small claims court – Court date set for claiming repair costs from car dealer

ukwonderwoman

Hi there,

I was wondering what people thought my chances of getting my money back for repairs on a vehicle I purchased from a car dealer.

I have gone through the small claims process and have a court hearing in a couple of months. Short story is as follows:

- Purchased BMW from car dealer (not private seller) for around £8500 with 24 month warranty. Warranty has limits as always. Car is 5 years old 50k on the clock.

- Car was described as excellent condition and that nothing would need spending on it (I still have a copy of this advertisement)

- Two weeks after purchase car has a brake fault, fixed under warranty. No real problem there as I didn't pay anything – Still strange that a major brake fault occured so soon.

- Just under 8 weeks after purchase, engine lights comes on. Took the car to a bmw specialist near (not a main dealer) was told problem is potentially timing chain issue and that it couldn't be fixed there as this job needed special tools etc. Called dealer to let me know, dealer said go through warranty process as before and find someone who can fix it – no offer of help whatsoever

- Called around and asked garages if they could fix the issue but had no luck. I then called the bmw specialist near my hometown (80 miles away) who had fixed the previous brake fault – they said that they could definitiely fix the issue as they had invested in the tools

- Got towed via The AA to the BMW specialist garage. The AA had diagnosed the fault as timing issue via their fault code machine.

- Bmw specialist garage diagnosed fault as timing issue and quoted a price for the repair. I called the car dealer and was told he wasn’t giving me anything towards the bill and i should take him to court if i wish ... anyway after further inspection the vehicle had more damage than first thought. The overall cost for repair of the vehicle was now £1800

- The warrantly supplied with the vehicle covered £600 leaving me with £1300 to pay.

- I wrote to the car dealer offering him a chance to pick up the car and fix it himself (the car had not been repaired at this point) or for him to give permission for the vehicle to be repaired at the bmw specialist garage and pay for the repair. I sent him an estimated price for the repair.

- the dealer failed to respond within a reasonable amount of time, so i went ahead and repaired the vehicle – The vehicle had been undriveable for weeks and i needed it to use to and from work and also to visit relatives 80 miles away every other weekend.(I live away from home)

- this is really the short story and after the car had been repaired there was several exchanges between me and the dealer via email.

I am going to court to try and recover the £1300 I had to pay to repair the vehicle. Personally i don’t think i should have to pay for anything on ths vehicle considering the price i paid and the amount of time i had the vehicle.

I have found reviews for the car dealer in question and have seen that he repaired other peoples cars who had problems and they had been waiting weeks for a repair or the dealer offered to swap engines, had bodged up the repair etc.

Retrogamer

Thanks for sharing this.

With circumstances and the method you've went with giving them a chance to put it right i'd imagine the court will find in your favor.

Please keep us updated

burlington6

Even if the court find in your favour, don't count on getting paid

ukwonderwoman

burlington6 wrote: »

Even if the court find in your favour, don't count on getting paid

Why not? this guy doesn't seem to be able to up and leave he seems to have a reputable business.

InsideInsurance

What are the terms of the warranty? Why did it only cover the first £600?

Do you have an engineers report (not the sales guy at the garage saying what needs doing) on the vehicle and the damage?

What defense did they submit to the courts?

On the basis its gotten this far its a little bit late to start asking for opinions now on your prospects.

ukwonderwoman

InsideInsurance wrote: »

What are the terms of the warranty? Why did it only cover the first £600?

Do you have an engineers report (not the sales guy at the garage saying what needs doing) on the vehicle and the damage?

What defense did they submit to the courts?

On the basis its gotten this far its a little bit late to start asking for opinions now on your prospects.[/

What defense did they submit to the courts?

On the basis its gotten this far its a little bit late to start asking for opinions now on your prospects.

Surely it's perfectly fine to just ask what people think my chances are.

Anyway the warranty limit was £1000 but basically it did not cover all parts that were required and the labour rate maximum was £50 when the actual labour rate for the repair was £60. I Feel that the dealer is using the warranty as an escape for any responsibility

Yes I have a detailed report of the fault how they found it etc and what was fixed.

The defence from the car dealer said that 1. He did not authorize the repair and that he could have got it done cheaper and 2. that I went to an expensive garage and did not mitigate the loss

However I gave him a chance to repair the vehicle and he ignored me - he said he could have got the job done for £400 which is highly unlikely considering the vehicle make and complexity of the job.

ukwonderwoman

Does anyone know if I can include reports from the repairer in my evidence to take to court? I am under the impression that it has to be a witness statement and they have to actually attend the hearing.

loskie

I would think that you have a pretty good chance of sucess, it is likely to be uncontested so an automatic "win". However getting the money less so. But if you employ sherrifs officers to recover debts don't let the garage persuade you into paying off in instalments. You may see the first but unlikeley any more

arcon5

His defence seems to only contest the figures and not liability which is a good start for you. You got proof you gave him opportunity to fix?

chrisw

If it's the N47 engine from around 2009 it is a known issue. BMW will often provide a goodwill payment if it has a full BMW service history. Google N47 timing chain.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Very best of luck with this.

Between timing chains turbochargers and the previous swirl flaps of doom, not forgetting the unbreakable 19" alloy wheels of cheese, the make concerned needs to be under rock solid warranty, £1000 limit is nowhere near enough though to be fair they seem to have paid out which is unusual in itself.