Car not as described

cogsy1976

Ok, this is a fairly long post so please bear with! but I bought a car from a trader 2 months or so ago, had issue pretty much straightaway with car bellowing out smoke every now and again.

Long story short I took to BMW (off my own back to look at, purely because when car went back to have window switch fitted I was without the car for a week!) we found car had been remapped, I got them to unmap the car which has stopped the smoke issue.

I am still getting faults come up on my code reader (which dont affect the car by the way) and I want to return the car. Trader wants to have the car back to inspect and repair. Now Im 99.9% certain that the DPF (diesel particulate filter) was probably removed when it was remapped but I cant prove this although the codes that are coming up on my reader point to this, and from an MOT point of view its just a visual inspection and as long as its there then its ok.

However, I would never of bought the car if I had known it had been remapped, the car has done 96k and therefore the extra power on a high mileage car is not good for it at all (in the future) I also found out when car was at BMW that car had non-standard suspension fitted ie. it had been lowered.

Where do I stand on this? I am currently going through the Capital One disputes team (I paid part of the deposit on my credit card)for the vehicle issues regarding the codes.

Basically I want my money back and to give the car back, do I have a good case of getting this sorted with the fact that I was not advised by it being remapped and lowered? I have kept a copy of the advert as well which proves this.

Thanks for any advice

[Deleted User]

Not sure if this is always the case but I had the exact same problem with a ford I bought from a dealer and had nothing but problems so my mrs rant them up and demanded a full refund or she would be contacting the office of fair trading as the car wasn't as described, after a few calls I got the whole lot refunded, give it a go you got nothing to lose

rob7475

How old is the car?

What's not as described about the car - did the advert specifically state that the car was factory standard spec. with no modifications? Surely, you spotted that it had been lowered when you went to view it? The remap - not sure how you'd expect the dealer to spot this - they've offered to have the car back to inspect it. If they offer to put it back to a default mapping, there's not a lot you can do really.

cogsy1976

The car is 6 years old, no how would you know its been lowered? one minute you state that garage wouldnt know about remap but then you say I should know about it being lowered. Double standards there I think lol

Well they can surely, as it is not as described. My point is I have bought a car that I wouldnt of bought if I had known the full facts about it. The remap has increased the power of the carand therefore would of placed undue stress on engine and gearbox than it would as standard.

EssexExile

cogsy1976 wrote: »

how would you know its been lowered?

Look at it, it will be lower.

cogsy1976

Lower than? Its an MSport which has low suspension anyway.

Not all lowering springs slam the wheels into the arches.....

Johno100

OP's previous thread about the same vehicle.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5622479

Joe_Horner

rob7475 wrote: »

How old is the car?

What's not as described about the car - did the advert specifically state that the car was factory standard spec. with no modifications? Surely, you spotted that it had been lowered when you went to view it? The remap - not sure how you'd expect the dealer to spot this - they've offered to have the car back to inspect it. If they offer to put it back to a default mapping, there's not a lot you can do really.

As a consumer sale it doesn't need to say that it's unmodified because the seller is required to state anything about the car that's likely to be important to the buying decision. Modifications - especially ones such as remaps, de-catting and lowering which can create all sorts of insurance problems for the buyer - are undoubtedly important!

Lowering isn't necessarily going to be obvious to a buyer, especially one who isn't particularly mechanically inclined and / or doesn't have intimate knowledge of the model. It's not up to the buyer to become expert in such things before purchase.

The dealer, on the other hand, is expected to be expert in his stock and the fact that he "couldn't spot a remap" doesn't absolve him from the need to tell a buyer about it. Agree with it or not, that's just how it is in business (and rightly so imo as a business owner).

ess0two

As you've taken the map off now,how do you prove it was originally there causing the issue?
This car should have gone back in-touched to the dealer.

AdrianC

You are past the 30 days for a straightforward rejection. The dealer now has the right to repair the vehicle. Taking pre-sale modifications back to standard specification is not necessarily something he has any obligation to do, as they are not "faults".

The dealer may not have known it was remapped or the DPF removed. It would have been obvious to any reasonably thorough visual inspection that it had been lowered.

Now that you've had the car worked on elsewhere, it is straightforward for the dealer to claim that other issues have arisen because of that work, and are not his responsibility.

rob7475

Just read the OP's other post and not really sure why he/she has started two posts for the same issue.

To summarise though, it's a 7 year old BMW MSport car that's been remapped and lowered. I'm not sure what you expect the supplying garage to do really. They won't remove the remap unless it's proven to be causing issues. They're also not going to replace the lowering springs for standard ones just because you didn't know the car was lowered. You really can't expect a 7 year old car to be factory original.

Have you given the garage the opportunity to look at your issues. Going straight to the credit card company is just going to get their backs up.