Dodgy car sold by dealer, court case opened!

woowoor75

Hi all

Just wondering if there is someone here clued up on these things....I've bought a car from a dealer 7 months ago, paid £3000 for it. When I bought it the gear box was stiff and the dealer said that there has been work done on it and it should loosen up....knowing nothing about cars, I've believed him. 2 months later the gear box was getting worse and the heating/fan stopped working so took it back to be repaired. He tried to make me pay for the heating/fan replacement as he said it's not his problem, but he fixed the gear box. I have refused to pay for the heating/fan and when we left the heating/fan still wasn't working. When we left the garage the guy and the other owner drive towards our car trying to scare us....I had to brake really hard not to cause an accident (I had my 7 months old baby with me in the car at that time). I have reported him to the police but because we didn't have any witnesses police didn't bother to do anything.
One night woke up about 1am to heat up my son's milk and noticed my car had the brake lights on and they wouldn't go off. Phoned AA the next day and from there the hell broke loose, my car wouldn't Rev, and completely died. We had to be towed to a Vauxhall garage as that's the only one that can fix it and we had to pay £1500 to fix it. I feel we have been sold a dodgy car and I have opened a court case, which the hearing is this week. What should I expect, as the dealer is very confident that it has nothing to do with him, and the car broke down from too much rain!!! Sorry for the long post and thank you x

woowoor75

Sorry, it's a Vauxhall zafira 2006, 124000 miles

caprikid1

So a 9 year old car with a 124,000 had brake problem 6 months after you bought it and you have a court case pending. I think you have wasted your money on court fees. It is going to be extremely difficult to win that one. The dealer has fixed the gearbox, but he is not going to maintain you car of its life.

tykesi

If your defence for court is as confused as your post on here I don't think you've got a chance of winning anything.

What exactly is wrong with the car?

Nobody can help with such a lack of information.

onomatopoeia99

If the Vauxhall main dealer has told you what it will cost to fix, they must also have told you what the fault is. What is the fault?

agrinnall

7 months after buying you'll have a tough time persuading the seller to contribute to the repair cost. At the very least you will need to have an independent report prepared showing that the fault was present when you bought the car, without this taking the case to court is likely to be a waste of time and money.

onomatopoeia99

As a general thought, old cars can break down, or manufacturers would give 20 year warranties. Nine years is old, you should expect faults. A dealer can't be expected to fix every fault on an old car (I am no fan of car dealers, new or used, but I fear your expectations are unrealistic given the age and mileage of the vehicle).

BigBopper

tykesi wrote: »

If your defence for court is as confused as your post on here I don't think you've got a chance of winning anything.

What exactly is wrong with the car?

Nobody can help with such a lack of information.

The OP doesn't need a defence. That's their prosecution basis which will probably not succeed

tykesi

Sorry yes, my mistake. It's what I mean but I'm blaming Monday morning.

woowoor75

Sorry, no need to be judgemental, I've only asked a question and trying to deal with my 14 months old at the same time....as I've said I've never had a problem like this before and I know nothing about cars.....it's not the breaks, according to the report from Vauxhall they found the following faults:

Water ingress into the rear electrical control unit and wiring loom connector
Water ingress under the bonnet electrical control unit
Wiring chafed through and broken
Lamp water ingress and corroded
heater resistor unit failed

Also when we bought the car, there were no advisories on mot, now there are advisories such as:

Front discs worn into a lip
Rear break discs worn into a lip and pads approx 75%
Centre exhaust section deteriorating
Sings of oil residue from the front of the engine.

I'm not expecting for the garage to pay for my car repairs for life but surely in 7 months this car shouldn't have so many problems!

Retrogamer

You never bought a 7 month old car though, you bought a 9 year old car with high miles.

The court will take into consideration the age of the vehicle, the miles on it and the price paid as well as how much time has passed.

I don't think they will rule in your favour i'm afraid.

It would be expected that some faults will develop on an oldish car with high miles and since 7 months have passed, you would need to provide evidence all the issues were present when you bought it.
Do you have any evidence of any of these problems before you bought it, except for the heater?

The "advisories" you mentioned are a complete no go.
You can pass an MOT one year, then fail it the next year on several things so it's perfectly reasonable to expect some advisories 7 months after an MOT.

Civil court cases aren't set in stone but i think you've wasted good money by going that route. Will you be liable for the trader's costs if / when you it is ruled against you?