Should I take them to court?

bigadaj

mr_stick wrote: »

Because it was cheaper. People expect the dealer to be held responsible for the faults in the car. I was told by a 3rd Toyota dealer that the seller should send someone over to pick up the car and give me a courtesy car while they fix it. People just think that this is how the law should be.

Ok but travelling several hours if you get a problem is more inconvenient than somewhere local as you've found out, and the selling dealer is always the person to go back to.

How old is the car?

mr_stick

150940 wrote: »

You've taken advice from CAB who have told you if you take them to court now you will lose. So you come on here and ask if you should take them to court?

The simple answer is yes, if you want to lose.

As for personal injury, you had asthma before you bought the car. So what injury has the car caused? None, you still have asthma now you've bought the car and no additional injuries.

Best bet is Judge Rinder, you'll get expenses paid, a night in a hotel and appear on tv. Entertainment factor is the only thing you'll achieve until you follow correct procedure.

No CAB told me to take it to court. In fact I spoke to a few people from there and they all said the same thing. It was only Trading Standards who contacted me and stopped me going to court. CAB then changed their mind after that.

As far as asthma is concerned: My asthma is dormant and of a different nature. I used to get coughs because of damp in my house which is now rectified. I haven't had those symptoms for many years. These symptoms which I get whenever I get into the car are new. I have never had this sort of pain in the chest and these other symptoms.

I know I must take the car to the dealer but I started this thread because I want to know what to do about their two week delay and my personal injuries. I fear if I insist that they take the car in ASAP, they will argue that they never had their best technician around.

mr_stick

bigadaj wrote: »

Ok but travelling several hours if you get a problem is more inconvenient than somewhere local as you've found out, and the selling dealer is always the person to go back to.

How old is the car?

The idea was that the guarantee is covered by all Toyota dealers. I made sure of that before I bought the car. But apparently the bacteria issue isn't covered by the guarantee.

8 years. Prius 35k miles. Excellent condition except the mould issue.

AdrianC

mr_stick wrote: »

No CAB told me to take it to court. In fact I spoke to a few people from there and they all said the same thing. It was only Trading Standards who contacted me and stopped me going to court. CAB then changed their mind after that.

CAB are a good, and very useful advice service - but you do need to remember they are a service provided by well-meaning lay volunteers... As, of course, are the MSE forums. Advice from either is worth exactly what you pay for it.

mr_stick wrote: »

bigadaj wrote: »

How old is the car?

8 years. Prius 35k miles. Excellent condition except the mould issue.

VERY relevant information... It's nearly a decade old, but has had little use. Prime conditions for mould and bacteria to grow in the heater ducting.

Sorry, SOGA is not going to be of help to you here. Your legal rights are tempered by reasonable expectations for the age etc of the vehicle.

securityguy

"8 years. 35k miles."

Of course the Air Con will be full of mould. The car's probably never been warmed up.

Iceweasel

35K in 8 years!

And for how many of that 35K was the AC in use?

I dread to think how few.

That's for sure the underlying reason.

The car has been up to full working temperature very rarely and has been sitting unused with doors closed for most of it's life.

I have no idea how this can be fixed other than a complete strip down of all the AC components and a thorough clean/replacement of the vents and ducts.

Very time-consuming and expensive.

I doubt if it's economically viable - what is the car worth?

I think that you are far too late to expect to reject or return it now.

As I said you should have taken it back to the selling dealer in April.

150 miles is not a long way to go in my opinion.

I would suggest that the best action is to push the selling dealer for a good trade-in exchange for a newer/ higher mileage model.

In the UK many people are obsessed with getting a low-mileage example.

This is a perfect example of only one of the many problems lack of use brings.

arcon5

Did you tell them of your condition?
If not then I fear they will argue it is standard wear on a car of that age, it is fit for purpose, jus tnot your purpose which you didn't make them aware off so wasn't missold

securityguy

"In the UK many people are obsessed with getting a low-mileage example."

Quite, 100k is barely run in these days, but so long as there are people who know little about cars obsessed with mileage as though it's still 1967, it means those of us that are sensible can buy good cars cheap.

My current car has 130k miles on it. I've run others up to 180k, 150k. My previous car is, I see from mothistory, still on the road passing its MoT with metronomic ease at 198k miles. "Low mileage one careful owner" is a code for "dog we can shift to people who don't understand cars".

bigjl

Does anybody believe that this thread is a windup?

What kind of Toyota was it?

A Yaris with no back brakes?

Even if the thread isn't another of Dark Matters fantasies the car likely needs no more than new filter and perhaps a run through with an off the shelf AirCon cleaning product.

And I can't remember the last time a main dealer had an 8 yr old car in stock either. Low mileage or not.

And having bought several extremely low mileage AirCon equipped cars from Japan over the years, all having spent extended periods of time in storage none of them had any mould growing in the AirCon systems.

Iceweasel

bigjl wrote: »

Does anybody believe that this thread is a windup?

What kind of Toyota was it?

A Yaris with no back brakes?

Even if the thread isn't another of Dark Matters fantasies the car likely needs no more than new filter and perhaps a run through with an off the shelf AirCon cleaning product.

I was thinking the same about DM.

I would be changing the filter, using a spray cleaner and then running the AC permanently.

The OP hasn't said how he uses the AC - if it has been cleaned/serviced and then left unused then the smell will come back fairly quickly.

Of course the whole car is suffering from chronic lack of use.