remedy the situation, however it's not his fault you purchased from 70 miles away.

It's a common question, but something you should have bared in mind when purchasing at a distance - what happens when it goes wrong?

frugal_mike

charlie_chappell wrote: »

I was wondering if someone could help.

I recently purchased a second hand vehicle from a private dealer. We test drove the vehicle on minor roads and everything was fine. We arranged to collect the vehicle a week later. So the following Saturday travelled down (70 miles) to collect the vehicle from the dealer. All seemed ok until we were driving home on the motorway. 5 mins after getting on the motorway a fault light illumiated on the dash board. Needless to say I was concerned and as such when I got home I called the dealer and advised him of the issue. He requested I take the vehicle to get the 'codes' read to confirm the fault. So on the monday I took the vehicle to my local garage and had the codes given to me through the bosch diagnostic kit and called the dealer back with the issue.

There were two issues. One was showing a MAF sensor failure and the second was a p0299 code indicating tubo underboost. both of which i mentioned to the dealer. Now he arranged for a replacement MAF sensor to be sent to me as I agreed to fit it myself as I was confident to do so and he was sure the turbo fault code was only due to the MAF sensor. So 3 days later my new sensor arrived and I fitted it and took it for a test drive... to my disappointment the turbo code p0299 was still coming up. (i might note that it only comes up when driving in higher gears hence why when we test drove the vehicle on minor roads the fault never came up).

So I called the dealer again and he asked for me to get the codes check,.. again. Which I did, still P0299. Now he has agreed to get the vehicle fixed but only if i drive 70 miles back to his location and leave it with him until it gets fixed.

Which leads me to my question. Seeing as the vehicle is obviously not fit for purpose and 15 mins after purchasing the item to devlop a major fault is not a reasonable length of time (although I have been advised it is highly likely this vehicle had the fault when I had purchased it) am I able to claim expenses through the sales of good act as the dealer has told me. 'Get a train and figure your way around until the car is fixed then get the train back to collect it when it's fixed'.

Now getting the trains back and forth alone is going to cost me a fair chunk of money but seeing as the dealer will only authorise work on the vehicle if I bring it to him I'm not really sure where I stand. Seeing as I'm going to be left stranded, if I hire a car would the dealer be responsible for the expense or will I have to pay for this inconveneince out of my own pocket? Perhaps this could be considered an expense of the fault?

I'm taking the car down to him in 2 days (for which I had to take time off work) and I would love to know where I stand should they not be able to fix it the same day.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Section 48B of the SoGA states:

If the buyer requires the seller to repair or replace the goods, the seller must—

(a)repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer;

(b)bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage).

I would say that your return ticket is a necessary expense (unless it is cheaper to get it transported some other way, but I imagine not).

I'm not totally certain about the cost of hiring a care but it could be argued that you are being significantly inconvenienced without use of your car if it takes more than a day to fix.

real1314

If I had to take a faulty item back to a shop I doubt I would be able to claim the cost of that travel as it was a face-face transaction, and it would be my choice and only in my knowledge that the distance was significant.
If someone from Aberdeen buys a car from a dealer in Penzance, I don't think it would be reasonable to expect the journey to be covered.

It's not a necessary expense as the dealer has no control of the distance - the buyer does and therefore must bear that cost, based on their own choice.

However a loan car might be an issue. To some degree it might depend on the price paid.