Worried about purchase of Fiesta

MXW

I bought a Ford Fiesta in March 2013 from a large car supermarket. I bought my previous car from them and it has been fantastic. Within 3 weeks there was a fuel leak on the car (the car is a 2011 plate) I took the car back to the dealers who sent it off to Ford to repair as it is still under warranty until March 2014. When the car came back it was filthy and the fuel had reduced more than it would take to drive the car to the Ford dealers and back. I complained and the dealership washed and valeted the car and put a small amount of fuel in it. I thought that was the end of the matter. In the summer I was cleaning the car and found a card from Red Driving school with the name and mobile number of the driving instructor. The car was previously owned by Hitachi Capital, and when I got out the service book I noticed that the reg no hand written on it was different to my own reg, although the description of the car was the same. I rang the dealers about this, who said that the reg no could have been written down in error, he also confirmed that the car was not previously used as a driving instructors car. For the last couple of weeks I have noticed that the car windows were steaming up, even when it wasnt raining. Yesterday I took the car into my local garage (who I have used for years) who told me that it was the pollen filter that had never been changed. But they also told me that the insulation under the carpet in the drivers side and front passenger side had been cut out with a stanley knife. They also told me that when they were fitting the pollen filter they had noticed that the fan system had been pushed out off place. I asked them if it was possible that the car has had dual controls fitted and they said that because of the insulation being removed it would make sense. I found out the card that I had found in the car and spoke to the driving instructor who confirmed that the car had been hers. My question is, should the dealer have told me that the car had previously had dual controls fitted and was a driving instructors car when I bought it? Would the car dealer have known this? I am panicking now, as I had saved up for a long time to buy this car, and I am worried that because of the nature of driving lessons that the clutch may go on it, or things of that nature and I can't afford to replace them. I apologise for the length of my post, but any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you

colino

The short answer is yes, a dealer must tell you (not wait to be asked) if the car has been used for such a purpose, it's their job to know and they are breaking the law if they don't.

tykesi

Any chance you could edit your post and add paragraphs?

People will be more inclined to read it than that big lump of words!

MXW

colino wrote: »

The short answer is yes, a dealer must tell you (not wait to be asked) if the car has been used for such a purpose, it's their job to know and they are breaking the law if they don't.

Thank you very much for your speedy reply. I don't know the best way to approach this and also what I should be asking for by means of recompense. I am more than capable of putting a complaints letter together, but should I be asking for compensation, or for a guarantee that if parts need replacing (because of the nature of the previous use) that they would put this right free of charge? Thank you

bigjl

You are assuming that Hitachi Capital informed the dealer of its origins.

They may have had no idea especially if the dual controls were removed prior to it arriving at the dealer.

Not sure how you stand as far as SOGA goes.

What do you want the dealer to do?

Give some money back?

Reject the car?

MXW

bigjl wrote: »

You are assuming that Hitachi Capital informed the dealer of its origins.

They may have had no idea especially if the dual controls were removed prior to it arriving at the dealer.

Not sure how you stand as far as SOGA goes.

What do you want the dealer to do?

Give some money back?

Reject the car?

Thank you for your reply. The dealership is a very large one, and I would have thought that when buying these cars they would know the history of them. If I had known that the car had previously been used as a driving instructors car I would not have bought it. Looking at instructions given by trading standards, dealerships should not give the impression that one previous owner means just that. It states that the dealer should inform the buyer if it has been a lease car/driving school car etc,so that the buyer makes an informed choice as to if they want to buy the car or not. I think the least that I could ask for is compensation.
Thanks

chrisw

I would suspect the dealership didn't know. Hitachi are a large supplier of lease cars and it is likely that they they are all sent off to auction at the end of their lease. The dealership are likely to have bid on a selection of those but proabably wouldn't delve that deeply into the actual history of the individual cars. Indeed, if the controls were removed prior to auction it is unlikely that the actual use would ever be passed on, and might only come to light with contact with the previous owner as you have done.

yangptangkipperbang

MXW wrote: »

I took the car back to the dealers who sent it off to Ford to repair as it is still under warranty until March 2014. When the car came back it was filthy and the fuel had reduced more than it would take to drive the car to the Ford dealers and back. I complained and the dealership washed and valeted the car

Cars are not sent to "Ford" for warranty repairs (only in exceptional circumstances when Ford Motor Co wish to examine the vehicle). If your dealer has not got Ford approved workshop facilities he would have just passed the vehicle to another Ford dealer who did. They would carry out the work and the bill would be sent to Ford.

In the light of the somewhat chequered history of the vehicle I might even suggest it didn't go to a Ford dealer and was done in a backstreet workshop.

colino

It emphatically has nothing to do with Hitachi finance, the trader is a professional and it is his duty to actively check the history of the vehicle and one of the prescribed misleading actions is ,,"giving the impression that a vehicle has one previous user",,, "when in fact it is an ex-business use vehicle that has had multiple previous users (such as an ex-rental, driving-school, vehicle or taxi). OFT.
I'm not aware of any modern dual control systems that need any vehicle alterations and you should arrange to see the Dealer Principal as you have already been lied to about the origins of the car.
What do you really want as a result though? Replacement with a similar, non-ex-business version, repairs or compensation?

fivetide

chrisw wrote: »

I would suspect the dealership didn't know. Hitachi are a large supplier of lease cars and it is likely that they they are all sent off to auction at the end of their lease. The dealership are likely to have bid on a selection of those but proabably wouldn't delve that deeply into the actual history of the individual cars. Indeed, if the controls were removed prior to auction it is unlikely that the actual use would ever be passed on, and might only come to light with contact with the previous owner as you have done.

would it not be best, given that the dealer has to let the buyer know if the car has been used for this purpose, to make one phone call to Hitachi and check?

Alternatively, the clues were there. The OP didn't need to speak to the previous owner, the insulation being cut told the garage what the likely history was so a simple check by the dealer would have revealed the same.

Given the dodgy service book etc too it seems the dealer has not performed as they should in relation to this car or checks they should have done.

The thing is OP, as has been asked, what do you want from them? If it is compensation how much? What for? You need to have a target in mind, not least ensuring that the service history for the car is what it says it is. Perhaps a free extended warrenty would do it - although I doubt they would cover the clutch.

edit to say - typed at same time as colino and essentially the same thoughts.

Prothet_of_Doom

So after you bought the car, you asked the dealer if the car had been used as by a driving school, and he 'mis-spoke' ....a lie ? or a mistake..

Personally I say a lie, as he didn't have enough information to know the truth, and said something he did not know to be true.

He didn't lie before you bought the car. He just didn't tell you.

I think maybe you have had the car a bit too long to reject it, but I'd expect a small refund, for them to pay for the repairs associated with the mistakes made removing the dual controls, and an extension to the warranty, but as in all negotiation I'd go in with a demand that they take back the car and refund my cash.