Hire Purchase Agreement nightmare! Faulty goods but repossession due to start

missac41106

I have a hire purchase agreement for a 53 Plate car with 55,000 miles, which was obtained last July which was not driving well from the off, but particularly as the weeks passed I noticed that the brakes, suspension and various other parts of the car were not to the standard I was used to (prior to that I drove a 1999 Vauxhall Vectra with 160,000 miles on the clock, so one would expect the 53 Plate to be much improved. Also the car is semi automatic and would not always switch into reverse, sometimes taking 5 or more attempts from switching to drive to reverse to attempt it to work, or sometimes it would not work at all.
I reported the matter by telephone to the dealer who explained I would need to contact the finance company as it was their responsibility. I did this by telephone although they stated it was usually down to the dealer to look at and fix the vehicle if applicable as it should have still been under warranty but they said they would ask somebody from the relevant department to contact me. After time passing with no response I put my requests in writing (for the suspected faults to be investigated) to the dealer and had no response (September 2012). I also sent this to the finance company in end September/October as I was not getting anywhere with the dealer or with the finance company by telephone.
I sent various e-mails and attempted to chase the matter by telephone, without success, it was only in late December 2012 when the ABS and transmission warning light came on on my dashboard (rendering the car undriveable) that I relentlessly pursued the finance company and dealer marking all emails as urgent and contacting them both by telephone. When I spoke to the finance company the first person I spoke to said that as I have had the car less than six months they cover any faults occurring in this time frame, however the manager in charge of these issues was not in until the following day so I would have to wait for a response from them to advise me what to do.
When I spoke to the person in charge of this area, they told me it was down to the dealer to fix the problem as it is less than six months old. Then I spoke to the dealer who then told me that the warranty they give on their vehicles is only three months and they are not legally obliged to do any repairs after this time. The finance company refused to hear anything further on the issue and said they would cease all correspondence with me unless it was through a solicitor after I stated I had obtained legal advice on the matter (but did not instruct anybody). The solicitor I spoke to advised me that my rights are against the finance company and that I should be able to be able to claim back a pro rata refund for the monthly payments made and also the costs of fixing the car which I did have to arrange and pay for myself.
The mechanic who temporarily fixed the car said the fault was electrical - the brake cylinders are faulty and need replacing and also the automatic sensors to the wheels are not functioning properly (something which would have been present at the time the car was sold). He advised me until the same was done then the problem would reoccur and that this was most likely what they had done beforehand with a view to selling the car to make it look roadworthy.
Following this I also sought advice from Citizen's Advice who advised me that I should make a formal complaint and allow the finance company 14 days to rectify the problem and it was my choice whether to carry on paying the instalments or not.
The problem reoccurred end May 2013 and I paid the next 2 months instalments, but the most recent payment has not been made following the advice of Citizen's Advice Bureau and now I received a letter yesterday dated 12th August 2013 that repossession proceedings would be instigated in 14 days if I do not bring the account up to date (there was no mention of the ongoing dispute with them for which I only just received a response too; whereby they indicated that they would take the car back and accept to end the agreement without further cost providing there are no further faults to the car other than those I have stated to them).
It should also be mentioned that the monthly agreement with them generates a code which I have to enter into the vehicle so that I can use the car, this is done once payment is received. However, I have to ask them monthly for a new code after payment has been made, otherwise they do not generate it; contrary to their agreement and their telephone customer helpline which indicates that a code is automatically generated after each payment is made (within 24 hours.) Last month when payment was made they did not generate the code, despite several e-mails and letters being sent asking them for this. (One request was stated on one of the letters regarding the dispute which I did receive a response to in writing but he did not acknowledge my request nor act upon it, however he did receive it as his reply would indicate). It was only on my second letter to him in this regard that he said it was sent and claimed to send me proof that this was sent to me, although the proof he sent me did not indicate this firstly; secondly I now have a second agreement with them for a different vehicle for which the code is sent to the same mobile number and following a telephone call with the company last week they confirmed the code which was sent was for the new agreement, so this proves nothing. As I consider this breach of their their part of the contract this is when I decided with the advice of Citizen's Advice to not make any further payments (and given the car had been undriveable for the last two months too as I was not willing to pay to fix the car again/permanently.
What should I do? Do I have any rights to claim against them through a small claims court even though they will start repossession proceedings on 26th August? Can I still escalate the claim to you?
The finance company's main point for their reason for disputing my letters is that the car was fit for purpose and of satisfactory condition at the time of the sale and any reports to the contrary were not made to them until October 2012. (They are ignoring any knowledge of any reports beforehand) even so - this is only three months after purchase. As far as I was aware it is not reasonable to expect all faults to be apparent at the time of purchase and there should be reasonable time allowed for the purchaser to assess this.
Any assistance ASAP is extremely appreciated!

Valli

I suggest that, having followed the advice of the CAB thus far you return to them and ask them what they advise you to do now.