Garage won't fix or refund

Iain81

Hi all, hopefully I'm doing this right...

Ok
So I went to see a car at a garage who sold used cars on the 16th of October, left a deposit of £100 as per their request. Car was a total price of £1295 and listed as a trade in to clear and came with 1 years mot and tax until end of December also the listing said part service history and had covered 139000 miles from new.

So I collected the car on the 23rd of October once they had mot'd the car and drove it home. Now it is a 2003 vauxhall vectra 2.2dti which has a Diesel engine with a timing chain and vauxhall do not have a timing chain replacement interval mileage as they state it should last the life of the car. So my mind was at rest there also it didn't have any odd noises and had "just been serviced" according to the garage.

Monday 11th November on way to work the timing chain snaps and car grinds to a halt.
I call garage who tell me I have to get it the 40+ miles from where it broke down to them at my own cost and no courtesy car as they do not do them also I only bought a "£1200" car so what do I expect.

I took the car down Tuesday morning, called Wednesday was told they hadn't looked at it, they called me on the Thursday and confirmed my suspicions that the timing chain had snapped.

This it where it all goes wrong.

My receipt says 1 month warranty.
He tells me as I have covered over 1000 miles they will not cover it.
140050 ish so not 100's over.
I say there is no where written down that states a limited mileage warranty, but he says it is and also it was a trade in to clear.

He offers to fix the car if I pay £300 for parts and I decline as it should be covered and I want my money back for the car.

He was very arrogant and says well come and get your car and see you in court if you think you will get money back.

Any help would be great. I called citizens advice and they said to write a letter to the garage but just seemed to be in a rush to get me off the phone.
Car is still at the garage as I need to borrow a car and trailer to collect.

Thanks in advance

Iain

System

I can't help you with the query but if you're in dispute pick up the car ASAP. The garage may start charging you a daily storage fee for leaving it on their premises.

Iain81

Yeah I thought that as well, so hopefully I can get down early this week

shaun_from_Africa

Personally, I think that your best bet might be to pay the £300 for the parts and get the vehicle fixed, then consider using the small claims court to try get this money refunded.
The garage owner may be more willing to pay the £300 before legal action begins rather than risk losing the £1295.

Any legal action could drag on for months, and even if you win, there is no guarantee of antually getting your money back.

Iain81

I don't think I could trust their workmanship to be honest