Do I have a claim?

tonymoz

I bought a secondhand Mercedes on June 26th from a dealer and less than two weeks later it developed a fault which turned out to be the Head Gasket. I contacted the dealer and they said the car was sold without warranty which to be fair, it said on the sales receipt, and they offered me £200 towards the cost of repairs. However, the repair, which the car is currently undergoing, will cost nearer £700. I've rEad things about the Sales of Goods Act 1979 and it appears to me that I could make a claim for more. I wouldn't expect the dealer to pay the whole amount as it will be better when it is fixed than before, but £200 seems a bit low to me.

The dealer has sent me a cheque for the £200 but I haven't cashed it while I'm considering my next move.

So....my question is, do I accept the £200 or pursue a larger claim. I have kept the dealers advert and all the emails in which the car was described as, "in excellent condition for age". It also came with full service history. I don't want to be to harsh on the dealer as this fault was not something they knew about but I don't really want to be to much out of pocket either.

Any advice gratefully received.

smashingyour...

Have your garage said what has caused it to fail?

Anything obvious the seller would have known about?

tonymoz

They had hoped it would be the water pump but it was obviously the head gasket as white smoke started to come out of the exhaust. I took it to a local garage and sure enough, that was the problem. I booked it in with the local garage and they are currently fixing it. From what I've been told, the most likely cause is that water, not coolant, had been used in the radiator and had partially corroded the water channels within the engine

AS2RW

Whether or not they gave a "Warranty" or not does not exclude them from the sale of goods act.

Take a quick search on google for the "Office of fair trading checklist for second hand car dealers" it's available as a .pdf file so you can print it off and take it with you!

You are entitled to ask for a full refund on the vehicle, reasonable compensation (i.e the cost of repair + transport costs to get home when you were stranded etc) repair or replacement with a similar vehicle.

Don't feel sorry for the garage they sound like they will happily take your money if you are willing to let them!

Guest101

The vehicle, 'must be fit for purpose', so unless it was sold as a repair job / scrap and spares, it must remain in reasonable working order for a reasonable length of time. The reasonable test being what a man on the street would consider it to be.

Basically a couple of years atleast.

So, yes you do have a claim.

AnnieO1234

Did anyone write on the paperwork "trade sale" if so they've made it b2b in an attempt to get out of warranty.

tonymoz

No, it wasn't a trade sale. I bought it from a dealer because I thought there would be a bit of a guarantee if anything did go amiss. It wasn't sold as scrap either or needing work. The advert clearly states, "excellent condition for age, full service history", etc. when I first pointed out there may be a problem, they told me to take it to a local garage to get it investigated. Once I'd done that and ascertained it couldn't be driven, I booked it in with that garage. Does the fact I'd not sent it back to them affect my consumer rights at all? I ask that because I'm assuming if they'd taken it back, they could have got the work done for less.

Thank you everyone for your help

motorguy

tonymoz wrote: »

Does the fact I'd not sent it back to them affect my consumer rights at all? I ask that because I'm assuming if they'd taken it back, they could have got the work done for less.

Yes it does. They could / will argue that they should have been given the opportunity to inspect the vehicle first.

I think you might have torpedoed your claim against them actually by doing this.

Contact trading standards and see what they say. It will be an uphill struggle though.

Sorry.

motorguy

Guest101 wrote: »

The vehicle, 'must be fit for purpose', so unless it was sold as a repair job / scrap and spares, it must remain in reasonable working order for a reasonable length of time. The reasonable test being what a man on the street would consider it to be.

Basically a couple of years atleast.

So, yes you do have a claim.

Never in a million years is a dealer expected to stand over any car for two years.

Also, they *had* a claim, however they've now taken it to another mechanic to fix, so they've pretty much scuppered their claim against the dealer.

Guest101

motorguy wrote: »

Never in a million years is a dealer expected to stand over any car for two years.

Also, they *had* a claim, however they've now taken it to another mechanic to fix, so they've pretty much scuppered their claim against the dealer.

quote the law. 2 year warrenties are not uncommon. and if i buy a car i expect to run it for atleast 2 years! thats reasonable.

but agreed, the dealer needed to be allowed to investigate

smashingyour...

Guest101 wrote: »

quote the law. 2 year warrenties are not uncommon. and if i buy a car i expect to run it for atleast 2 years! thats reasonable.

but agreed, the dealer needed to be allowed to investigate

Two year warranty on a used car?