Bought a turkey from a dealership - what should I do next?

Nevermore098

Hi all, I really hope you can offer some advice for the potentially very expensive problem I find myself in.

About 10 days ago I bought a used car (Alfa Romeo GT) from a private dealership, I was delighted with it at first, it drove well and had just passed it's MOT but given it was a year since it's service I felt it was a good idea to drop it into my local Alfa garage for a service and they have come back with a list as long as my arm of faults.

Some could be attributed to wear and tear and I would accept them as a peril of buying a used car however some are unacceptable, it needs 2 new wishbones for the suspension at around £240 each, the handbrake cable is split (an MOT failure in my knowledge) and most worryingly they found a coolant leak which they said requires a full engine strip down to locate and fix - they have not been able to specify a price for this but it will likely be expensive. All together it needs around £1,000 of work.

The main reason for getting this car was after a period out of work following redundancy I got a new job which is quite a long commute so wanted to change to a diesel car to cut the costs, I am really not in a good place financially and absolutely gutted that it has come to this.

The dealers are a good 2 hours drive away so most of my communication with them will be telephone. I note from my sales invoice there is a 3 month major mechanical parts and labour warranty.

Could anyone let me know what my first steps should be in this and what my rights are? I would really appreciate it.

Many thanks

muckybutt

As I understand it you need to tell the dealer the problems, you then have to give him time to rectify the faults etc. Bearing in mind if the faults are going to cost a lot to repair he can refuse and offer you your money back or you could ask for your money back.

Which ever way you go he has to be informed and undoubetly the car will have to go back to him.

motorguy

muckybutt wrote: »

As I understand it you need to tell the dealer the problems, you then have to give him time to rectify the faults etc. Bearing in mind if the faults are going to cost a lot to repair he can refuse and offer you your money back or you could ask for your money back.

Which ever way you go he has to be informed and undoubetly the car will have to go back to him.

Yes, the dealer has the right to examine the car, and if he feels there are faults he is liable for then he can opt to repair refund or replace.

One thing i would say is, it is very surprising that the car needs two suspension arms and a handbrake cable yet has just had a full MOT? Also a full engine stripdown to find a leak sounds a bit rash?

Is you local Alfa dealer trying to drum up business for themselves?

If the above work really does need done, then it would definitely fall to the supplying dealer to fix at this stage in your ownership.

voucher

before you do anything else get an independent local garage to check the car over if it comes back with the same faults then as advised you need to speak to the dealer and give him the opportunity to resolve the issues you have, seems strange these jobs need doing if it has just passed its mot, were these advisories on the mot cert

Nevermore098

motorguy wrote: »

Yes, the dealer has the right to examine the car, and if he feels there are faults he is liable for then he can opt to repair refund or replace.

One thing i would say is, it is very surprising that the car needs two suspension arms and a handbrake cable yet has just had a full MOT? Also a full engine stripdown to find a leak sounds a bit rash?

Is you local Alfa dealer trying to drum up business for themselves?

If the above work really does need done, then it would definitely fall to the supplying dealer to fix at this stage in your ownership.

Thanks for the advice. I was surprised about the suspension and handbrake given that it had just passed it's MOT but looking through the records it looks like the previous owner prior to the dealer got it done at a local garage so I would suspect it could have been done by a mate as a favour to them or something

Can anyone shed any light on the warranty the car came with? As I mentioned the dealership is a good 2 hours away and I would hesitate to do that drive in what I now know could be a deathtrap! Is it possible that they could accept a 2nd opinion from a local independent garage and then the work would be covered by warranty?

Thanks

Nevermore098

voucher wrote: »

before you do anything else get an independent local garage to check the car over if it comes back with the same faults then as advised you need to speak to the dealer and give him the opportunity to resolve the issues you have, seems strange these jobs need doing if it has just passed its mot, were these advisories on the mot cert

No advisories on the MOT certificate and it was literally last month. It does seem odd to me.

motorguy

Nevermore098 wrote: »

As I mentioned the dealership is a good 2 hours away and I would hesitate to do that drive in what I now know could be a deathtrap! Is it possible that they could accept a 2nd opinion from a local independent garage and then the work would be covered by warranty?

Thanks

Its extremely unlikely to be a "deathtrap" - but a lot of mechanics use that sort of phrase to put the fear of god into people.

As above, get another local mechanic to have a look, see if they come back with the same faults then contact the dealer.

k3lvc

Nevermore098 wrote: »

but looking through the records it looks like the previous owner prior to the dealer got it done at a local garage so I would suspect it could have been done by a mate as a favour to them or something

So any MOT done at a local garage is dodgy ??

Can anyone shed any light on the warranty the car came with? As I mentioned the
dealership is a good 2 hours away and I would hesitate to do that drive in what
I now know could be a deathtrap! Is it possible that they could accept a 2nd
opinion from a local independent garage and then the work would be covered by
warranty?

Only you know what your warranty says - time to get the book out, start reading, and if appropriate contact them

Nevermore098

k3lvc wrote: »

So any MOT done at a local garage is dodgy ??

Not implying that any MOT done at a local garage is dodgy, I have always had my previous car MOT done at a local garage who were fantastic but its perhaps not unfair to say that an MOT pass on a car with a broken suspension, handbrake cable and very heavily worn breaks was perhaps not 100% above board.

The vast majority of local garages are great and I would never knock them

DUTR

Nevermore098 wrote: »

Hi all, I really hope you can offer some advice for the potentially very expensive problem I find myself in.

About 10 days ago I bought a used car (Alfa Romeo GT) from a private dealership, I was delighted with it at first, it drove well and had just passed it's MOT but given it was a year since it's service I felt it was a good idea to drop it into my local Alfa garage for a service and they have come back with a list as long as my arm of faults.

Many thanks

I doubt you have purchased a turkey , why trust the Alfa dealer as opposed to the seller?

When I had my previous car (which I bought new) whilst it was under warranty, they could not find any fault with it, then once it was out of warranty, when in for a service, they could find all sorts within minutes of you leaving the dealership, they even told me the rad had a bad leak even though I was not losing any coolant.

In the days of the Alfa Sud, the car may have been a turkey, but modern ones are good to go.
Sounds like the dealer (stealership) is trying it on.

Strider590

Nevermore098 wrote: »

No advisories on the MOT certificate and it was literally last month. It does seem odd to me.

It's not odd at all, if the dealer (or mate of) MOT'd the car, then it probably never even went near a test bay.
Golden rule, never trust an MOT that was issued whilst the car was owned by a dealer.

BUT I second the above opinions to get it checked out elsewhere.