Car bought 2 days ago faulty and need advice please

Charlottechantelle

I bought a car from a dealer via an eBay advert on Monday I viewed the car twice both times it was out ready for me to see doors open and ready to drive ..
The second time I viewed I test drove and it was fine apart from the brakes seemed a little spongy and the air con wasn't working. The girl who showed me the car agreed that both were not great and told me that she would speak to the boss .. He allowed £150 off the price of the car for £100 brakes and £50 air con re gas
However I have had the brakes done but the garage says it needs a new air compressor and re gas which is close to £480 😡
I specifically said I wanted a car with working air con as I travel a lot .. She assured me it just needed the gas.
Also today I was locked out of the car as the remote does not work ..
Where do I stand ?
They will not answer their phone either !

Marktheshark

Negotiating the price down for specific faults shows you were aware of the faults, decided to buy it with those faults and negotiated a discounted price to allow the faults to be fixed.
Not good.

EdGasket

Charlottechantelle wrote: »

Also today I was locked out of the car as the remote does not work ..
Where do I stand ?

Erm... on the pavement?

walwyn1978

What car, how much, how old is it?

Joe_Horner

Marktheshark wrote: »

Negotiating the price down for specific faults shows you were aware of the faults, decided to buy it with those faults and negotiated a discounted price to allow the faults to be fixed.
Not good.

Not quite that simple if the Op really was assured that the only thing wrong with the aircon was a need for a regas and could convince a court that assurance was given which is likely to be the hard part.

There's also the matter of spongy brakes, even if giving a discount to get them fixed.

Sponginess (assuming it was sponginess rather than just extra travel) is a specific MOT fail (rfr 3.3.B.1.b) so the car wasn't roadworthy with regards to brakes, which makes selling it at all a criminal offence.

Again, would need to show that a brake fault existed but the fact they discounted to have it fixed, along with the repair garage's report on what was needed, would help there.

In practical terms, getting anywhere with it would almost certainly mean going to court, with no guarantee that the seller would pay up even then. Which is probably not worth the aggro and cost, especially if you fail to actually recover anything.

But it would be worth letting Trading Standards know, especially with the brake issue, just in case they already have an inch thick file on the seller - they may be seen as toothless by many but, if dodgy sellers are never reported (and selling with a brake fault IS dodgy selling), then they never get stopped.

parking_question_chap

Buy a car with duff air con & brakes, and then compain that it costs money to fix them.

Really?

How old is the car anyway?

If a dealer is willing to sell a car with brakes that they know are not right, I wouldnt by any car from them, let alone that one.

takman

It's a common misconception that all air con problems can be fixed by regassing it!. Air Con systems do not loose gas unless there is a problem with them. Ive never known an Air Con system to not work at all to be fixed for any extended period by just a regas.

EdGasket

takman wrote: »

It's a common misconception that all air con problems can be fixed by regassing it!. Air Con systems do not loose gas unless there is a problem with them. Ive never known an Air Con system to not work at all to be fixed for any extended period by just a regas.

Regassed a non-working Mercedes W202 C180 3 years ago with EZ-Chill. Guess what? It is still working.

Another car I regass each summer as the coolant lasts the season but is gone by the following year. Works out cheaper than fixing it.

Anyhow this is another of those 'first post' posts that look supiciously like a DM wind up; we are seeing a lot lately.

takman

EdGasket wrote: »

Regassed a non-working Mercedes W202 C180 3 years ago with EZ-Chill. Guess what? It is still working.

Another car I regass each summer as the coolant lasts the season but is gone by the following year. Works out cheaper than fixing it.

Anyhow this is another of those 'first post' posts that look supiciously like a DM wind up; we are seeing a lot lately.

You must have been quite lucky with the Mercedes that it didn't have any other problems. The Air Con is a completely sealed system so there is no reason it should leak gas ever unless there is a problem. A lot of people also don't use the Air Con over the winter so when they turn it on again after 6 months of no use they find it doesn't work.

Have you tried getting the other car fixed? It may not cost as much as you think and if it's loosing so much gas it's probably not working as efficiently as it should.

My car is 13 years old and the Air Con is set to always be on (unless you turn it off in the climate control menu). I have always had it on and it has never been regassed and the Air Con works just like new. It works so well that a garage refused to regass it when I asked them to while I was with a friend who was getting theirs repaired.

arcon5

Actually most cars A/C systems loose refrigerant over time. If they didn't then the AC industry simply wouldn't be as big as it is

EdGasket

arcon5 wrote: »

Actually most cars A/C systems loose refrigerant over time. If they didn't then the AC industry simply wouldn't be as big as it is

Seconded. It can leak out from compressor seals and O-rings slowly over time. That doesn't mean it needs £££'s spent replacing everything, just the occasional regas.

When there's a 3 for 2 offer on EZ-Chill (Halfords) then 3 cans work out at £50 after the £10 refund on each can. That's under £17 a refill. Wouldn't even cover the VAT on the simplest repair job and a compressor can easily be £500 with fitting.