Second hand car problems

nickismee

Hello,

My husband and I purchased a second hand Vauxhall zafira from a local garage on the 10th feb 2015.

When we bought the car we had to sign a piece of paper which stated it was "sold as seen" and it has no warranty.

Since purchasing the car we have come across a few problems, one of which is pretty serious.

1) there is a very bad smell of exhaust fumes in the car, it gets so bad at times that I go very light headed and end up feeling nauseous. My children have also commented about the smell. We took the car back to the garage within a week of buying and they checked the exaust but couldn't find any problem, my husband was told there is nothing that can be done and to "man up" about effects the smell was giving. I wonder of the bloke has ever heard of carbon monoxide!

2) within 2 weeks there was a massive clunk as we went around a roundabout, this turned out to be a ball joint coming. We paid for this to be replaced which I wasn't happy about as we had not long had the car!

3) and this is the biggie.. When we use the car for short trips the car is fine, if we use the car on longer trips, ie 20 miles + the car will stutter and stall! My husband has been doing a clutch trick to keep the rev's up but I worry this could happen on a motorway and cause an accident, I do not like my children being in the car because of this!

I have heard this is a problem with zafiras, and the first port of call is to replace the EGR, this is going to end up costing us £200 and we have had the car for 4 weeks!

Where do I stand regarding warranty and asking the garage to fix the car. I do have a copy of the sales receipt which mentions the sold as seen if you need to have a look.

Many thanks

arcon5

What year is it ? Diesel?
My thoughts are the DPF... or even if it's been gutted and the ECU not remapped.

Any rights would depend on a lot of things, but sold as seen statements aren't generally enforceable unless accompanied with specifics or being sold as a faulty vehicle. But depends on age, mileage, price, description as to whats reasonable wear and tear.

nickismee

It's a petrol car
2001
Mileage is 120.000 ish.
Price was £700
The description was a bog standard notice in the window.

forgotmyname

Age of the car? Mileage and price paid?

A dealer cannot simply write that you have no consumer rights.

cross posted, Just seen the post above.

OK its a 14 year old car with what appears to be common and probably minor issues.

Probably not worth the effort of chasing the dealer. Balljoint failed? What was the MOT on the car?

nickismee

The car came with 2 months mot.

I wasn't shown the previous mot certificate until the sale was finalised and the list of advisories is quite long. We were told that most of them had been rectified but I have no way of knowing if that is true.

Stalling whilst driving is a common/minor issue?

Tilt

Despite it's age/price, it should be fit for the purpose and of reasonable quality. "Sold as seen" is not recognised and does not waiver your statutory rights under the sales of goods act 1979 (as amended).

The exhaust fume problem by itself would be sufficient to ask the seller to rectify.

Re; the ball joint, the seller should of been the opportunity to repair as again, failing after just a month would suggest that it was faulty at the point of sale.

My advice would be to return it and ask the seller nicely to take a look.

nickismee

Thank you for your advice. The ball joint was repaired at the garage where we bought the car, they charged us.

Clive_Woody

Can I suggest that you get a carbon monoxide detector for the car just in case, with kids in there you really don't want to take the risk. Have a look on Amazon.

poipo

Only in UK you can buy a 14year old banger for 700quid and than Chase the seller asking to fix all that , and to top it all off It's Legal! :rotfl:

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

nickismee

It doesn't matter how old or how much I paid for it. It needs to be road worthy and legal! I guess that is a plus about being in the UK!

poipo

nickismee wrote: »

It doesn't matter how old or how much I paid for it. It needs to be road worthy and legal! I guess that is a plus about being in the UK!

:rotfl:

The only perfect recipe for a buying used banger here in uk dirt cheap:
-Make sure it's a private seller
-Make sure that it still has got 9+ months mot
-Make sure the Owner has had it for at least 4years
-Make sure that it isn't a rustbucket or some french crap or vauxhall

If you follow those 4 rules ( NO EXCEPTIONS!!!)
9 out of 10 times it will be a good car!
How many from those 4rules did your car ticked?