Fault on used car, driven 15 miles

kaznelson

Hi, hope someone could help. My son has used his savings and bought a 2005 seat Ibiza when he turned 17, 2 weeks ago. The car was purchased from a dealer with a 3 month warranty.

Drove the car him, 10 miles and then we have taken my son out on his learner plates covering less than 5 miles when a coil spring has broken.

I've contacted the dealer who is denying liability, now dodging all my calls & won't reply to my emails.

Could someone advise if this fault is classed as wear & tear or should the garage be held liable?

Retrogamer

kaznelson wrote: »

Hi, hope someone could help. My son has used his savings and bought a 2005 seat Ibiza when he turned 17, 2 weeks ago. The car was purchased from a dealer with a 3 month warranty.

Drove the car him, 10 miles and then we have taken my son out on his learner plates covering less than 5 miles when a coil spring has broken.

I've contacted the dealer who is denying liability, now dodging all my calls & won't reply to my emails.

Could someone advise if this fault is classed as wear & tear or should the garage be held liable?

They should be held liable under the vehicle warranty i'd have thought, but that aside you are protected as a consumer under the sales of goods act that states if a fault occurs in under 6 months, it's up to the seller to prove the fault wasn't there when the vehicle was sold.

motorguy

kaznelson wrote: »

Hi, hope someone could help. My son has used his savings and bought a 2005 seat Ibiza when he turned 17, 2 weeks ago. The car was purchased from a dealer with a 3 month warranty.

Drove the car him, 10 miles and then we have taken my son out on his learner plates covering less than 5 miles when a coil spring has broken.

I've contacted the dealer who is denying liability, now dodging all my calls & won't reply to my emails.

Could someone advise if this fault is classed as wear & tear or should the garage be held liable?

Technically its wear and tear but the dealer should be liable such a short time after the purchase.

Hes probably betting on you getting it repaired yourself rather than have the hassle of chasing him.

Probably £60 all in fitted i guess.

OddballJamie

Gonna be iffy ground proving a coil spring was broken when you bought it, on an 8 year old car due to pot holes and speed humps it's becoming more common place.

We had a rear one fail an MOT, changed both rears and a week later the front one went and nearly took a tyre with it.

Any good dealer would fix it as good will as it was purchased so recently but unfortunately it may be easier for you in the long run to stomach the cost to get your son back on the road and also get the rest of the car checked out for faults.

I would imagine his insurance is pricey so every day without the car is wasted money.

colino

As above, a coil spring, even under MOT inspection generally is good or broken so the trader will say your inexperienced son thumped it down a pothole and it's down to you to replace as a w&t item. A good trader however, knowing how little this will cost him and the goodwill that it will bring, would fix it for you.

kaznelson

Thank you all so much for your replies. I thought as a gesture of goodwill they would of repaired it since he's only driven the car a couple of times & it would be less than £100 to fix. I'm still on with getting them to fix it or to refund the repairs, principal of the whole thing! Like they say a bad name travels further than a good word! Anyone looking to buy a car in the Ormskirk area let me know & I'll tell you where to avoid!

forgotmyname

Name them. Its a company that provided a poor service so name and shame.

This site comes up very high on google searches. It maybe the incentive they need.

Tilt

Could be the case that the shocks are shot which is normally why springs eventually break. That would be something that the dealer SHOULD of known about.

Write to the seller formally reporting the problem to him thus giving him reasonable opportunity to inspect and rectify. Inform him that under the SOGA you believe that he should rectify at no expense to you due to the very short time frame and usage since purchase. Give him 7 days to respond before having the car repaired and then pursuing him for the cost.

IMHO a district judge would agree that the seller would be responsible after such a short time following the sale bearing in mind that the shock absorber is probably the reason the spring has failed. This is a component the seller would be expected to check prior to sale.