Unknowlingly bought unroadworthy vehicle from Dealer

Joosh

Hi guys,

Not having much luck these days.

Bought myself a nice estate car recently (5 weeks ago or so, mid Feb), turbo diesel, full stamped service history and 6 months MOT etc. Trade seller.

Travelled 250 miles to view and subsequently buy it (had everything I wanted inc cruise control, useful, though not essential, due to an injury).

Generally was happy with the car, checked it over as much as I could given the time and impending dusk. Looked over the engine, all seemed OK, no dodgy running noises. None of the common faults with that type of car easily visible.

I bought it, haggling a small amount off to bring it back to a more representative price, garage seemed happy and so I bought, taxed and insured it and drove it away.

This was a Friday afternoon, near dark and they closed around 10 mins after I left.

After a number of miles there was a rattle on the car over speed bumps and potholes. Sounded like an exhaust heat shield, stopped, noticed this was loose so carried on thinking "no biggie I'll fix that up soon enough".

It was a week or so before I had the ability to get under the car and secure the heat shield. This reduced the noise a little however it was still there. I also noticed over that time that on the type of roads where I live (bumpier, more potholes etc) that the car's handling wasn't right.

I informed the garage of this and after a few days they replied with "wear and tear" and things like "you got a discount so just use that money".

I was concerned, so I said I'd look into getting it inspected to determine the issue.

I booked it in for an inspection, the garage was busy so it took 8 days to get it in, but they determined the following:

- OSF and NSF tyre excessively worn on extreme inner edge (outside of the central 3/4 of the tyre but dangerous nonetheless and very hard to spot).
- OSR and NSR shock absorbers defective.
- Battery failed test (not so concerned with this one).

I have paperwork detailing this.

I contacted the garage who sold it to me stating what the problems were. They told me to "bring it back for inspection". I repeated that the car had already been inspected and was determined unroadworthy (as in, it would easily fail an MOT at that time). They then said "put it on a lorry then!". When asked if they would cover any costs of vehicle transport they refused.

Therefore I was left with an undriveable car near home.

I had two choices:
- Foot the huge car transport bill to get it to the garage for them to decide what to do with it (and inspect it again), leaving me carless and waiting on them. Then hope that whatever the outcome, they pay up for the extra costs (whether car is repaired or refunded).
- Repair the car so it is driveable.

I went for the second as it was incomparably simpler, by this point having been in back and forth discussions with the dealer for over a week with no car.

The tyre issue needed further investigation, and upon replacing the tyres and shocks the front wishbone brushes were obviously severely worn (hence the car had been seriously toeing out the whole time and ruining the tyres). Another MOT and roadworthiness issue which I had repaired.

The garage have said "it had 6 months MOT, not 12 months" etc as an excuse for it not being of MOT standard. The advert for the car described it as a "superb example".


The situation is currently this:

- I bought the car 5 weeks ago, it seems they sold it in an unroadworthy state.
- It was sold with !!!!!!ed front tyres (I had checked the tyres as the car was stood but the central 3/4 were around 4mm on all four), I didnt "feel" right over to the inner tyre wall though.
- It was also sold with severely deteriorated wishbone bushings and rear shocks.
- Total repair costs have been around £350.

My reasons for going the route I did:

- I needed the car.
- It would not have been safe to drive the 200+ miles back to the dealership if I wanted to reject it.
- They refused to arrange for it to be shipped back and refused to cover that cost, which was looking to be £200-300.
- They wanted to "inspect" it and that would leave me carless until they made a decision and I'd then have to look for another one.
- Therefore just repairing it and getting on with using it (whilst making it obvious to them that I believed they should pay but they were leaving me limited choice), seemed the easiest and most convenient option and until the wishbone issues were discovered, also the cheapest.

My contact with the garage has been via SMS. I have asked them for an email address but they kept telling me to just use their online website "form" and it does not give an option to send a copy to my email address and they're just not replying to it anyway.

Does anyone know where I stand legally? Are dealers allowed to sell cars that would not pass MOT at the time of sale?

Thanks,
Joosh

worried_jim

It's not a brand new car so wear and tear items need replacing. Have you been quoted a price? Put your Reg into eurocar parts to give you an idea of a couple of shocks and use black circles for tyres.

hollydays

Have you searched for reviews of them?

[Deleted User]

What is the car, what year is it and how many miles are on it? Have you checked the MOT history for previous failures or advisories?

powerful_Rogue

They offered to inspect the car, however it's not their fault you travelled 250 miles to buy it.

They will say you've had use of the car for 5 weeks and the tyres were legal when you purchased it.

As for the other issues, as already pointed out, it's not a new car so wear and tear is expected.

As for taking the matter further, are you able to prove, that on the day you purchased the car it was unroadworthy?

societys_child

It's not the dealers fault you live so many miles away. I always buy local.

Does anyone know where I stand legally? Are dealers allowed to sell cars that would not pass MOT at the time of sale?

How do you prove it wouldn't have passed on the day?

gettingtheresometime

How old was the MOT?

foxtrotoscar_2

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

How old was the MOT?

Says six months in OP.

NotRichAtAll

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

How old was the MOT?

Well he did say he bought it with 6mths MOT so am gonna guess it was 6mth old or am i missing something?

NotRichAtAll

Are dealers allowed to sell cars that would not pass MOT at the time of sale?

my opinion is the car was probably a part ex or trade in so the dealer has just put it straight up for sale as is with 6mth remaining mot, no different to you buying a used car from your neighbor with 6mth mot, you should of got it checked over first.

but hey it was checked over...by yourself

Generally was happy with the car, checked it over as much as I could

there was a rattle on the car over speed bumps and potholes

Most used/2nd/3rd hand cars make some kind of noise when driven over speed humps or potholes

It was a week or so before I had the ability to get under the car and secure the heat shield. This reduced the noise a little however it was still there. I also noticed over that time that on the type of roads where I live (bumpier, more potholes etc) that the car's handling wasn't right.

Car generally suffer more when driven over less maintained roads hence why the tyres appear damaged, the tracking is probably shot to pieces as for the shock absorbers how do you know you did not damage them? You did drive the car back home 250miles did you not feel the steering was not right during this trip, from your post it seems the only issue you had was a rattle on the way home with the car.

sorry if i have picked at your post but these are just my observations, i really don't think the dealer has done anything wrong.

Joosh

Hi guys,

Thanks for replies so far. The dealer had been pretty rude with their replies. They're still refusing to give an email address so I'll be sending a letter as I no longer need immediate replies as the decision has already been made to repair the vehicle.

My issue here isn't anything to do with any kind of "satisfactory quality" claims, I know the car isn't new. It's a 2008 Focus with just over 100k. My concern is that the car exhibited the issues very early on, handling issues, pulling to the right, bouncy on bumps etc. The issues all came up on subsequent inspections.

I am surprised that its OK for a dealer to sell a car in an unroadworthy condition. I thought age, price and mileage was irrelevant when roadworthiness was concerned (assuming it's not sold as unroadworthy). The last MOT had one advisory not related to the current issues.

With the distance from the dealer, I'm aware I don't have to drive so far for the car and it's not their fault I'm so far away, but when I buy a car to drive away, advertised as "superb" I do expect it to at least be of the minimum standard for a roadworthy vehicle, surely?

Joosh