Advice on buying faulty used car

phey708

Hello,

I bought a used car from a dealership last Thursday (11th) however the damn thing has given me plenty of issues already and I have not owned it for a week yet;

• Car has lost power and the turbo no longer works. Unable to rev past 3k rpm
• Steering is not centre to the wheels. I have to hold the steering wheel slightly to the left to keep the car straight on the road
• The passenger door locking is playing up. This means that most of the time the car unlocks itself and the side indicators flash constantly
• The oil warning light came on 4 days after picking the car up. I have since had to fill it up.

Not too happy with this and It feels like i've bought a right lemon. Am I within my right to ask for a refund? If I owned it for more than a week then I wouldn't mind the car being repaired. I have since been to the dealership to complain about this and all they came back with is that they can't look at the car until after Christmas! I then said is it likely going to take a fortnight to fix to which they replied yes.

I need a vehicle for my job and having no car for up to 2 weeks is going to cause me major inconvenience. I asked if they could provide a hire or replacement car to get me moving but they had nothing available.

forgotmyname

Top secret spy cars are like that its the unbalanced weight of rockets and machine guns.

Why didnt you spot the turbo issue on the test drive? Probably in limp mode engine or glowplug light on or flashing?

You can ask for a refund. They can refuse and offer a repair though.

What was the oil level like when you bought it?

Richard53

I'd be tempted to slap the keys on their desk and reject it outright. A turbo fault is potentially very expensive, and the oil issue is a concern - either they didn't check the oil level before selling it, or it's leaking like a leaky thing. I would have no confidence in the seller after that.


20/20 hindsight, I know, but you should always check the basics with any new car, wherever you bought it from. Even the best dealerships can be careless or make mistakes. I recently paid a large sum to have a new-to-me car rust-treated and fully serviced by a marque specialist. He even gave me a photographic record of the work done, which included a photo of him draining the diff oil. I checked it when I got it home, and instead of 1 litre of golden EP90 in the diff, there was 600cc of black sludge. I'm still sorting that one out.


Good luck.

mcpitman

What car is it?

Where was it purchased from and rough price?

What engine is it?

How many miles?

LandyAndy

Advice on buying faulty used car






Don't do it.

forgotmyname

I may look for faulty cars next. So many think the turbo has blown up yet it
runs fine but no turbo assistance.

The warning light on the dashboard is ignored and they drive on regardless.

Lots of cars go into limp mode these days. Sometimes its a simple fault.
See a faulty car advertised. take a code reader and check the codes.

Sticky turbo vanes can be cleaned and you get a good car for little money.

Helped a club member recently. They were told they had main pump and injector issues. Nope a £60 electric lift pump and a new fuel filter was all that it needed.

phey708

So I've handed the car in on the 18th of this month to look at getting it fixed. It is still be repaired at the moment and they are not giving any information about when it will be ready. How long should I allow for them to repair the car? 2 weeks?

bigjl

You will get better advice if you answer some questions that came up in previous posts.

What Car?

What Engine?

What Age?

Price Paid?

Mileage?

All will help make advice more relevant to you.

For example if it is an ex Minicab Ford Focus estate on an 08 plate with the 1.6tdci engine and you paid £1200 for it then you have bought a pup.

If it is a 13plate Ford Focus 2.0tdci with one owner and 12k miles with Full Main Dealer History and you paid £10k then advice would be very different.

phey708

Its a 2002 Mercedes ML with a 270 td engine. Paid 3500 for it and it has 120,000 miles on it.

JustinR1979

I reckon you found the best ML available.


http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w163-m-class/1191387-mercedes-ml-rated-amongst-10-most.html

Andy7856

I had a identical problem myself a few years back.


I did all the usual noises, recorded letters, car returns, and legal advise.


I recall the outcome was that I had to give the garage the opportunity to repair all the faults first, attempting to reject and getting my monies back was the very last resort. Most courts would only even consider intervention if all else options failed! Well that's what my solicitor advised.


My advise would be to go with the flow, allow them the chance to fix the issues but keep a records of all your out of pocket expenses through the fault car, and attempt to get them back after the car has been fixed but don't hold your breath!