Second hand car issues

legopony

Hi all,

First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I have also posted in the consumer rights forum.

At the end of September my partner purchased a second hand Peugeot 206 from a small independent garage around an hour away from our home address. We paid £1400 for the car, and obviously then purchased tax and insurance for this.

After a week of having the car, and it having done less than 100 miles since we purchased it, the car died on a dual carriage way. The car lost all power and had to be towed home by my brother who was luckily close-by and able to help.

My partner contacted the garage, who confirmed the car was covered by a warranty but despite asking numerous times we were unable to find out specifically what the warranty covered.

Due to the distance between our house and the garage, they asked that we take the car to a local garage who could then diagnose the issue and liaise about repairs etc. This meant we had to again arrange for my brother to tow the car, as the garage did not offer to help with this.

The car was at the local garage for a number of weeks, and we received very little communication during this time. The local garage identified a number of issues with the car, both mechanical and electrical.

After 40 days, the garage decided they would collect the car and make the repairs themselves! They collected the car and after another coulee of weeks advised that the car was ready to collect. We went to collect the car, which obviously meant another lengthy journey and using another car.

On arrival at the garage the car was driveable, but it was driven out with items such as window squeegees on the roof, which gave the impression they hadn't been looking after the car particularly well.

On the journey home, I was following my partner in the car and noticed that a number of his lights were not working. Also, the drivers side wing mirror became dislodged on the way home, whilst driving along the dual carriage way and when we stopped we noticed this had been broken and glued back in place with superglue (new damage). The airbag light was also lit, which wasn't the case when it was in our care.

We contacted the garage once home to advise them of the issues, and explain that there appeared to still be electrical faults. The garage denied they had caused any damage to the wing mirror, and said that they had fulfilled their responsibilities.

We asked to hand the car back and have a refund as there had been so many issues, and there were so many remaining after such little use. The garage took a long time to respond, and when they did they stated that they would buy the car back but for less than we paid for it. We have pointed out to the garage that whilst awaiting the repairs we have been paying tax and insurance, and my partner has had to find alternative routes to work which have had a cost and time implication to us, therefore we feel that requesting a full refund is reasonable. They have not replied.

We have contacted the ombudsman regarding this, they have pursued the matter but have said that the garage is unwilling to work with them and they are therefore unable to help any further.

We are considering going to the small claims court, but after googling a lot I am still unsure what our legal rights are and whether this would be a total waste of time / money. Obviously if we had purchased the car from a private seller we would be without virtually any rights, so I'm wondering if it's the same in this situation?

If anyone could offer any advice I would be most grateful.

Many thanks 🙂

AdrianC

It's a £1,400 older car. Your legal rights are firmly tempered by that. What age is it? 10yo+? Some "mechanical and electrical issues" are to be expected in a car of that age and price, as are "bodges" like gluing a mirror together.

How big a gap between the price they're willing to give you, and what you paid? Your best bet may very well be to take that offer up.

As you bought the car in September, your legal rights are under the older Sale of Goods Act, not the newer Consumer Rights Act, which came in in October.

legopony

Many thanks, I was thinking the same thing about accepting their offer. They offered around £1k, and whilst it's frustrating to get back less than we paid I thought it might be our best option. That said, now we have gone down the road of contacting the ombudsman they may decide they don't want to uphold that offer.

forgotmyname

Taking legal action etc could take many months where there offer may reduce and you may not gain anything.

Have you got a proper diagnosis on whats wrong? It doesnt sound that bad and you could do much much worse at that end of the budget range.

Some cars can cost more to service and a few fairly minor repairs than you paid for the whole car.
A mirror sub £20 for a used one. Airbag light maybe a switch or wire attached to a seat that they moved.

What other problems are there?

societys_child

it was driven out with items such as window squeegees on the roof

:eek:

I'm not sure what to say . . .

burlington6

societys_child wrote: »

:eek:

I'm not sure what to say . . .

Has to be worth at least £500 compensation surely?:money:

arcon5

What ombudsmen

shaun_from_Africa

arcon5 wrote: »

What ombudsmen

I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's this lot (although I may well be wrong)
https://www.theretailombudsman.org.uk/

A totally pointless organisation that's been discussed on here a fair few times.

jimjames

legopony wrote: »

Many thanks, I was thinking the same thing about accepting their offer. They offered around £1k, and whilst it's frustrating to get back less than we paid I thought it might be our best option. That said, now we have gone down the road of contacting the ombudsman they may decide they don't want to uphold that offer.

£1000 would seem to be a very fair offer considering they've also spent money trying to fix it

s_b

if you have all the details to prove local garage had car 40 days and then it was taken to seller garage and it came away with further faults and you've been to an ombudsman who the garage refuse to deal with and selling garage have sent you paper proof they've offered £1000 for your lemon then you have a good chance of winning in court, plus reasonable costs,however you wont be able to use the car in the meantime and would have to look after it whilst due process is gone through under the small claims court ,this can easily take six months and remember garage might fold and even if you win you, might not get your money.
I suggest you sit down work out all the odds make a decision and follow it through