network q garage - wrongly advertise mileage

Liverpoolfc1967

Hi bought a 9 month old Cascada from a Network Q Garage. The car was advertised as having only 11,000 miles. The paper work and contract I received from them stated the car had 11,300 miles.

Only after picking the car up and getting home, I realised the true mileage of the car was 13,600 miles. Also the car was advertised as having Bluetooth, it doesn't.

I reported to the dealer immediately, by email same night. they Responded immediately by stating
- the advert stated that the vehicle advertisement stated that the vehicle was being used as a demonstration car, so purchasers should enquire about the true mileage.
- I should have noticed true mileage during test drive.

In fact I still have a copy of the advertisements on network q website and there is no disclaimer at all on the vehicle mileage. In fact the mileage Is stated within the vehicle title ( which I trusted).

They were unable to answer why they have wrongly stated the mileage in the contract.

Also they did not answer why the vehicle was described as having Bluetooth, when it didn't.

What are my options? Help appreciated.

forgotmyname

Ask them to fit bluetooth and if they cannot reject the car as they mis-sold it, and you would not have purchased it if it did not have bluetooth.
The mileage may have changed since placing the advert so i wouldnt put much effort into chasing that.

11,000 or 13,000 its a piddly amount and could easily be explained away as the vehicle was used as a courtesy vehicle or someone had a long test drive and went on holiday with it.

The mileage could have been etched into stone, but its a moving figure and you would have been able to see the true mileage on the test drive.

loskie

The thing is the mileage is in front of your eyes you should have seen it when inspecting the car. That aside the difference is negligible.
Re the bluetooth it is around £220 option so get them to retrofit a kit.

daveyjp

When I have bought ex demos the mileage is usually overstated to cover useage in between advert and sale. I drove one a couple of weeks ago which stated 3,000 and it had just over 2,000.

As for bluetooth its 2015! Incredible such an expensive car doesn't have it as standard.

Liverpoolfc1967

Totally agree on the Bluetooth. Very poor by Vauhall's having a car with RRP over £25k and they have bluetooth as an option,.

On the mileage front. We bought the car from a Vauxhall dealer, so you believe what they say. The car was their own demonstration car.

The mileage we picked it up with is 25% more than they advertised it for and about 20% higher than they recorded the mielage in their sales document. This is significant on 9 month old car.

Being a convertible, these cars tend to be low mileage, so this increase in mileage will have impacted the sale price. Are we not protected by the Sales of Good Act - their advertisement was misleading!

AdrianC

Sorry, the mileage shown on the odometer was 13,600 - and you didn't notice until after collection? There is an onus on the buyer to verify themselves of pertinent facts wherever possible - and that is an easy one to verify.

Both sound like simple errors, and both would have been easy to confirm before purchase if they were so relevant to the buying decision. Could there be some post-purchase remorse going on?

forgotmyname

2000 miles difference will have neglible effect on the sale price, The price guides will state something liek £80 but on the forecourt a teeny scratch or imperfection in the paint or on any part of the trim will have a bigger impact.

They tend to be low mileage, but the car you bought has average miles? You didnt buy a low mileage one.

How many miles did you cover on your test drive? How many other test drivers did they have between them placing the advert and you buying it?

I know when i test drive a car i give it a good thrash and do cover quite a few miles. When i bought my last one i even jumped on the motorway, I did wonder if the seller was thinking i may have stolen it and was not coming back.

Liverpoolfc1967

forgotmyname wrote: »

2000 miles difference will have neglible effect on the sale price, The price guides will state something liek £80 but on the forecourt a teeny scratch or imperfection in the paint or on any part of the trim will have a bigger impact.

They tend to be low mileage, but the car you bought has average miles? You didnt buy a low mileage one.

The difference in price for a 9 month old car, between having 11k and 13.6k miles is in the £100s. Average mile should have been 7k.

the sales manager for the garage rang me today. They are blaming the error in mileage on network q. Claiming their website contained a health warning on mileage. But network didn't . Also the eBay advert is based on network.

They are investigating further and will come back to me next week.

I am not sure I believe them fully. It was too convenient for them to understate the mileage to see the car. They were competing with anothe Vauxhall dealer 25 miles away, who had an identical car for same advertised price with only 7k miles. Let's see what they come back with next week.

I believe I have been mis sold under the sales of good act 1979.

colino

Have you ever been to Specsavers?

Liverpoolfc1967

colino wrote: »

Have you ever been to Specsavers?

I believed the Vauxhall dealer. This is a main dealer, not a small used car garage. the advert stated 11k miles, the sales paperwork stated 11k miles.

According to trading standards
The law
When you buy a used vehicle from a trader you are making a legally binding contract. You have legal rights against the trader under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

The vehicle should be
- As described - the vehicle should correspond with any description applied to it. In some circumstances, the trader may be liable for any statement made by the manufacturer of the vehicle.

So surely the trader is at fault, misleading advertisement on Bluetooth and mileage and hence should offer remedy to
- retrofit Bluetooth and
- provide partial refund on mileage.

The law is the trader needs to correctly and honestly advertise the mileage.

BeenThroughItAll

Stop over-analysing this, stop worrying about it, and go and enjoy your convertible in the sun. 2k will realistically make no difference to the value in another year or two's time.

Unless you're planning on keeping it only for a few months, in which case you'll lose a lot more money just in depreciation, this is a non-issue. Ask the dealer to pay for a Parrot kit or retrofit Bluetooth, maybe chuck in a free service for your trouble, and move on.