Can I get my deposit back????

Jono82

Hi all, could use a bit of advice if anyone can help.

Shortly before Christmas I went to view a second hand car at a small car dealers. The car didn't have an mot so i couldn't take it for a test drive but the chap said the car would be sold with a full mot.

I placed a deposit on the car safe in the knowledge that the mot would highlight any major problems and as such these would be rectified prior to my collecting the car. I noticed two major cracks in the windscreen and brought this to the dealers attention before i left. A few days afterwards the dealer phoned me and asked what we had agreed about the windscreen saying that he could get it through the mot without having to fix it if that was ok.

I immediately became concerned as one of the cracks was on the right hand side of the windscreen right in the line of sight of the driver, a major mot fail as far as i'm aware. I told the dealer i wasn't happy about this and seeming annoyed he said he'd sort it, obviously he didn't expect a girl to spot this!!!

I spoke to a few friends in the following days, the bulk of advice i received was to walk away as if this chap had an mot tester who would ignore the windscreen, what else would he ignore.

I contacted the dealer and politely pointed out my concerns, and also highlighted that he had continued to advertise the car as for sale, and asked for my deposit back. He hasn't replied to any of my correspondence, what can i do?

Alt

I will be the first of many to ask....

You bought a car without test driving it???? :eek:

Jono82

Alt wrote: »

I will be the first of many to ask....

You bought a car without test driving it???? :eek:

The car didn't have an mot so i couldn't test drive it, like many low cost cars they are mot'd on purchase.

scotsbob

Jono82 wrote: »

The car didn't have an mot so i couldn't test drive it

That's the point when you should have walked away. If someone is selling a car, why wouldn't they MOT it first?

EdGasket

Don't think I've ever bought a car without a long MoT or without a test drive; really can't understand why anyone else would??

Jono82

scotsbob wrote: »

That's the point when you should have walked away. If someone is selling a car, why wouldn't they MOT it first?

I appreciate your point but as I have said many car dealers advertise cars stating that will be sold will a full years mot. As I could not test drive the car I put my trust in the mot highlighting any major problems but once the dealer said he could pass it with the windscreen cracks I became concerned.

Prothet_of_Doom

SOGA - must be fit for purpose. Cracked window = Not fit for purpose.

That said MOT proves very little to me. Yes it passed what is a very low bar, and doesn't mean that it's actually any good at all.

Last car I bought had no MOT, but I test drove it on trade plates, came back pointed out 3 things I needed sorting, paid a deposit. Took daughter to look the next day, and she spotted the seat did not recline. Fair enough, it would have been covered under warranty, but I was given the choice of my deposit back or wait a week for the repair. Rest of the car was what we wanted so waited.

londonTiger

MOT isn't the be all and end all. Plenty of garages have dodgy MOT people certify cars for them. I rememebr one one watchdog. Car bought with recent |MOT but cvar had serious structural issues. Can't have passed a legitimate MOT in that condition.

E.g. AFAIK MOT person does not check the clutch or the gearbox. So if the clutch is slippy and on the verge of going out the MOT will not advise for it.

Gearbox could be problematic and the mot wouldn't say anything. I once drive a hire car corsa that would go from gear 2 to gear 1 at 30mph. I had to manually force it to shift up instead of down.

I hired it from a urban area so drove gear 1-2 all the way for miles. Then hit an open area and ran into trouble,

Mark_Mark

londonTiger wrote: »

MOT isn't the be all and end all. Plenty of garages have dodgy MOT people certify cars for them. I rememebr one one watchdog. Car bought with recent |MOT but cvar had serious structural issues. Can't have passed a legitimate MOT in that condition.

E.g. AFAIK MOT person does not check the clutch or the gearbox. So if the clutch is slippy and on the verge of going out the MOT will not advise for it.

Gearbox could be problematic and the mot wouldn't say anything. I once drive a hire car corsa that would go from gear 2 to gear 1 at 30mph. I had to manually force it to shift up instead of down.

I hired it from a urban area so drove gear 1-2 all the way for miles. Then hit an open area and ran into trouble,

It is if it won't pass one.

Jono82

Thanks for the feedback, it definitely is a learning curve. The question remains though, can i get my deposit back?

vaio

I thought whether a crack was a fail depended on where it is and how big......

anything outside the wiper swept area is ok
anything 40mm or less in the swept area but not in the 290 mm wide band centred on the steering wheel is ok
anything 10mm or less in the 290 mm band is ok

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm