Dodgy Dealer? HELP!!!

cavyslave

Ok, I bought a car for my 18 yr old son from a local dealer on 29th July. I paid £1495 for it and he said he needed to do some work on it first and then it would be ready. He told me it would have 3 months guarantee. I was completely stupid and took him at his word and my son was so excited because it was his first car. On the second day the engine warning light came on and he said bring it back and he would fix it, which he did, and it wasn't too bad but every time it rained the carpets inside would end up soaked and a couple of times it wouldn't start if the rain had been heavy. The dealer is also a MOT tester and the car was due for the MOT in October but he said bring it back just before the 3 months was up for the MOT. On the previous MOT (which he didn't hand over until we had paid for the car) it had quite a few advisories which he said he had sorted out. Anyway, I didn't trust him so last night I got a friend of mine who is a qualified MOT tester to give it a pre MOT check and he found many faults ( I have a list) I took it down this morning for the MOT but didn't tell him I had already had a pre check done and he has just phoned to say there are 2 problems that need fixing before he can pass it ( my mechanic identified 5) and that it would cost "about" £200 to put right. Am I just being had over here or is that the way it should be? I don't know what to do!!!

dannyrst

Ignore the 3 months. You have 6 months to find fault and return to the seller (assuming the fault was present at the point of sale and that can be proved).

I'd say that you should speak to your friend again and ask him which of the faults he found would have been there at the point of sale in July. Those are the ones you don't have to pay to be repaired (basically).

cavyslave

Thank you. I'm a bit stuck because the ball joint was on the previous MOT but he is saying we should have got that fixed and it's not down to him. He has done the MOT and will give us a failure notice and then we will have to get the car repaired. I can't prove the water leak was there because it wasn't raining when we picked the car up, although there was a terrible smell inside which I now realise was damp. Now, if the only 2 things he's failed it on are the broken road springs and the ball joint, and that's all that is written on the failure notice, what do I do about the other things my mechanic found?

cavyslave

Those other things being; O/S track rod end, O/S anti roll bar link, exhaust blow..

welfayre

MOTs are subjective, put your car into 10 different garages and you'll probably get 10 different results.


Your friend obviously feels the extra things are worth failing but I wonder if he'd say the same if you had put your sons car to him for an official MOT??

Your two options are to either have the current failures repaired and get the car through it's MOT or pay the current garage the MOT fee and pay for another test by your friend and get the 5 things repaired instead.

Also I'm not sure why the title is Dodgy Dealer when the dealer has not only repaired the management light fault for you but also advised getting the car MOT'd before your "warranty" expires, presumable so any faults that were covered could be fixed before it expired??

cavyslave

Yes, I'm sure he would have considered them worthy of failure if I had presented the car at his garage. I've known him over 20 years and I trust him more than I would a used car dealer I'd never met before.

Fixed the faulty check engine light? If you had paid almost £1500 for your son's first car, a car that you believed to be safe and roadworthy, would you expect to be paying out for a repair on it after one day of ownership? Damn right he fixed the check engine light!

Yes I was foolish, I should have asked to see the previous MOT before parting with the cash, I should have questioned him when he told me he'd had all the advisories fixed from that previous MOT, I should have got an independent person to check the car before buying it, but I didn't. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Maybe I'm too trusting and gullible? Maybe he "saw me coming" - a mum proud that her son had passed his driving test first time at age 17, and excited about buying him his first car? (which took a lot of saving up as I am a widow) Maybe next time I won't be so bloody stupid?

Now I do not have the money for these repairs at the moment, I was not expecting the car to fail the MOT so spectacularly after just 12 weeks of owning it. So my son is now without a vehicle, I'm still having to pay £114 per month insurance plus road tax, and the car is sitting outside my house going nowhere. Yes, I'm an idiot I know, but I came here to ask for advice, which the first member kindly gave me. I do not need to be reminded how foolish I've been or to have snipey comments made about my wording on the post. I feel bad enough as it is, you don't have to rub salt in the wounds just for the hell of it.

motorguy

dannyrst wrote: »

Ignore the 3 months. You have 6 months to find fault and return to the seller (assuming the fault was present at the point of sale and that can be proved).

No. There is no "6 months". If you had a gearbox failure and the dealer couldnt prove it wasnt there at the time of sale, you "should" be covered under the SOGA.

Also, "faults" are very difficult from wear and tear. A fault would be due to a manufacturing fault that caused the part to fail prematurely.

Also, its not up to you as a buyer to prove it was there at the point of sale, its up to the seller to prove it wasnt.

motorguy

cavyslave wrote: »

Yes, I'm sure he would have considered them worthy of failure if I had presented the car at his garage. I've known him over 20 years and I trust him more than I would a used car dealer I'd never met before.

Fixed the faulty check engine light? If you had paid almost £1500 for your son's first car, a car that you believed to be safe and roadworthy, would you expect to be paying out for a repair on it after one day of ownership? Damn right he fixed the check engine light!

Yes I was foolish, I should have asked to see the previous MOT before parting with the cash, I should have questioned him when he told me he'd had all the advisories fixed from that previous MOT, I should have got an independent person to check the car before buying it, but I didn't. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Maybe I'm too trusting and gullible? Maybe he "saw me coming" - a mum proud that her son had passed his driving test first time at age 17, and excited about buying him his first car? (which took a lot of saving up as I am a widow) Maybe next time I won't be so bloody stupid?

Now I do not have the money for these repairs at the moment, I was not expecting the car to fail the MOT so spectacularly after just 12 weeks of owning it. So my son is now without a vehicle, I'm still having to pay £114 per month insurance plus road tax, and the car is sitting outside my house going nowhere. Yes, I'm an idiot I know, but I came here to ask for advice, which the first member kindly gave me. I do not need to be reminded how foolish I've been or to have snipey comments made about my wording on the post. I feel bad enough as it is, you don't have to rub salt in the wounds just for the hell of it.

You need to keep a sense of perspective here. A £1500 car from a dealer is probably at 1/10th of its original cost and well into its twilight years.

Most problems you will experience are going to be down to wear and tear and are not "faults".

A couple of hundred to get an old car through MOT isnt a "spectacular failure" - its quite typical, in fact, could be considered cheap.

One of our cars is 10 years old and i was well pleased it only took £170 to get it through MOT - i'd budgeted £400.

£1500 is a LOT of cash, but its the motoring equivalent of buying an old TV off gumtree for £30 - its not going to be wear and tear free, and theres no guarantee you wont have to spend money on it.

motorguy

cavyslave wrote: »

you don't have to rub salt in the wounds just for the hell of it.

What welfayre said was factual and correct - i dont see why it upset you?

And the first posters response was incorrect.

motorguy

cavyslave wrote: »

I've known him over 20 years and I trust him more than I would a used car dealer I'd never met before.

Would it not have been a good idea for him to have checked it before you bought it?

motorguy

cavyslave wrote: »

Those other things being; O/S track rod end, O/S anti roll bar link, exhaust blow..

O/S track rod end is wear and tear. Quite common in fact.
Exhaust blowing - wear and tear, old age, erratic gear changes...
Anti roll bar bushing - typical wear and tear.