Not Fit For Purpose Act When Buying A Car From VW

Storm1986

Hi I was looking for some help about buying a used car from a VW dealer.
Last march I bought a new car from Audi but didn't like it and wanted to go back to a car I had previously owned (A VW Golf), so I went into VW and explained my situation and was told my the salesman that VW could take the car and I could have a used VW Golf with 1 years warranty in its place.
In November 2014 the car cut out on me whilst I was driving home after work so I took it to VW who looked at the problem and told me it was just a Software update that needed doing to fix the problem. Not knowing much about cars and trusting VW I thought the problem had been fixed.
In February of this year I was driving the car and again it cut out on me only this time it was on a very busy roundabout. It was only due to the attention of other drivers that I was not in a serious collision, after getting the car to start again after a few attempts I managed to get of the island and again had to take it to VW.
The sales manager told me he would get the problem looked at.
It has now been 3 weeks and VW still do not know what the problem is with the car and have told me they have never experience this issue with any cars they have seen.
I tried to find out my rights and found out that if the car is not fit for purpose I could be entitled to a refund.
When I mentioned this to the sales manager at VW his attitude changed completely and he tried to belittle me and told me I didn't know what I was talking about, I believe he did this because im female and because he was a man he knew more about cars than I did.
If anybody can help me with what my rights are with a big company like VW I would be most grateful and also what steps I can take if VW cannot do anything in a timely manner about this issue.
Thank you
Tricia

jaybeetoo

VW Golfs cutting out at junctions was common a few years ago. How old is the car? What engine is it? Is it manual or auto?

izzy65

Storm1986 wrote: »

Hi I was looking for some help about buying a used car from a VW dealer.
Last march I bought a new car from Audi but didn't like it and wanted to go back to a car I had previously owned (A VW Golf), so I went into VW and explained my situation and was told my the salesman that VW could take the car and I could have a used VW Golf with 1 years warranty in its place.
In November 2014 the car cut out on me whilst I was driving home after work so I took it to VW who looked at the problem and told me it was just a Software update that needed doing to fix the problem. Not knowing much about cars and trusting VW I thought the problem had been fixed.
In February of this year I was driving the car and again it cut out on me only this time it was on a very busy roundabout. It was only due to the attention of other drivers that I was not in a serious collision, after getting the car to start again after a few attempts I managed to get of the island and again had to take it to VW.
The sales manager told me he would get the problem looked at.
It has now been 3 weeks and VW still do not know what the problem is with the car and have told me they have never experience this issue with any cars they have seen.
I tried to find out my rights and found out that if the car is not fit for purpose I could be entitled to a refund.
When I mentioned this to the sales manager at VW his attitude changed completely and he tried to belittle me and told me I didn't know what I was talking about, I believe he did this because im female and because he was a man he knew more about cars than I did.
If anybody can help me with what my rights are with a big company like VW I would be most grateful and also what steps I can take if VW cannot do anything in a timely manner about this issue.
Thank you
Tricia

Hi have you had this car for a year now, being not fit for purpose and the sales man knowing more about cars is two different things, my opinion is you'll get nowhere with that claim after all you've driven it long enough, as for VW being a big company most garages are franchised so independently owned. You should be dealing with the service manager/department not sales, and give them a chance to diagnos the problem after all these cars are now quite complicated

Storm1986

jaybeetoo wrote: »

VW Golfs cutting out at junctions was common a few years ago. How old is the car? What engine is it? Is it manual or auto?

The car is a 12 plate, its a match tdi 1.6 diesel manual

jimjames

For info there is no such thing as a "Not Fit For Purpose Act " so it might help to make sure you know the facts if you approach it in that way. It's the Sale of Goods Act but after a year it will be much harder to prove it isn't just wear and tear.

motorguy

Storm1986 wrote: »

The car is a 12 plate, its a match tdi 1.6 diesel manual

My Oct 2012 1.6 tdi s was doing that. Engine would cut out for no reason and you had to switch ignition off on to get it to go again

Internal fault codes related to cam and crank sensors. They had to put a new wiring loom in the car to cure it

forgotmyname

2 faults in close to a year isnt really unfit for purpose. Unlucky, But do try and push them for a proper fix and not a fast one to get you out the door and hopefully wont be back before the warranty expires.