Where Do I Stand Re: Car Purchase

eatdirt13

Hi, this is my first post on here as I am after some consumer advice. Apologies if I have got the wrong area.

The story is, I have purchased a used car through eBay from a dealer. I really like the look / description of the car on the advert so I called up to leave a deposit to secure the car until I collected.

I arrived a couple of days later to collect the car (2003 BMW 330Ci). I had a good look around and the car was still very warm as if they had only just had it running. It all looked fairly good condition for the age, apart from the large rip in the drivers seat which wasn't mentioned.

The advert said 'Full BMW service history' and 'The car will come with a 6 Month premium warranty' which are the two main points that attracted me to the car.

Upon completing paperwork, I was looking through the car history and documents...... no service book!! The guy was adamant that it must be in his other garage because he couldn't find it in the office, so he promised to send it out Monday (this was Friday). I text him Monday asking how he got on finding the service book, he replied saying he couldn't find it. So the car has done 125,000 miles which makes it all the more important to have full history, and all I have is a printed piece of paper with service intervals up to 60k on it 'apparently' from BMW. But it's not on headed BMW paper or anything, might not even be real.

Also, I didnt realise at the time but the ad had 3 months warranty in small near the picture, then in the description it said 'this car will come with 6 months premium warranty'. Low and behold I have been given 3 Months:

Since driving the car away this has what's gone wrong:

On the drive home I noticed bizarre steering characteristics, slow puncture already...great I know that could have happened on the way but still it felt strange from the get go.

On arriving home with the car on level ground it looked leaned over towards the drivers side at the back, it looks like a rear shock has collapsed as it's about 20mm lower on one side.

The advert said all tyres were a good brand with 'at least 5-6mm' of tread. The front left is barely legal.

Half way home as I was getting used to the car I thought I'd put the stereo on. This also doesn't work properly, constantly skipping, loud, quiet, loud, quiet, sometimes only left speakers.

I was told it had a full service before I picked it up, but I checked the coolant tank as the light came on, it was bone dry. Checked the oil and it's pitch black (not the sign of a recent change) AND the oil was on the low side.

The car also seems to be misfiring on idle and hesitating through light acceleration.

The electric mirrors stopped working

The traction control (DSC) keeps turning it'self off permanently, which is dangerous in the wet if I forget it's off.

Sorry for the long post but where do I stand? The dealer has failed to provide items listed on the advert, mentioned no problems with the car on the advert, and when I mentioned about claiming on the 'premium' warranty, he said it only covers engine and gearbox.....hardly premium.

Personally I think it's only fair to request a significant amount of money back due to having to sort out all these problems which shouldn't be happening in the first place.

Thanks in advance to any advice.

LilElvis

There might not even be a service book, especially if it has been serviced by BMW main dealers. My husband didn't have one with his last 3 BMWs - it was all maintained on their computers - he was just given a copy of the work sheet when he collected it. My Mercedes is the same, though they have said I can buy one and they will put the service history into it.

eatdirt13

Well to be honest due to it being in a small gravel car park I couldn't examine how it sat. I did mention the oil and said ''You sure this has had a recent service''.... ''Yeah mate it's been done very recent'', bear in mind no paperwork to prove.

As for you saying I should've sorted the history problem out there and then, how do you mean? He said he would send it out first thing Monday so.... as far as I was aware that was sorted. Tyres are my fault asIi just ran my fingers along the grooves, it was only when I turned the wheel and visually examined I thought, 'oh'.

By the way I forgot to mention him telling me it has had a recent clutch and flywheel done so I thought 'great' but he only has an invoice for a clutch kit, no proof of fitting and nothing about a flywheel, and funnily enough the clutch is bouncing which is a sign of the flywheel going bad...

I've never had this much trouble when buying a car. I live nearly 3 hrs away from them so how would you say I best deal with it.

Dont forget the warranty issue...

Edit: Regarding the service book, he said there was one and that 'he had it earlier'. But I've yet to see it. Like you said though, it probably doesn't exist.

eatdirt13

No I didnt because it consisted of main roads, no start stop city driving, and if you know anything about cars, the problem doesn't present itself every single time you use the clutch.

I didn't say it was their fault for me buying a car 3 hours away, I was merely asking for advice on how to approach the situation. Get work done here and ask for them to pay the invoice? Get the garage doing the work to deal with them? Take the car back?

Please only reply if you have anything useful to say Darth_Vader.

Thanks

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

When I test drive a car, I floor it, use the clutch and all bits.

Then again, it is Germanic and twelve years old!

LilElvis

How did you pay for the car and when did you buy it?

It's possible you might be able to reject it and request a refund.

Marktheshark

The low water and misfire suggest the head gasket is gone.
The oil ad water will mix old wives tale is from cars of yesteryear, today gasket failure between the water jacket and piston barrels is far more common with water dragged in causing a misfire and unexplained coolant loss.

custardy

eatdirt13 wrote: »

No I didnt because it consisted of main roads, no start stop city driving, and if you know anything about cars, the problem doesn't present itself every single time you use the clutch.

I didn't say it was their fault for me buying a car 3 hours away, I was merely asking for advice on how to approach the situation. Get work done here and ask for them to pay the invoice? Get the garage doing the work to deal with them? Take the car back?

Please only reply if you have anything useful to say Darth_Vader.

Thanks

They arent going to pay another garage.
They are sales people. They want the car shot off.
If you buy with service history,you check the paperwork before buying. A straight seller will let you see the paperwork.
See what they offer you. Given the description vs condition.
I would hope for a refund.