Just bought a 'dodgy' car...

Joe_Horner

No, you're not being unreasonable at this point. Any repair under SOGA has to be completed without undue inconvenience to the buyer and you're now at the point of being seriously inconvenienced.

I'd suggest that, rather than "a garage of your choice" in option 2 you specify main dealer on the basis that whatever the problem is, it's proving difficult to diagnose (that may just be their incompetence but you don't need to get backs up by suggesting that).

The main dealer will (in theory, honest!) have access to the equipment and brand knowledge to diagnose it if anyone can so they're the obvious place for it to go. It'll also be a potentially large bill, which improves the case for your preferred option of refund

terric

Damn... well that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. We arrived at the dealer, after pre-booking some time to talk about it, and had to start from scratch like they'd forgotten all about the issues I'd been having. Annoying. Then, after summarising he started getting shirty, the main points being:

1. We HAVE to let them fix it, there is no reasonable number of times they take it in.
2. They won't provide a courtesy car while this one is being fixed, I quote "only big dealerships do that".
3. I shouldn't take it out on him because he only works there...

He phoned the same garage and asked us to take it round there and then... fine... mechanic plugged it in and has advised the problem is clogged pipes due to carbon so there's a lot of work that needs doing... the same garage who had the car only last week, for a week.

We've come to the conclusion they've just been clearing the code and handing it me back on the off chance the error, and us, goes away.

We're now definitely in pi!! taking territory. I'm speaking with the owner of the dealer on Monday afternoon to discuss further, but as I see it this will be their third opportunity in a month to correct this. We will need a courtesy car, so they'll have to provide one. If not, then I'll start rejection proceedings.

Anyone know how long it usually takes to get a refund etc. We'll have no car at all after officially rejecting it so not sure what we're going to do in the space of rejection -> refund.

arcon5

I don't know the case or who quoted it now, but i'm sure I once read around here reference to a case where a judge deemed three attempts to repair as reasonable and judged in favor of the buyer whom rejected a car following more than several attempts to repair.

I hope you've got everything documented as I think you will have a strong case here.

terric

Just a quick update as I've disappeared.

Problem is still on-going, I dropped the car off at the garage last Thursday morning and heard back yesterday that they haven't taken the turbo out yet and they're arguing with the warranty company (to get the turbo refurbished, not replaced as I initially thought...).

Right now I'm back to a tiny petrol car (Rover 25 which the dealer has loaned me) costing me £15 - £20 per day in petrol and have absolutely no idea when I'll get my car back and whether it'll be fixed.

While I appreciate they're *trying* to fix the issue and they've provided a car in the meantime it's certainly not going well and I'm a couple of hundred quid [of my own money] out of pocket (Enterprise car rental for the second time it was in plus all the extra petrol costs).

Will keep this updated.

dannyrst

terric wrote: »

Just a quick update as I've disappeared.

Problem is still on-going, I dropped the car off at the garage last Thursday morning and heard back yesterday that they haven't taken the turbo out yet and they're arguing with the warranty company (to get the turbo refurbished, not replaced as I initially thought...).

Right now I'm back to a tiny petrol car (Rover 25 which the dealer has loaned me) costing me £15 - £20 per day in petrol and have absolutely no idea when I'll get my car back and whether it'll be fixed.

While I appreciate they're *trying* to fix the issue and they've provided a car in the meantime it's certainly not going well and I'm a couple of hundred quid [of my own money] out of pocket (Enterprise car rental for the second time it was in plus all the extra petrol costs).

Will keep this updated.

I'd be speaking to the garage owner and saying that whilst you appreciate that they are attempting to fix the car, it clearly isn't acceptable to be this far down the road without the issues being fixed. You are therefore requesting that they take the car back, refund your money and you will buy another car from another garage. If this doesn't work, I'd start down the official channels to take them to court.

almillar

Whilst you're driving their car, regardless of your extra petrol costs, it's costing them, so it's in their best interest to get this fixed for you ASAP.

arcon5

I would have thought a car like that could acheive 30-35 still driven well on a reasonable run.

terric

arcon5 wrote: »

I would have thought a car like that could acheive 30-35 still driven well on a reasonable run.

I did have a look online at fuel consumption, and yeah it *should be* around 37, however I'm filling the tank each time I'm near red and it's currently running into £70 - £75 per week (that's just Monday to Friday). Anyway, it's from 2002 so maybe the age is working against it or something.

I went to pick up a VW Golf (Diesel) over the weekend as this Rover's tax runs out end of the month - the front wipers didn't work, so had to send that back. Now back in the Rover.

I should hopefully hear more about my car today.

Edit - Oh, and a big thanks to everyone who contributed and let me vent my frustrations - with or without constructive criticism

terric

It's been a while, but here's a final update for anyone interested.

I've had the car back about 3 weeks now, and it's been spot on - no issues whatsoever. I had to do a bit of chasing, and from what I believe the delay was primarily between the dealer and RAC (with the warranty). It could've been much worse.

Everyone was relatively polite about it all, and having persevered with the dealer I'm reasonably happy with how everything has gone and I now have a working version of the car we bought.

WellKnownSid

Thanks for taking the time to update everyone - glad to hear you got it sorted in the end!