Car finance! Please help!

d.grove1

This is a LONG story but i've cut it real short.

Signed for car finance on 17/07/2013

Everything worked perfectly until 3 months later, engine warning light came on, rang the dealership (not the finance company) and asked them what i should do. They suggested that I rang up FIAT (my cars maker) and see if the fault is covered under warranty. It turns out it was and i had that problematic part replaced.

Now for the follow 4 months, this was the same process and it happened another 4 times. In total, my car ended up having a brand new engine, new ECU, and 3 sensors replaced on the vehicle, luckily all covered under the 3 year dealership warranty totally to just over £6000.

Recently i rang up my finance company and said i no longer want the car as i feel like its unsafe to drive and referenced the "Sale of goods act" and that "it wasn't fit for purpose". They are saying that because i got the parts replaced under the warranty I've effectively destroyed the broken parts and therefore can't prove that the fault was present at the point of sale.

They suggested that I should of initially got an independent engineers report once the faults had occurred as they would be able to determined that the faults were or were not there at the point of sale.

However I called the AA and they said that they can only review the problems that were present then, and that they would be unable to give a time frame to when the faults started to occur.

I've gone to the FOS and its taking ages but my question is where do I go from here? Should I appoint a solicitor?

I've only just turned 20 so I dont have any experience with this sort of stuff so would REALLY appreciate any help/ advice and thank you very much in advance.

Dom

InsideInsurance

What is currently wrong with the vehicle?

You could get an independent engineers report including a review of the work done to date which will cost you a few hundred pounds but as you've accepted the vehicle you are going really struggle to reject the vehicle until its faulty again

d.grove1

Thank you for your reply, as it stands today nothing is wrong with the vehicle, i just dont have the confidence with driving it anymore as twice its broken down on the motorway.

The finance company said that getting an engineers report now to them is deemed as 'useless' as the car is currently in full working order. It seems like I'm in a catch 22 situation, as even if I got an engineers report when the faults started they still wouldn't of been able to give me a rough timescale when he faults were first developing.

This is where i get stuck and unsure where to go next.

InsideInsurance

If the vehicle has already been repaired though they have already fulfilled their obligations under the SOGA so any action is unlikely to succeed as you could argue that anything MAY break in the future

d.grove1

The family run dealership (where i originally got my car) nor the finance company have fulfilled anything. All my repairs have been fulfilled by an independent FIAT dealership hence why all of the parts were covered under the 3rd year manufacture warranty.

When i sent the letter to the finance company regarding SOGA they said that because i didn't notify them of the car being broken immediately then there is nothing they can do to help.

My argument is, that the chance of these major faults being there at the point of sale is highly likely as over time, substances were leaking into a compartment of the engine which shouldn't of been. However the finance company said that I should of got a report done at the time when the problem first started.

What I dont understand is if the independent engineers report couldn't of given me a time scale back then, what does it matter if i just got one now, surely the outcome would be the same.

I have the reports from FIAT explaining X, Y and Z parts were replaced, it just seems that the finance company are sending me around in circles.

InsideInsurance

The invoices will only show what has been done. An engineers report gives expert opinion.

If you are claiming that the leaks into the compartment are going to cause problems then the evidence of their presence should be there/ the start of damage showing. The engineer therefore would be able to confirm this and that it would be related to the issues as per the repair invoices

To be honest, I dont think you have much chance until it goes wrong again, but find a small independent engineers company and speak to them on the phone on if they agree with you and if they are likely to be able to write a report that would support your case '- obv try and speak to an actual engineer rather than the receptionist. I managed this when I had my own claim to reject a vehicle

chanz4

Op you wont be able to correct, sounds like you are just looking for an excuse to change the car now or cant afford

fwor

d.grove1 wrote: »

as it stands today nothing is wrong with the vehicle

You can't claim "not fit for purpose" if there is nothing currently wrong with it.

You say that "substances were leaking into a compartment of the engine", but you admit that the engine has been replaced with a brand new one.

To be able to reject the car you will need evidence from a credible expert showing that there is something actually wrong with it now - having no confidence in it is not a sufficient reason.

27col

Op should change his tag to tryingiton.1

Brock_and_Roll

Simple solution to this:

1) Stop pursuing this, you will get nowhere.
2) Sell the car now that it is working fine and..
3) Repay the finance
4) Buy a another car (avoiding all Italian and French brands)
5) Take out new finance

poppasmurf_bewdley

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

Simple solution to this:

1) Stop pursuing this, you will get nowhere.
2) Sell the car now that it is working fine and..
3) Repay the finance
4) Buy a another car (avoiding all Italian and French brands)
5) Take out new finance

Everything said above is true, and sensible.

To be on the safe side, stick to car makes that people you know and trust have. There is a reason why so few people have Fiats, and even fewer have Alfas and Lancias. You have learnt the reason the hard way.