Does a Warranty Override Sale of Goods Act

damo24

Hi,

In June 2013, I purchased a car from a nationwide chain. The car was an 09 plate Astra with a full service history and 30,000 miles on the clock. I compared this car with a number of other cars with similar mileage and condition and the price I paid was the same as these other cars.

The day before I was due to collect the car I was told that the cylinder head gasket needed replacing and the collection date was put back a few days to allow this to be repaired.

During the next few months, the car was in and out of the garage for repairs including having the dipstick changed, tracking re-set, water loss and the cylinder head gasket replaced again.

These repairs were carried under the 3 month, 3,000 mile warranty supplied by the garage. Since then, it has been in for further repairs and the garage have advised that further work is required although they state that as the warranty has expired I will need to pay for it. I am also concerned that having the cylinder head gasket replaced twice in such a short time suggests that there could be an inherent fault with the engine which will require further work in the future.

Following advice from CAB I wrote to the garage outlining the faults with the car pointing out that it is not of satisfactory quality and it is not fit for purpose. I requested a like-for-like replacement under the Sales of Goods Act 1979.

The garage has rejected this out of hand and stated that as I did not take an extended warranty I have no further comeback and are unwilling to discuss the matter further.

The CAB have advised that I send them a "final letter" and if that fails I should lodge a claim in the Small Claims Court.

I have often heard it said that nothing in a warranty overrides the Sale of Goods Act however I cannot find anything that actually states this.

Can anyone please point me in the direction of some guidance or link that I can include in my final letter pointing out that I still have rights even though I did not take out an extended warranty.

Many thanks

SuperHan

You cannot be contracted out of your statutory rights, by law. This article alludes to that:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18413057

So, the SoGA still applies, no matter what warranty decisions you made. However, I think applying SoGA in the case of a used car can be quite tricky! I'm sure others will be along to give you more advice in this regard though.

frugal_mike

The Sale of Goods Act applies to second hand goods as much as anything else, but obviously the age and price when you buy it will determine what the reasonable expectations of condition etc are. Since it is more than 6 months since you purchased the car the garage can require you to proove that the car is inherently faulty. You will likely need to get an expert to write a report on the state of the car, and if the report says the car is not in satisfactory condition for its age/mileage tge n go back to the dealer.

I'm no mechanic, but it certainly doesn't sound good that the head gasket had to be changed so soon after they supposedly replaced it.

damo24

Thanks for the advice. All of the faults were found by the garage within the first 6 months so hopefully that will not be too much of a problem.

bris

The age and mileage are very important, so a car at say 3 years old with an average of 36k will have a better chance than a 100k 10 year old car.

forgotmyname

What further work does the car require? Same parts that were fitted under the warranty or new faults?

unholyangel

As for proof that terms and conditions cannot override your statutory rights..... at this point I would usually quote OFT's unfair contract terms guidance or unfair trading guidance (different documents). Unfortunately OFT's site is down for maintenance.

I cant remember if its stated in unfair trading guidance (under banned practices which are not allowed in any cricumstances), but in unfair terms guidance, its states it can be a criminal offence to mislead a consumer about their rights.

If you read this before I get back online, try having a look through the documents yourself (if the sites back up). Its much better if you read it yourself as you'll gain a better understanding and hopefully learn some info that may prove useful in future (even big companies get it wrong/try to get away with what they can! - they rely on the consumers ignorance).