Used car bought from dealer reveals to have defective/unroadworthy

AdrianC

blon wrote: »

The cross strut was worn out, had way too much play, and needed to be replaced. Tuev said wheel could have fallen off while on the road.

A quick google shows that "cross strut" is a Merc term for the rear half of a split lower arm. If that's what you mean, then I completely fail to see how that alone would cause the "wheel to fall off". Nor can I see how it would cause such rapid and serious tyre wear from just being worn rather than bent.

I beg to differ with respect to your statement that it would have been up to the buyer to prove the fault. According to http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/consumer_ni/consumer_cars_and_other_vehicles_e/consumer_problems_with_the_car_you_bought_e/the_car_you_bought_is_faulty.htm, within 6 months of the purchase, it's down to the seller to prove the car's satisfactory condition.

Re-read what I wrote. Wear, absolutely. Bent? No. Different kettle of fish.

At the end of the day, and guessing on the model, this is not an expensive part, and it's not one that involves a lot of labour to change. Sub-£50 and less than an hour, including adjustment.

blon

@matty: Not clear to me how you'd do that in practice if the car was stuck 1000 miles away from the seller's garage. Fly him in? Tow the car back?

@adrian: cross strut is the term Mercedes use as description in their EPC database, but oftentimes, in their database, the same description applies to multiple similar parts and is thus not very precise. I can tell you the part cost about GBP 140 (from Merc), fitting it was about 1-1.5h of labour, and afterwards the wheels needed to be realigned electronically. All summing up to at least GBP 250.

motorguy

blon wrote: »

@matty: Not clear to me how you'd do that in practice if the car was stuck 1000 miles away from the seller's garage. Fly him in? Tow the car back?

It would be your responsibility to get the car back to the dealer, no matter where it broke down. Used car dealers dont normally provide 24x7 world wide recovery on cars - nor are they obliged to.

blon wrote: »

@adrian: cross strut is the term Mercedes use as description in their EPC database, but oftentimes, in their database, the same description applies to multiple similar parts and is thus not very precise. I can tell you the part cost about GBP 140 (from Merc), fitting it was about 1-1.5h of labour, and afterwards the wheels needed to be realigned electronically. All summing up to at least GBP 250.

I would have thought you could get the part cheaper than from a merc dealer, but even if you cant, i think given you've exported the car to a foreign country and as such cant give the dealer the chance to examine / rectify then you are going to have to "suck it up".

Iceweasel

I too think there is nothing that can be done now.

Even if the car was UK based and the owner in Germany on holiday the car was deemed unsafe - so the choice would either have been recover to the UK or repair in Germany.

To drive back would have been unsafe.

The time element and the ferry cost would mean that it was cheaper to repair in Germany, than recover to UK, unless the owner was a member of a motor club that provided such recovery to a UK address.

Anyhow the long and the short of it is the car has now been repaired elsewhere and any UK dealer would wash his hands of it - so more expense to make a legal case of it.

It would appear that the dealer did sell an unroadworthy car but it's impossible to prove it now.

The fact that the TÜVs are stricter than the VOSA 'MOT testing stations is irrelevant in this case I think.

Bantex_2

Why would anyone export a SH Merc to Germany?
Is this some sort of business deal?

colino

So your friend bought a Merc from the UK and immediately repatriated it to source, the second toughest second hand car test in the world and wants the trader to cough up on an alleged ball joint fail?
Jog on.

AdrianC

Bantex wrote: »

Why would anyone export a SH Merc to Germany?

Have you seen used car prices in Germany?

neilmcl

blon wrote: »

@matty: Not clear to me how you'd do that in practice if the car was stuck 1000 miles away from the seller's garage. Fly him in? Tow the car back?

Your first port of call would be to contact the seller and at least let them decide how to proceed. They may want the car back or they may accept that the repairs can be carried out, but at least you've given them the option.