Second hand car with faults - refund?

megwump

My husband bought a second hand car from a second hand car place (not a private sale).

Very quickly, we discovered undisclosed faults:
1. Leak in windscreen fluid tank - it didn't empty, but it went straight down to the low fluid level warning
2. Front heated windscreen only working in patches
3. Rear passenger door lock didn't work
4. Most importantly, the engine malfunction light kept coming on and it went into limp mode

He contacted them very quickly and asked for a refund as it wasn't sold as described. They offered, instead, to repair the faults free if charge.

Apart from the windscreen (which is understandable), everything appeared to be sorted. 9 days in and the malfunction light has come on again today. He turned the engine off and on, but got the light again within 5 minutes. Engine off, engine on, got to work without it happening again.

Is he within his rights to still get a refund? The car was purchased shortly before Christmas and he notified them of the faults and refund request within 14 days of purchase.

jimjames

How old is the car?

You'd expect a different level of quality from a 6 month old car to one that is 12 years old.

Netwizard

As the car has been in the garage once, did they say why the engine light was coming on? They should have run diagnostics on it and got the fault code? It might be something very minor, in which case, keep it, as the other faults aren't really anything too bad.

Windscreen washer tanks can be picked up for peanuts, windscreen can be done on insurance for the small excess price and rear passenger door lock will be an easy fix no doubt but as above, it depends what you paid for the car and what car it is

forgotmyname

Fairly minor issues. Biggest issue is the screen.

What car is it? Engine light or flashing glowplug light?

The will offer a repair how much will depend on the age and mileage. Most of the things you listed should have been easily spotted on the initial road test.

megwump

It's a Mondeo, 8 years old, I think. The only fault that's a concern is the engine malfunction light. They said the codes were weird and just cleared them off.

It was sold without the fault having been disclosed - a serious fault at that, especially when it's being driven 110 miles a day.

Hopefully they'll just fix it, but the repeated limp mode issue means that he's uncomfortable driving it, doesn't feel safe.

megwump

To answer a specific question - he gets an ENGINE MALFUNCTION message on screen, not sure if the engine light comes on too.

Nodding_Donkey

If it is going into limp mode then I would suggest it's not normally a minor issue. I'd say he was well within his rights to get a refund. He's been fair and given them the opportunity to fix it but they have failed.

Saying the codes were 'wierd' and just clearing them is just mugging you off.

AdrianC

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

If it is going into limp mode then I would suggest it's not normally a minor issue. I'd say he was well within his rights to get a refund. He's been fair and given them the opportunity to fix it but they have failed.

Saying the codes were 'wierd' and just clearing them is just mugging you off.

Not at all. It's far from unusual to get a few seemingly random historic codes if they've not been read/cleared for a while. Now that they have been, it should be read again, and the codes which have recurred should give an indication of what the problem is.

Tilt

SOGA says that the seller should be given reasonable opportunity to inspect/rectify. Normally 3 attempts to rectify would be regarded as "reasonable" after which the seller should either replace or refund.

However, SOGA is open to interpretation in some regards so a judge may have to decide.

jimjames

megwump wrote: »

To answer a specific question - he gets an ENGINE MALFUNCTION message on screen, not sure if the engine light comes on too.

What sort of mileage does the car have and how many miles have you done in the car since you bought it? 550 a week is quite a high mileage to do - that's over 26,000 a year.

It may not be reasonable to expect to do 26000 miles a year in an 8 year old car without having any issues.

As above, it really depends what the code is and what it means. It sounds like the dealer has tried to resolve the faults so they may still be willing to fix whatever comes up for the engine.

EdGasket

If it is a diesel mondeo then it could be very expensive to fix; I know people who have had this symptom and they have ended up needing new injectors and/or pump which will set you back £500 to £1000 or more. Is it diesel?