Returning a used car - Where do I stand

Roy1982

Hi,
I recently bought a car from a particular trade centre based in Wales, I love the car, its in great condition and got a good amount knocked off when I bought it.
However since owning the car, I have noticed the fuel economy is shocking!
The sales man told me I could expect late 30's early 40's, which would be ideal, however, I'm getting low 30's at the very best. The car was only bought as something to ferry me to work and back, a total of 10 miles a day, but the "range" drops by about 25-35 miles every day, and if things carry on like this, I'm looking at spending about £40 a week to cover the 50 miles.
This is not what I had planned when buying the car, and certainly wouldn't have bought it had I known how poor it would be.
Is this a good enough reason to return the car, or would I get laughed back out the door?
It was also bought on finance, so if it is returnable, where do I stand with the finance side of things?

Thanks in advance.

Alter_ego

Did the salesman tell you in writing? If not I fear his interpretation will be different.

pinkteapot

10 miles a day on what sort of road? If you're in slow town traffic throughout, you won't get anywhere near the advertised MPG.

What car is it? Look up the manufacturers' claimed MPG online...

Our Mondeo can do just shy of 50mpg on economy runs (when we're in Scotland and spend a fortnight on single carriageway 60-limit roads), but on my in-town commute it gets about 35mpg.

Oh, if it's going to cost you £40 to do 50 miles then you're only getting about 6MPG - unlikely unless you have a massive leak! I think your fuel maths may be wrong. It's not going to cost you anywhere near that much...

bobbymotors

What car is it?

Basically if the 'urban cycle' manufacturers figures are anywhere near mid 30s then no you cant take it back. The salesman has not lied, he has quoted you what the maker said. If the engine is 1.6 or bigger then you wont ever get 35-40mpg.

Ozzuk

No chance, unless you have something that says you asked for a car that does 40mpg and the salesman somehow guaranteed it would.

Everyone drives differently (I drive too fast everywhere!), add in journeys differ its very difficult to say what a car will do. Drive like Miss Daisy, keep proper pressure in tires, don't keep too much stuff in the car, don't use aircon, keep windows closed - it can all help if you are that worried about it.

Roy1982

Thanks for all the replies..
I thought it may have been a bit much, but worth an ask anyway.
My shocking maths are based on £15 lasting 2 days, from red light - £15 - red light.

The car is a 1.6 Astra mk5.. Parkers puts the mpg at 43 mpg

I'm extremely paranoid about spending too much on fuel, so have been driving like my gran, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Is it worth getting it looked at to see if the garage missed any issues with it, or is the parkers guide likely to be well out anyway?

AdrianC

It is illegal to give any fuel consumption figures but the manufacturer's official ones.

Whether you get those figures or not will depend on a very wide range of variables. If you think the car has a mechanical problem, get a diagnostic run. BUT... If you're only doing 5 mile runs, at this time of year, in what I suspect from the figures given is a petrol engined car, then of course you're going to be using a lot more fuel than the official figures. Poor bloody thing's barely getting warmed up.

If you want to calculate a reliable consumption figure, you need to go from brim to brim - the larger the volumes, the more accurate. "£15 lasts me two days" is meaningless.

bobbymotors

On a 5 mile trip the only vehicle that will get 43mpg is a moped.

bigjl

I suspect you will be standing at the Bus Stop.

Mr Dark Matter.

pinkteapot

AdrianC wrote: »

If you want to calculate a reliable consumption figure, you need to go from brim to brim - the larger the volumes, the more accurate. "£15 lasts me two days" is meaningless.

Yep. If £15 of fuel really did last you 20 miles then, again, that works out to the car doing around 6mpg. If that were the case, there would be something so seriously wrong with it that I'm sure you'd know about it. Either that or there'd be a trail of petrol behind you from the leak.

Honestly - it's not going to cost you £40 to do 50 miles. If you get 30MPG then 50 miles will cost about £7.60 (all my figures are based on petrol costing you £1 per litre so may be slightly out depending on your local prices).

At 40mpg, those 50 miles will cost £5.70, so the difference between advertised and what you're getting works out to about £1.90 per week extra on your commute cost.

You said you were getting low 30's - assume that's on the readout on the dash? Reset the counters to zero then hit as empty a dual carriageway as possible and do a steady 60mph. Then you'll get nearer the manufacturer's MPG.

foxy-stoat

Roy1982 wrote: »

Is it worth getting it looked at to see if the garage missed any issues with it, or is the parkers guide likely to be well out anyway?

Speak to your lawyer and file a claim against Parkers Price Guide !!