Do I have to take recalled car?

dannyrst

I don't think anyone here will be able to answer your question as to whether you can legally reject the car or not. You'd need to speak to an expert in the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 (assuming the contracts were signed on or after 1st October 2015).

There is far too much interpretation of this act that you would need a qualified professional to fight your corner if the garage refused to accept the rejection. For example, whilst you don't have to accept a garage repairs a fault identified within the first 30 days of ownership of an item, are you deemed to have received the item faulty if the garage haven't yet supplied it to you? Or are you technically the owners because the car has been built and registered (presumably in your name) therefore the car is yours and any faults would allow you to reject? Is there a common sense approach to this, in that the goods are of a certain value and therefore it would be unreasonable to expect them to provide a refund for a fault?

The garage not telling you what the fault is may not be their fault, they may not know. That doesn't give you more or less right to reject the car, it is just bad customer service to not inform a customer why they can't have their product on time.

As for taking payments when the product delivery has been delayed, that to me is a grey area. Whilst you don't want to pay for something that you don't have yet, if you bought a sofa, you'd pay for it upfront but highly unlikely to walk out of the shop with it. You wait for it to be built and delivered. Do you demand a refund if they push back the delivery date by a week or 2? Not usually. Given the added complexity of building a car, I'd say it is reasonable to push the date back 6 weeks and still expect payment on the same day.

onlyroz

Thank you for actually attempting to answer my question. When I have bought new cars in the past the finance has never started until he dealer has confirmed a delivery date, which for a factory order is often a month or two. The issue here is that they said they had a car and gave us a delivery date, arranged the financing, registered the vehicle too us, and then said oops you can't have it after all.

And of course we are in communication with the dealer, and we are awaiting a call from the manufacturer's head office. However we would like to be informed of our legal rights before attempting to negotiate.

dannyrst

onlyroz wrote: »

Thank you for actually attempting to answer my question. When I have bought new cars in the past the finance has never started until he dealer has confirmed a delivery date, which for a factory order is often a month or two. The issue here is that they said they had a car and gave us a delivery date, arranged the financing, registered the vehicle too us, and then said oops you can't have it after all.

And of course we are in communication with the dealer, and we are awaiting a call from the manufacturer's head office. However we would like to be informed of our legal rights before attempting to negotiate.

It all depends on how much of an issue it is paying for the car before you get it. IMO, I wouldn't be overly concerned by a recall and I'd be happy to allow the work to progress and the payment dates to remain the same. After all, you are paying the same amount of money at the end of the day. Perhaps a brolly or a bunch of flowers wouldn't go amiss for the inconvenience (especially if you have plans to sell your current car as opposed to part exchange).

Honestly, having worked as a senior member of a customer service team, I'd not go all guns blazing with anyone at the dealership, raising your voice or expecting them to spin the Earth the opposite way. Listen to everything they say and try to see it from their point of view, whilst keeping your own interests at the forefront. Don't be unrealistic about what you want from them. If you do shout and demand X, Y and Z, you may find, like I used to, they will do little above the bare minimum to satisfactorily resolve your issues.

I'd say your best bet would be to contact CAB and explaining, without exaggerating (which I tend to do to try and get the answer I want to hear) and see what they suggest and explain are your options here.

Personally, I think as long as they disclose the reason for the recall and they can assure you that the issue has been resolved and tested satisfactorily, it is a decent outcome. Oh, and if you wish, they move back the payment dates to after you have received the car.

loskie

Finance should not start till you recieve the car. It may be that the dealer needs to make his month/year end target which is why he tells you you must pay.
BUT
It is his problem not yours.
He is possibly already in breach of contract by not supplying the car on the agreed date.
I would have no issue with the recall work being done (I would want to know what it was) but I would have a massive issue with paying for it BEFORE goods are recieved.
I may also bee looking for some sort of good will gesture.

dannyrst

loskie wrote: »

Finance should not start till you recieve the car. It may be that the dealer needs to make his month/year end target which is why he tells you you must pay.
BUT
It is his problem not yours.
He is possibly already in breach of contract by not supplying the car on the agreed date.
I would have no issue with the recall work being done (I would want to know what it was) but I would have a massive issue with paying for it BEFORE goods are recieved.
I may also bee looking for some sort of good will gesture.

What happens when you buy something online? Do you demand for the item to be delivered there and then too?

loskie

No. As you well know it is a different with a car. A deposit secures the order (commitment to buy) final payment(s) would not be made until goods recd.
Would you pay upfront for a car you havent got? which is what the finance co will be doing.

dannyrst

loskie wrote: »

No. As you well know it is a different with a car. A deposit secures the order (commitment to buy) final payment(s) would not be made until goods recd.
Would you pay upfront for a car you havent got? which is what the finance co will be doing.

Why not? The car has arrived at the garage and is having work done to it.

What if the OP took delivery of the car and a week later, it was booked in for a recall and the work took a few weeks? Would you expect the finance payments to stop whilst the work was done?

BykerSands

dannyrst wrote: »

Why not? The car has arrived at the garage and is having work done to it.

What if the OP took delivery of the car and a week later, it was booked in for a recall and the work took a few weeks? Would you expect the finance payments to stop whilst the work was done?

Well quite clearly the OP hasn't taken possession of the car yet.

dannyrst

BykerSands wrote: »

Well quite clearly the OP hasn't taken possession of the car yet.

And I haven't taken possession of something when I pay for it online.

Same amount is going to be paid whether they start paying now or in a week when the recall is done.

BykerSands

dannyrst wrote: »

And I haven't taken possession of something when I pay for it online.

Same amount is going to be paid whether they start paying now or in a week when the recall is done.

When is a contract formed when you buy a car? When you place the order.

When is it formed when buying goods online? When the goods are dispatched.

Can you spot the difference?