Returning a car to a dealer

HenryHippo

Long story short:

I brought a £5.5k used car 3 months ago. It developed 2 problems in the first month. The dealer tried to fix it, but took a couple of weeks with the car and couldn't fix it then gave it back to me.

2 more things have gone wrong after that month and the first 2 are still wrong. Dealer didn't want to know. I paid a token sum for the car on credit card and was able to use my credit card company to find a solution.

CC company have liased with dealer and have told me that the dealer will accept it and give me a full refund. I intend to take it to the dealer tomorrow.

However

The CC company said that if I continue to use the car I will be liable for charges based on fair wear and tear. I asked if the 2k miles i did in the 3 months would constitute that, they said no and the dealer should give me a full refund. I am concerned that the dealer will try and deduct an (unfair) fair usage charge. It is a fairly dodgy place and I can forsee them trying to charge me several hundred £ if they think they can get away with it.

Questions

Am I entitled to a full refund, despite having done 2k miles and had it for 3 months?

How should I be refunded? A simple load of £5.5k onto my debit card?

Should I get the dealer to sign a receipt to say they have taken the car back from me?

Basically I want to have everything covered going into the "negotiation" tomorrow

shaun_from_Africa

The dealer is legally entitled to charge you for the time and usage you have had from the car.
There is nothing written down in law to state what is a fair charge for this so all you can really do is to see what the dealer says when you speak to him.

neilmcl

Also, just to add, when calculating the amount to deduct for usage they cannot take depreciation into account.

motorguy

HenryHippo wrote: »

Long story short:

I brought a £5.5k used car 3 months ago. It developed 2 problems in the first month. The dealer tried to fix it, but took a couple of weeks with the car and couldn't fix it then gave it back to me.

2 more things have gone wrong after that month and the first 2 are still wrong. Dealer didn't want to know. I paid a token sum for the car on credit card and was able to use my credit card company to find a solution.

CC company have liased with dealer and have told me that the dealer will accept it and give me a full refund. I intend to take it to the dealer tomorrow.

However

The CC company said that if I continue to use the car I will be liable for charges based on fair wear and tear. I asked if the 2k miles i did in the 3 months would constitute that, they said no and the dealer should give me a full refund. I am concerned that the dealer will try and deduct an (unfair) fair usage charge. It is a fairly dodgy place and I can forsee them trying to charge me several hundred £ if they think they can get away with it.

Questions

Am I entitled to a full refund, despite having done 2k miles and had it for 3 months?

How should I be refunded? A simple load of £5.5k onto my debit card?

Should I get the dealer to sign a receipt to say they have taken the car back from me?

Basically I want to have everything covered going into the "negotiation" tomorrow

If the CC company have been in contact with the supplying dealer and he has told them he would give you a full refund, then i would be going there tomorrow expecting a full refund and nothing less.

The car has been problematic, there are unresolved problems still with car and i am sure you have suffered £££'s of inconvenience and hassle including now losing this months tax, insurance charges to change the car, perhaps time off work to take it to and from the garage, fuel costs, public transport costs, costs for your own time, etc.

Go in expecting a FULL refund as confirmed by the credit card company.

If he tries to make offers / excuses ask him shall we phone the credit card company here and get their understanding, and also who pays for your costs?

Its a lose / lose situation for you and for him even when he does give you a FULL refund. He should not be trying to mitigate his loses due to selling a faulty car at YOUR expenses.

Be polite, but stand firm.

HenryHippo

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The dealer is legally entitled to charge you for the time and usage you have had from the car.
There is nothing written down in law to state what is a fair charge for this so all you can really do is to see what the dealer says when you speak to him.

If the conversation goes "you have had the £5.5k 9 year old car for 3 months and 2k miles, I'm going to give you £4k back"

And I am unable to negotiate a higher amount from him, what can I do?

HenryHippo

neilmcl wrote: »

Also, just to add, when calculating the amount to deduct for usage they cannot take depreciation into account.

So what would they take into account? Purely wear and tear?

HenryHippo

motorguy wrote: »

If the CC company have been in contact with the supplying dealer and he has told them he would give you a full refund, then i would be going there tomorrow expecting a full refund and nothing less.

The car has been problematic, there are unresolved problems still with car and i am sure you have suffered £££'s of inconvenience and hassle including now losing this months tax, insurance charges to change the car, perhaps time off work to take it to and from the garage, fuel costs, public transport costs, costs for your own time, etc.

Go in expecting a FULL refund as confirmed by the credit card company.

If he tries to make offers / excuses ask him shall we phone the credit card company here and get their understanding, and also who pays for your costs?

Its a lose / lose situation for you and for him even when he does give you a FULL refund. He should not be trying to mitigate his loses due to selling a faulty car at YOUR expenses.

Be polite, but stand firm.

Good plan. To be honest I don't mind paying something like £200 for the time I had it. Except for tax, insurance and fuel, I haven't spent any money on it.

Sure I have had some inconvenience, but I've had a great drive out of what was an expensive car (when it was new). Just a real pity they couldn't fix the problems as I really like the car.

Will go in for full refund of course, as promised by CC company.

david_a

Hopefully you got written confirmation of the full refund.

HenryHippo

david_a wrote: »

Hopefully you got written confirmation of the full refund.

I have an email from my CC company saying the dealership agreed to a full refund. Not quite the same thing though.

DoaM

Print out the email ... the email IS written confirmation.

shaun_from_Africa

DoaM wrote: »

Print out the email ... the email IS written confirmation.

But it's not written confirmation from the dealer. It's simply what someone at the credit card company has stated and it's possible that they got this wrong.