Damage after purchasing used car

orionmoo

Hi,

Posting on behalf of my partner.

On Saturday we bought a used car from a dealership 90 miles away from our home after finding it for a very good price (Fiat 2012 plate, <10k miles). We checked the car over as best we could at the dealership (a Peugeot garage) and it all appeared okay so we purchased and drove it the 1.5 hour trip back home. The next day when washing the car we noticed a small scratch on the inside edge of the driver door, and a small chip in the paint. They're both the sort of things you'd probably only notice when washing as they're quite small. We're not that fussed about these however we also found a small chip on the bottom right corner of the windscreen, which looks to have a crack inside the glass.

We have emailed the salesman and he says they would not have sold the car with a chip in the windscreen, and if we drive the car back he'd take a look at the scratches.

We find it very very unlikely that a chip could've occurred on the windscreen during one drive - from the dealership to home, and we certainly didn't notice any noise of a chip happening during the drive home.

Where do we stand on this, obviously we have no proof that the chip didn't occur after we purchased it, but equally it is small enough for us to only have noticed it when washing the car - that's the time you tend to notice these things.

Will we just have to bite the bullet and pay the £75 charge to our insurer to fix it, or is there any sale of goods legislation, similar to taking a faulty/damaged clothing back to shops we may be entitled to have this repaired under?

Thanks

browneyedbazzi

Even if the chip was there when it was sold you wouldn't necessarily have any right to have it repaired by the seller (given that you didn't see it when inspecting the vehicle I can't imagine it is a significant enough chip to cause an MOT failure or make the vehicle not roadworthy). Did the seller give any specific assurances about the glass in the vehicle?

Also, most insurers don't charge a full excess to have chips repaired. Some will have them repaired without any excess and some have a reduced excess (mine is £10). It's worth checking your policy - it might be cheaper to have it repaired on your insurance than the cost of petrol to get the vehicle back to the dealer.

arcon5

Sorry but you should have inspected the cars aesthetics before buying. Doesn't take much for a scratch to appear on a car, its just one of those things.
This isn't a fault imo.

Is it heated screen? Bet a local garage could pick one up for not much more than the excess saving you declaring a claim.
If it actually needs replacing at all at this stage that is... And it doesn't sound like it does or at the very least something a cheap repair kit couldn't sort out.

Would your insurer cover this anyway? Since you claim it was present at and before point of purchase for which you wouldn't have had it insured until after buying I'm assuming? Aka pre-existing

orionmoo

Well what we thought was, if you buy a piece of clothing at a shop, you're not expected in inspect it thoroughly before purchase - if when getting home you see it is damaged you have a right to return as the onus is on the store to prove it wasn't there when they sold it.

Would similar legislation not apply in this case, yes we did inspect before purchase and didn't see it, and neither did the dealer (or if they did know about it they didn't tell us and are now lying). As I said we only noticed it when washing the car the following day - the garage does not provide the free valeting service for pickups on a Saturday, if they did maybe they would've found the chip, who knows.

Looks like we'll just have to try and get it repaired through insurer or otherwise, we still saved a huge amount compared to buying a 2013 plate of the exact same car a lot closer (seriously, how is 1 year and 5,000 miles less worth £1,300 more! A joke, only a fool would pay that much more for that small difference in age in our opinion).

Oh well...

browneyedbazzi

You could possibly reject the car if you haven't accepted it yet (there's always a huge debate about how/when acceptance of goods occurs and it isn't clear cut) - but that won't entitle you to a repair and to keep the car. If you want to try to go down the route of rejecting the car then you'll have to return it and accept a refund. If you are otherwise happy with the car and the price you paid then it might not be in your interest to reject it.

Hintza

Yes the chip was probably there when you bought it bUT you can't expect the dealer to agree it was when it could (in their eyes) have happened 100 yards from the show room. Much the same can be said about the scratches which don't sound too bad if you can only see them when it is being washed.

I think a lesson learnt.

Fosterdog

orionmoo wrote: »

Well what we thought was, if you buy a piece of clothing at a shop, you're not expected in inspect it thoroughly before purchase - if when getting home you see it is damaged you have a right to return as the onus is on the store to prove it wasn't there when they sold it.

The difference is that you have bought something already used and subject to wear and tear. If you buy a brand new item of clothing and it is marked then you can return it, if however you bought a second hand item from say a charity shop, you buy it knowing it is a used item and pay less for it, you would inspect it more carefully before purchase.

I've never bought a second hand car that didn't have at least a couple of minor scratches, some noticed before buying and others hidden with t-cut and only shown up after a few washes.

irishjohn

orionmoo wrote: »

Well what we thought was, if you buy a piece of clothing at a shop, you're not expected in inspect it thoroughly before purchase - if when getting home you see it is damaged you have a right to return as the onus is on the store to prove it wasn't there when they sold it.



Oh well...

But - what if you wore the new item of clothing on the way home and snagged it on something on the way home? Would you expect to be able to take it back and say you think it was snagged before you left the shop? I would always check an item of clothing in the store before purchase, as its quite possible for items to be damaged on display or on being tired on by someone wearing a load of jewellery who snags it and slips it back onto its hanger and scarpers.

We live and learn

Bantex_2

Its a USED car !!!!!!.
It will have some signs of being used.

burlington6

I feel sorry for the dealership

philatio

virtually ALL used cars will have paint chips and scratches that are covered in polish by the dealer. You won't see them until you wash it. Thats just used cars.

As for the windscreen.. you drove 90 miles home. It is entirely possible that the chip happened on the drive home.. even if you didn't see or hear it happen.

I'm afraid you're on a hiding to nothing.