Van purchased on Finance now faulty

Starsoryx

Hi there and thanks in advance for reading

My husband bought a young but second hand transit connect from a Ford dealership in Glasgow towards the end of June last year.
He paid a 1k deposit and is paying monthly finance for 4 years.

Not had any problems with it until last week it would start but engine would die seconds later. He thought the battery may be flat so he charged it. Next day the fully charged battery didn't make a difference to the fault so he towed it along to a local garage to diagnose the problem

Garage thought it may be the fuel filter so drained the system replaced filter etc and it worked fine then. Cost around £100ish but was worth it for peace of mind.

Today (3 days later) the same problem is happening so it can't be the filter after all and the garage don't know what else to suggest.

Hubby is going to call the dealership tomorrow but we have no idea where we stand with consumer rights.

Some questions:

1: Does the dealership have any responsibility to provide a courtesy vehicle while we sort this issue (van is desperately needed for hubs work, plus we have a baby arriving 16th Feb and will need the extra vehicle)

2: Will the dealer demand that the vehicle is returned to their garage to be fixed, and if so, who foots the bill for recovery (dealer is 2 hours away)

3: Hubby has breakdown cover (altho not from-home cover) it has been suggested by a couple of people that he request his breakdown cover transport the van to the dealer, is this possible? I always thought breakdown would only transport to the nearest garage or home whichever is closer.


Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated, thank you

Billy_Bullocks

Why do you think it's the dealers problem? It's been fine for seven months.

agrinnall

It's a business to business transaction so some consumer rights legislation will not apply.

How old is the van, did it have any manufacturer warranty left when bought, and if so does it still apply? If not, did the selling dealer include any warranty cover? Did your husband buy cover elsewhere?

Unless the vehicle has some sort of warranty then I don't think he stands any chance of getting the dealer to fix the problem free of charge. If he wants to pay the dealer to fix it that's fine, and they may offer use of another vehicle while they have it, he'd need to ckeck with them as they'd be under no obligation to do so (and they may well charge some sort of rental fee). As for the breakdown cover, the answer will be in the policy documents, I suggest you read them.

Starsoryx

I shall check out some of the details you've mentioned tomorrow when we sort the paperwork to ring the dealer.

It wasn't a business transaction though, my husband does use it for work (and has the correct insurance etc) But his business is not connected to the van in any way, he purchased it privately.

Thanks for your response

shaun_from_Africa

My first guess would be dirty fuel. Did your husband let the tank almost run dry just before the problems started? or did he refuel from somewhere different to his usual place?

If there was a lot of muck or possibly water in the fuel, this would gradually block up the filter and cause the engine to fail or not to start at all.
Replacing the filter would again allow fuel to the engine until it gradually blocked up.

An easy way to see if this is the case is to buy and fit a new filter and if the engine starts, that the problem.

Starsoryx

Thanks Shaun,

The garage we took it to said the exact same thing, they fitted a new filter etc as I mentioned in the OP and the van was working again for 3 days until today, the problem has returned and van no longer running.

The garage we took it to has said that they dont know what the problem is if it's not the filter

shaun_from_Africa

If it was dirty fuel then changing the filter would only be a temporary fix. You would need to totally drain the tank, the pump and the fuel lines leading up to the filter itself.
The garage staff probably didn't want to do this because of the time involved.

Billy_Bullocks

Starsoryx wrote: »

I shall check out some of the details you've mentioned tomorrow when we sort the paperwork to ring the dealer.

It wasn't a business transaction though, my husband does use it for work (and has the correct insurance etc) But his business is not connected to the van in any way, he purchased it privately.

Thanks for your response

So any business use is totally for the love of the job and at his own expense?

Just like everyone else posts when a van goes wrong. Not sure why he'd need business insurance if that were the case.


Sounds like a top employee.

bris

OP you don't get to decide a works van is not a business transaction, it's simply is.


Consumer rights don't apply but even is they did you would still have a hard time getting a resolution.


Vans break down, tyres wear out, its running costs, they need to be factored into any business, yes it is a business van.

Riggyman

bris wrote: »

OP you don't get to decide a works van is not a business transaction, it's simply is.


Consumer rights don't apply but even is they did you would still have a hard time getting a resolution.


Vans break down, tyres wear out, its running costs, they need to be factored into any business, yes it is a business van.

Absolute utter !!!!!!!!. I have a car, I use it for work, work pay me an alllowance to have a car, I insure it for business use. Buying it from a dealer is still a private transaction, a is the ops van purchase.

agrinnall

Starsoryx wrote: »

It wasn't a business transaction though, my husband does use it for work (and has the correct insurance etc) But his business is not connected to the van in any way, he purchased it privately.

I refer you back to what you originally wrote:

"van is desperately needed for hubs work"

If that's not connected then I don't know what is.