Second hand car problems

karyn254_2

Hi please can anyone offer advice we bought the S max on 27/3/12 on HP over 48 months on Dec 10 th 2014 we were driving and the acceleration began to slow down on looking at the Dash we noticed engine getting hot so pulled over and lifted the bonnet it was steaming a little so my hubby rang recovery who came and took it to our local Ford Dealer, After around a week we were told it needed a new engine costing over £5000. It was serviced by ford on 19/09/2013 costing £755.38 and serviced again on 09/09/14 costing £333.76 they are saying we have missed a year of service history and because of this and the Warranty ending we have to pay the whole new engine bill. I have rang the finance company and they cannot help although they did say as we have paid over half we can return the vehicle but would be liable for the repairs, we don't have the 5000 pounds to repair the vehicle we are paying for finance and I cannot see a way out as we cannot trade it in as it is unless we buy a mega expensive Volvo who were willing to take it in as it is. We have searched breaker yards and the cost of a new engine with them is around £3000. I spoke to Ford UK who have offered as Good will 20 percent discount off the reconditioned engine. And dinnagers offered us 10 percent of labour costs which is around £4000. I cannot believe that we bought a £25,000 car to last just over 2 years. Can any one help us please or offer us advice on what to do ?
Oh and we have a balloon payment of £5,548.00 final payment just to kick us whilst we are down :-(

Tilt

welfayre wrote: »

Ball joints are wear and tear items and can fail at anytime with or without warning. You'd be lucky to get that done on a 3 year old car under warranty let along a 14 year old second hand one. If the OPs paid the bill and not written "paid under protest" on it then any refund would be purely good will which seems very unlikely.

Dosn't alter the fact that the dealer is expected to check these things before selling. And bear in mind the OP only bought the car a month before so I maintain that there would be signs of potential failure at the point of sale.

welfayre

Tilt wrote: »

Dosn't alter the fact that the dealer is expected to check these things before selling. And bear in mind the OP only bought the car a month before so I maintain that there would be signs of potential failure at the point of sale.

You can maintain your view as long as you want, doesn't change the fact that ball joints are wear and tear items and won't be covered.

A month's ample time for a fault to develop, we don't know if the OPs been bouncing over speed bumps at 30+mph, bumping up krebs or hit a pothole at 60+mph (not saying you have OP). I've had plenty of vehicles in with broken springs/track rod ends/ball joints/bearings and once a sheared drive shaft that had "only been MOT'd last week". I even once had a boy break a spring going between my garage and the MOT station less than a mile down the road.

Tilt

welfayre wrote: »

You can maintain your view as long as you want, doesn't change the fact that ball joints are wear and tear items and won't be covered.

Ultimately that would be for a judge to decide and not you or I. Despite what you think, the OP can possibly rely on the SOGA. A failure after just a month after purchase is (in my opinion) is worth a punt.

The seller should refund the cost of the repair.