Been ripped off by a local dealer - where do I stand?

Steve1977

About a month ago I purchased a car for my wife after she passed her test a few months previous, but all the money she spent in lessons and subsequent tests was more or less going to waste because she couldnt afford to get an actual car.

So to give her a step onto the ladder I purchased a car for £995. Admittedly it was in the lower echelons of price but after perusing plenty on Auto Trader, some traders were very open if a car had a fault, however the one I found had a glowing report and had an MOT till 2014 and been serviced every year.

To be honest I was impatient, I didnt take the car for a test drive and was just excited to see my wifes face.
As I was collecting it the weasel I brought it from said "as I said, the brake pedal is quite low" erm...no you didnt say that mate.

* Had to call AA out and replace the Battery
* Brakes needed to be bled
* Rocker Cover Gasket was in bits

Above two things wernt a problem really as I expected to have a little work done, but unfortunately the replacement of the Rocker Gasket didnt fix the Oil Leak (when I had it, the car was bone dry of oil)

So to fix it would require a new head gasket set costing an extra £299.99 on top of the £235 I spent on getting the above fixed along with it's service.

I rang up the trader to see if i could get my £995 back but the woman soon turned agressive.

I was ready to trade it in and use it as leverage to get myself a newer car and give my wife my old one which I know is hard as nails. But before I do it was suggested for me to post on here for advice.

Basically, do I have a leg to stand on considering the car had these faults (which they surely were aware of)
My main problem is that they told me that any car under 1k has to have 'FAULTY' written across some paperwork which I had to sign.

Is this rubbish and have I been done?

forgotmyname

Probably but the dealer knows the chances of you taking him to court is slim and the chances of him actually paying you if you actualy did slimmer still.

Have you actually had a proper inspection to see if its the headgasket?

Could be something much simpler.

You could write to them saying you are formally rejecting the car. Giving them 7 / 14 days to arrange its collection and full refund. And see if they contact you.

I wouldnt hold out much hope though. If spending £300 means you have a decent car then its probably worth doing.

colino

Now at what point in your buying process of a sub-£1k banger did you register that it may have problems? The bit about you signing the paperwork acknowledging it was "faulty" perhaps?
If you want real advice, be specific about the make, model, year and symptoms.

motorguy

Steve1977 wrote: »

About a month ago I purchased a car for my wife after she passed her test a few months previous, but all the money she spent in lessons and subsequent tests was more or less going to waste because she couldnt afford to get an actual car.

So to give her a step onto the ladder I purchased a car for £995. Admittedly it was in the lower echelons of price but after perusing plenty on Auto Trader, some traders were very open if a car had a fault, however the one I found had a glowing report and had an MOT till 2014 and been serviced every year.

To be honest I was impatient, I didnt take the car for a test drive and was just excited to see my wifes face.
As I was collecting it the weasel I brought it from said "as I said, the brake pedal is quite low" erm...no you didnt say that mate.

* Had to call AA out and replace the Battery
* Brakes needed to be bled
* Rocker Cover Gasket was in bits

Above two things wernt a problem really as I expected to have a little work done, but unfortunately the replacement of the Rocker Gasket didnt fix the Oil Leak (when I had it, the car was bone dry of oil)

So to fix it would require a new head gasket set costing an extra £299.99 on top of the £235 I spent on getting the above fixed along with it's service.

I rang up the trader to see if i could get my £995 back but the woman soon turned agressive.

I was ready to trade it in and use it as leverage to get myself a newer car and give my wife my old one which I know is hard as nails. But before I do it was suggested for me to post on here for advice.

Basically, do I have a leg to stand on considering the car had these faults (which they surely were aware of)
My main problem is that they told me that any car under 1k has to have 'FAULTY' written across some paperwork which I had to sign.

Is this rubbish and have I been done?

Right.

I'm going to assume they didnt sell you a car worth £3,000 car for £1,000 because it had faults. I'm also going to assume that £995 was the market value for the car.

If so, dealer is not legally allowed to right 'FAULTY' across an invoice as a way of avoiding their responsibilities under the sale of goods act - which this dealer is clearly doing.

Firstly, i would contact trading standards. They will be very interested in a dealer doing this - however they will NOT be interested in taking on the responsibility on sorting your problem out, even though they may well stomp all over the dealer for using such tactics

Secondly, you ARE entitled to your money back legally. However exercising that legal right will be very difficult. Expect a weasel like this to resist as long as possible and you might have to take it right to court. Even then it may not go your way and even if it does just because the trader has been told to pay, doesnt mean they actually will.

One thing that WILL go against you is the fact that you've had the car worked on. You should have taken the car back to the dealer immediately. You've now had work done and the dealer will use this to say as the car has been worked on by someone else he cant stand over it.

Also, you have bought a car in the twilight years of its life so the trader could argue thats expected on a car that age.

You could try making as much 'noise' as possible - hassling the dealer daily, try involving the local paper, formal letters, legal letters, turning up and demanding your money back, etc, etc however weasels like this are usually hardened to such tactics.

I guess it depends on how much hassle you are prepared to accept to try to exercise your rights?

ontrack

So you bought a cheap car, without a test drive and were told it was faulty.
Did the idea of walking away not occur to you?
Where was your carer while all this was going on?
Surely you are not allowed out on your own?

Joe_Horner

Thanks for that useful post, ontrack, but the Naafi bar's that way

---

>>>>>

Good summary from motorguy about the situation.

Anything that's used to try and "sign away" a customer's legal rights is specifically not allowed. Telling the customer that "we have to write faulty" on the paperwork for a car they're selling as not faulty definitely comes under that description.

Regardless of whether or not there's any visible effect, Trading Standards should be told because it's exactly this sort of intel that they can use (in the end) to shut the cowboys down.

That may not help the OP directly, but if the last few customers who'd been caught by the dealer had done it then he possibly wouldn't have been selling the OP a car in the first place!

ontrack

Fair comment but reading this forum gets so frustrating from the number of posters who seem to be incapable of making a rational decision and take responsibility for their actions. Bleating about consumer rights is no substitute for using a bit of common before you get into the situation in the first place.
Yes there are dealers who will rip people off probably so in this case but the remedy is for people not to buy from them. No sales = no business
Trying to get redress through trading standards or the courts is a huge excercise in futility and surely it's better to not be in that position in the first place!

colino

Joe you have great faith in the consumer protection agencies, but in reality all of them are paper tigers. In my 30 years plus involvement with the trade, and knowing of their inspections, threats and enforcements (of other traders!), I can confidently tell you that not one trader has ever gone out, and stayed out of business by their efforts. Two very big players currently reside in Spain enjoying their ill-gotten gains, but it wasn't the CAB and the like that chased them there, it was HMRC.

Joe_Horner

ontrack wrote: »

Fair comment but reading this forum gets so frustrating from the number of posters who seem to be incapable of making a rational decision and take responsibility for their actions. Bleating about consumer rights is no substitute for using a bit of common before you get into the situation in the first place.
Yes there are dealers who will rip people off probably so in this case but the remedy is for people not to buy from them. No sales = no business
Trying to get redress through trading standards or the courts is a huge excercise in futility and surely it's better to not be in that position in the first place!

Agreed, and much nicer put

Sadly, a huge proportion of the population has little knowledge in most areas of life and have to work to a great extent on trust (no bad thing if everyone was trustworthy!). Which is why laws have developed to try and protect them from chancers.

Part of the problem is that the laws themselves have become so complicated over time that you then need trust someone to make sure they're being complied with, which is difficult unless you go everywhere with your own pocket lawyer!

Joe_Horner

colino wrote: »

Joe you have great faith in the consumer protection agencies, but in reality all of them are paper tigers. In my 30 years plus involvement with the trade, and knowing of their inspections, threats and enforcements (of other traders!), I can confidently tell you that not one trader has ever gone out, and stayed out of business by their efforts. Two very big players currently reside in Spain enjoying their ill-gotten gains, but it wasn't the CAB and the like that chased them there, it was HMRC.

Agreed again.

The real pros will never be stopped, any more than the the international drugs cartels will be. But that's no reason for not hassling the street dealers at every opportunity. At least that reduces the number of wannabe Arfur Daleys - or at least forces them to keep moving / changing business names.

That ever-changing trading history can then be used (by a savvy buyer) as a warning that the guy may not be reliable!

motorguy

colino wrote: »

Joe you have great faith in the consumer protection agencies, but in reality all of them are paper tigers. In my 30 years plus involvement with the trade, and knowing of their inspections, threats and enforcements (of other traders!), I can confidently tell you that not one trader has ever gone out, and stayed out of business by their efforts. Two very big players currently reside in Spain enjoying their ill-gotten gains, but it wasn't the CAB and the like that chased them there, it was HMRC.

So just do nothing then Colino?

Just let them continue with what they're doing?