In Dispute With Dealer Over a Car Now Getting Legal! Advice Please!

pappadruid

Hi All,

I recently bought a 2005 Honda CR-V 2.2 Deisel from a dealer. Long story short, the clutch failed completely 5 days later. (some of you may have seen my previous thread!). I sent a letter to the dealer requesting that he covers the cost of repair, and reminded him of his obligation under the Sale of Goods Act, and also of the Misrepresentation Act (the car was advertised as having 88k miles, but in reality it had just short of 90k!). The car was recovered to a local garage who have quoted £959 for repairs.The dealer referred this onto his legal company and I have today recieved their response, which is shortened below.

'Our clients position is that they supplied a vehicle in a satisfactory condition for its year and age and mileage, and that you have authorised repairs without the consent of the client or returned your vehicle.'

I did not authorise repairs. The authorisation was given by the warranty company in a telephone conversation with the owner of the garage where the car was recovered to. I did try to contact the dealer in the first instance, but they were away on holiday for 2 weeks so could not get their input with this. How exactly to you return a vehicle that is undriveable to a dealer 70 miles away without incurring huge towing costs? How then do I get back from the dealer after dropping the car off? Incidentally, the dealer still has not forwarded the warranty paperwork onto the warranty company some 2 weeks after purchase.

'We should respectfully point out that you have a legal duty to minimise any costs or expenditure for which you intend to hold our client responsible and respectfully suggest that this would be such a reasonable step.'

The costs of repairs is £959. If I had taken the car to my local Honda dealer for repair it would have cost £1629.05 inc vat. I think I have done well to reduce the costs as far as is reasonably practicable! We have also rejected the offer of a hire car from the garage to keep costs down further and struggled on without one!

'In the circumstances our client cannot reasonably consider reimbursing you for the same because the client has not been given a reasonable opportunity to investigate the fault with a view to repair.'

Very difficult for me to do when the dealer is out of the country when we need the vehicle to take the kids to school, go to work, etc. I am retaining all of the damaged parts that are removed from the vehicle so the dealer can inspect these should he wish. Could I really be expected to do any more?

'Nevertheless, our client is reasonable and is prepared to offer £350 in full and final settlement of all past, present and future claims.'

I was amazed at this offer. I was fully expecting a flat rejection initially.

So, what to you advise I do now? On the one hand, do I accept the offer and meet the remainder of the bill myself in order to have the matter done and dusted swiftly? Or do I stick to my guns and go for full payment for repairs? It seems to me that for the legal firm to offer me £350 straight away that they realise their client is liable and are seeking to fob me off on the cheap!

All I want is to get my car back and for the dealer to meet the cost of repairs, but I dont want my pants pulled down along the way! I firmly believe I am in the right with this and am being reasonable in my expectation for the cost of the repair to be met by the dealer.

Sorry if this is a long drawn out query.

All advise and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Hintza

Your sticky wicket is not giving the seller the opportunity to repair and he will argue he can do it cheaper. You need to be careful here you might win the whole amount but I reckon not, so it is now a game of brinkmanship. How far to push it?

I think you might get a little more, but how much more? 50%?

Hoof_Hearted

Small claims is the way to go. You have a good case and it is very cheap to do. I guess they will offer a higher settlement figure brfore the hearing and it will be up to you whether to settle or not.

Slightly confused how the warranty company authorised repairs they wouldn't cover.

pappadruid

Thanks for the replies so far!

Hoof Hearted - The warranty company have only agreed to meet £357 of the bill. I got the garage owner to phone them direct on my behalf so there was no ambiguity. The warranty was just a standard 3 month deal from the dealer. The warranty only covers a max of £500 anyway. I agree I have a strong case for a Small Claims, but at the same time, I want it all to be sorted quickly and to my satisfaction. I think a letter back to the law firm rejecting the initial offer is the way to go and see what happens there. How long does a small claims case take to get resolved? What is my first step in a small claims case? Who do I appproach first?

I also believe I have some rights under Section 75 as I used a credit card for part payment for the car? Am I right in thinking they have some liability under this Section 75 also? Anyone give me some pointers with this? It is not just the repair bills I am looking at, but also the cost of recovery (£245!!) due to the breakdown!

All help gratefully received!

fivetide

Hintza wrote: »

Your sticky wicket is not giving the seller the opportunity to repair and he will argue he can do it cheaper. You need to be careful here you might win the whole amount but I reckon not, so it is now a game of brinkmanship. How far to push it?

I think you might get a little more, but how much more? 50%?

I'd agree.

How much is a clutch (parts only)? The dealer will be able to say they could fix it for the cost of parts as they wouldn't need to charge themselves labour.

colino

Frankly I'm amazed they offered a settlement, not only is that wrong (they are absolutely entitled to see the car and choose to repair, refund or replace) so I'd suggest that you do as you've indicated, refuse the first offer and push for more.
Remember when to settle though, no point it dragging out for months.

pappadruid

If I decide to push for the full amount to cover the bill, would they then be able to withdraw their initial offer of £350, or are they obliged to honour this? I do not want to run the risk of ending up with nothing for the sake of being a bit greedy and holding out for more?

Something in the back of my mind tells me that they know I am well in the right and could make life difficult for the dealer, especially if I decide to pursue them under the Misrepresentation Act over the misadvertising of the mileage. The dealer would then be subject to a full investigation over this. Can you tell Google has been my friend over this??!!

Thanks for all help and advice so far!

fivetide

pappadruid wrote: »

If I decide to push for the full amount to cover the bill, would they then be able to withdraw their initial offer of £350, or are they obliged to honour this? I do not want to run the risk of ending up with nothing for the sake of being a bit greedy and holding out for more?

Something in the back of my mind tells me that they know I am well in the right and could make life difficult for the dealer, especially if I decide to pursue them under the Misrepresentation Act over the misadvertising of the mileage. The dealer would then be subject to a full investigation over this. Can you tell Google has been my friend over this??!!

Thanks for all help and advice so far!

They can withdraw the offer at any point.

Can you still get the money from the warrenty firm?

If so £700 towards a £950 bill isn't that much of a haircut given where you could be.

As said, you might get more but it could be a drawn out battle so you have to weigh up all the factors like impact on your day if you need to go to court, general stress etc as well as the financial aspect.

pappadruid

Fivetide, the warranty firm will pay £350ish towards the bill. If I accept the initial offer,then that is £700, leaving me to pay circa £250, which, like you say, isnt too bad considering where I could be which is up a certain creek without a certain implement!! However, this does not cover the £250 recovery costs I had to pay to get the car back home, so Im still down to the tune of £500.

I agree totally that it is finding the right balance between having a quick solution and moving on or a long drawn out affair. Im all for a quick solution, but I feel that a rejection of the initial offer and requesting the dealer increases it to £500 is fair. Or am I just being greedy?? I have two devils on my shoulder at the moment - one saying I should take the £350 while it is on offer, but the other is saying I have a strong case to claim for the full cost of repairs. The fact that they have made an offer of £350 immediately makes me think they are trying to get rid of me cheaply.

Fortunately, I paid for part of the car with my credit card. I have just spoken to the credit card company and they say I can lodge a claim with them under Section 75 of the CCA for my losses. Has anyone had any experience of this type of claim? Do they usually pay out or is it a long drawn out affair? What I dont want to do is to let the dealer off the hook, assuming the credit card company will meet the rest of the losses, only to find out that they reject my claim.

Again, many thanks for all replies! You are all very helpful and it is appreciated!

fivetide

That's why I think you should find the cost of the part. Maybe if you write back saying you are ok with the fact the dealer didn't get a chance to repair for various reasons but that doesn't change the fact the part was needed therefore if the dealer is willing to cover the cost of the replacement part you will cover the labour (less the £350 from the warranty or something) then that might not be a bad solution.

Also, can recommend AutoAid for cheap cover on the recovery side. You'd have been able to claim the £250 back off them. Of course these things are always an expense until needed!

OddballJamie

I would ask for higher than £500 with the hope they will come back with £500 as the next offer.

You could try rejecting the £350 offer under the grounds it is not enough to cover the repairs and towing. Request a full and final offer from them before you escalate it any further and seek legal advice.