Damage from dealer looking over car

hgotsparkle

So, my OH needs a van, he found one and wanted to part ex his car for the van, plus £295. We took it to the (independent) dealer on Thursday night, he looked over the van, and the dealer looked over the car. When the dealer was wanting to look under the bonnet, OH pulled the bonnet release, dealer looked over, said everythings good, then instead of lowering the bonnet and popping into a place, the held it from height and literally dropped it, expecting it to shut.OH was happy with the van, so we went through with it and exchanged yesterday, drove the van away, put £30 of diesel in it, then OH noticed the wipers weren't working so we drove into a side road, and tried restarting the engine to see if it made a difference, the van then wouldn't start and the oil light come on so we phoned the dealer, he said 'oh thats never happened before' and we drove it back.


Once we got back to the dealer, he looked under the vans bonnet and you could tell he didn't even know what he was looking for, and he said he'd get it fixed for monday, to which me and OH both decided we'd rather get a refund and the car back so we did. We've accepted the £30 loss of diesel as he said theres nothing he can do about that, even though we know hes going to reuse it.


Now, with the damaged bonnet, can we do anything about that? If I post him a copy of the invoice from the mechanic we use can we get him to pay anything towards it seeing as hes the one who broke it.


Also, I know that theres not a lot I can do now as we accepted a refund, but when OH signed the sales invoice for the part x, the dealer wrote on the vans part of the info 'sold with faults' and his verbal reasoning for that was that he has to put that as its a trade sale. OH doesn't speak up when somethings wrong and we're working on that but the whole situation really annoyed me, but if there anything I can do about the broken bonnet catch?

motorguy

hgotsparkle wrote: »

So, my OH needs a van, he found one and wanted to part ex his car for the van, plus £295. We took it to the (independent) dealer on Thursday night, he looked over the van, and the dealer looked over the car. When the dealer was wanting to look under the bonnet, OH pulled the bonnet release, dealer looked over, said everythings good, then instead of lowering the bonnet and popping into a place, the held it from height and literally dropped it, expecting it to shut.OH was happy with the van, so we went through with it and exchanged yesterday, drove the van away, put £30 of diesel in it, then OH noticed the wipers weren't working so we drove into a side road, and tried restarting the engine to see if it made a difference, the van then wouldn't start and the oil light come on so we phoned the dealer, he said 'oh thats never happened before' and we drove it back.


Once we got back to the dealer, he looked under the vans bonnet and you could tell he didn't even know what he was looking for, and he said he'd get it fixed for monday, to which me and OH both decided we'd rather get a refund and the car back so we did. We've accepted the £30 loss of diesel as he said theres nothing he can do about that, even though we know hes going to reuse it.


Now, with the damaged bonnet, can we do anything about that? If I post him a copy of the invoice from the mechanic we use can we get him to pay anything towards it seeing as hes the one who broke it.


Also, I know that theres not a lot I can do now as we accepted a refund, but when OH signed the sales invoice for the part x, the dealer wrote on the vans part of the info 'sold with faults' and his verbal reasoning for that was that he has to put that as its a trade sale. OH doesn't speak up when somethings wrong and we're working on that but the whole situation really annoyed me, but if there anything I can do about the broken bonnet catch?

Dropping the bonnet is the correct way to close it, not lowering it down and then pushing down with your hands as this can and usually does dent the bonnet.

Sounds like you've had a lucky escape though - any dealer who gets you to sign "sold with faults" is trying to evade their responsibilities under the SOGA.

hgotsparkle

motorguy wrote: »

Dropping the bonnet is the correct way to close it, not lowering it down and then pushing down with your hands as this can and usually does dent the bonnet.

Sounds like you've had a lucky escape though - any dealer who gets you to sign "sold with faults" is trying to evade their responsibilities under the SOGA.

But you could hear it crashing against something and it hasn't closed since then..?

topdaddy_2

hgotsparkle wrote: »

But you could hear it crashing against something and it hasn't closed since then..?

Then there was something wrong. The catch fits into the slam panel and thats it. Doesnt matter if it dropped from height(Personally I wouldnt do this) or pushed shut. Was there something obstructing the catch?

colino

"Sold with Faults", if they are then detailed, in writing or verbally is perfectly legal and nothing at all like "Sold as seen".

motorguy

colino wrote: »

"Sold with Faults", if they are then detailed, in writing or verbally is perfectly legal and nothing at all like "Sold as seen".

The dealer used it though as "he has to put that as its a trade sale"

Therefore in that context, as i said, its a big no no

hgotsparkle

motorguy wrote: »

The dealer used it though as "he has to put that as its a trade sale"

Therefore in that context, as i said, its a big no no

Yeh he didn't tell us of any faults, he said he'd used it for 2 weeks when it first came in as he needed use of a van and he had no problems with it.

arcon5

colino wrote: »

"Sold with Faults", if they are then detailed, in writing or verbally is perfectly legal and nothing at all like "Sold as seen".

If your hinting at SOGA then let's remember this is a business to business transaction , whether written or not, for which the trader can contract out aspects of soga in place of their own terms.

And one of these could have been to give the dealer the right to fix faults. Ops lucky, very lucky, this trader allowed a refund and didn't have a decent contract in place

colino

Forgot to add, this was no trader, more a driveway dealer chancing his arm. No one takes a trade-in (a Pandoras box of hassle) plus only £295 in a real vehicle sale.

arcon5

Driveway dealer, trader, makes no odds really

londonTiger

these days you're supposed to drop the bonnet down from height, I think it's sensible to assume from about 20-30 cm max. Not from a meter high.