Bought car with faulty engine - dealer refuses to return money!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54






I see no words such as seller MUST be given the opportunity to repair.


I see the buyer can request not the seller.


acceptance is also another thing to look at.


offer of repair can be refused if its disproportionate such as unknown second hand engine with unknown origin and unknown history and unknown miles completed at a unknown garage.

aa111

Owner of "A Car to Go" came back to me. Still categorically refuses to refund money, but promises an engine from the same age car with 10,000 lower mileage, free 1 year warranty for whole car and a loan car until they fix everything.

Will give my answer tomorrow, but I guess will have to agree. Only other option would be taking them to court and who wants that...

arcon5

Legally....

Sales of goods act gives the buyer the right to request the remedy.
But if acceptance is deemed to have occurred then the seller can reject the request if it is disproportionate in comparison to another remedy.

Whether acceptance is deemed to have occurred is therefore important..

If it has then his right to repair is valid
If it hasn't you can reject the car for a refund - only exception being if the fault is so minor it would be unreasonable to reject the goods... But not the case here

Acceptance can occur through inaction as well as verbally ect. The law gives 'reasonable' time to inspect goods before acceptance occurs. Although this is ambiguous it is set to change, the law soon will state 28 days.

So what date did you first report the issue and what date did you buy the car?

aa111

arcon5 wrote: »

Legally....

Sales of goods act gives the buyer the right to request the remedy.
But if acceptance is deemed to have occurred then the seller can reject the request if it is disproportionate in comparison to another remedy.

Whether acceptance is deemed to have occurred is therefore important..

If it has then his right to repair is valid
If it hasn't you can reject the car for a refund - only exception being if the fault is so minor it would be unreasonable to reject the goods... But not the case here

Acceptance can occur through inaction as well as verbally ect. The law gives 'reasonable' time to inspect goods before acceptance occurs. Although this is ambiguous it is set to change, the law soon will state 28 days.

So what date did you first report the issue and what date did you buy the car?

Issue was first reported 6 days after collecting the car (10 days after paying money), but at that point I had no idea how serious the fault was. It was properly diagnosed about 3 weeks after buying the car. I haven't used it since.

As I said in my previous post, "A Car 2 Go" owner now came back with a bit more reasonable offer. I would still prefer to reject the car, but I'm not sure I can afford to litigate with them.

arcon5

3 weeks is very borderline in my opinion.

Really depends how much hassle you want with it. If as you say you don't want to go to court and your certain they won't change their stance then accepting their offer, which agree with you is fairly reasonable, may actually be the best way forward

bartelbe

So the OP is suppose to trust the dealer who sold him the car, that dealer was more than likely aware had an iffy engine, to replace the engine?

What is to stop them the dealer buying some knackered old lump, do a half hearted job of fitting it? How is the OP suppose to know how many miles the new engine has done? It could be 10K, 50K or 100K more than the one OP thought they were getting.

If the law allows that, the law is mad.

aa111

bartelbe wrote: »

So the OP is suppose to trust the dealer who sold him the car, that dealer was more than likely aware had an iffy engine, to replace the engine?

What is to stop them the dealer buying some knackered old lump, do a half hearted job of fitting it? How is the OP suppose to know how many miles the new engine has done? It could be 10K, 50K or 100K more than the one OP thought they were getting.

If the law allows that, the law is mad.

Unfortunately I don't have much choice at this point. Small claims court waiting time is 6 month or so. During that time I would have no car at all. Citizen Advice thinks I have to let them fix the car before trying to reject it.

I think the job will be done by a third party garage, but I'll have to double check this.
They say engine was purchased from mazdasparesuk-com for £1400 and mileage will be confirmed on invoice. Not sure how else I could check the mileage?

arcon5

bartelbe wrote: »

So the OP is suppose to trust the dealer who sold him the car, that dealer was more than likely aware had an iffy engine, to replace the engine?

What is to stop them the dealer buying some knackered old lump, do a half hearted job of fitting it? How is the OP suppose to know how many miles the new engine has done? It could be 10K, 50K or 100K more than the one OP thought they were getting.

If the law allows that, the law is mad.

You should read my previous post regarding the law. Perfectly fair if you ask me. Only problem being its a little ambiguous.

Your angry more so it would seem at the what ifs, what if the dealer did this , what if the dealer did that.
Well what if op caused the damage, what if this what if that... The law has to protect the interests of BOTH parties, not just the buyer. Because you talk about the potential of the dealer being dodgy - well it's hardly unknown for consumers to play the system equally. Op -- not saying you are playing the system, just explainig why I think the law is and should be balanced.

arcon5

aa111 wrote: »

Unfortunately I don't have much choice at this point. Small claims court waiting time is 6 month or so. During that time I would have no car at all. Citizen Advice thinks I have to let them fix the car before trying to reject it.

I think the job will be done by a third party garage, but I'll have to double check this.
They say engine was purchased from mazdasparesuk-com for £1400 and mileage will be confirmed on invoice. Not sure how else I could check the mileage?

Personally I don't rate the likes of the CAB in situations like this. If you want to know your rights if a brand new washing machine or TV is faulty then fine - but throw in the aspect of used goods, wear and tear and technical issues and they become a little robotic offering questionable advice. In my experience anyway.

Small claims can often take several months from letter before action then filing, then acknowledgement then defence then mediation then a hearing. So not exactly a fast track solution. So whether to risk going t court or not is a personal decision. Especially where there's a risk at the end of it the court may deem the repair within the letter and spirit of the law.

As for verifying the engine - well not really much you can do other than check the invoice, check out the seller and make a judgement as to the legitimacy of what you've seen and been told.

Sometimes in life we just have to accept things like this and hope the person your dealing with is true to their word. Not everybody is out to make a quick buck. Ye some dealers will pull every stunt in the book then Phoenix leaving you with nothing - some will find a solution that protects their interests and meets your expectations.

You could get screwed.
You could get a decent engine and look back in a years time thinking they did good by you.
Who knows - but your the one liasing with the garage so your the one in a position to judge what may or may not be happening .

Good luck anyway

fivetide

Can you get the VIN from the car the engine has come from? Get the garage to show you the MOT records which should have the miles recorded too?

I'd want to see if they could get the service records for the donor car from Mazda too as your existing ones will be useless.