Faulty car

jahunt7

Hello. I hope someone can help.
A friend bought an 07 Reg people carrier from a trader in Nov 15. They paid cash. An intermittent engine fault appeared after couple of months which was gradually getting worse. They took it to third party garage who tried to fix the problem but were unable to. The vehicle is not usable and trader is refusing a refund and says the responsibility is with the garage who attempted repairs and not them. My understanding is that the trader is wrong and that my friend can make a claim against them (the trader) under the Consumer Protection Act.
Does anyone know if I'm right?
Thanks, in advance.

lincroft1710

Your friend has had the car for 18 months, far too late to ask for any money back. In any case when the problem first arose, he should have contacted the guy who sold him the car rather than getting a third party garage involved.

The legislation is the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

jahunt7

Yes, in an ideal world the car would've gone straight back to the trader. We've been told by CAB that consumers have up to 6 years to claim for faulty goods, although the sooner you claim the better.

wealdroam

jahunt7 wrote: »

Yes, in an ideal world the car would've gone straight back to the trader. We've been told by CAB that consumers have up to 6 years to claim for faulty goods, although the sooner you claim the better.

The CAB are right.

All you have to do is prove that the problem is due a fault that was present at the time of the sale.

Did the CAB also tell you that if a refund is decided upon, it can be reduced to take account of the use you have had?

The Cab should've also said that although you have up to six years to make a claim, that does not mean that everything has to last six years.


Edited to add: everywhere I have said 'you' I do of course mean 'your friend'.

waamo

How much did "your friend" pay for this car?

jahunt7

Around £7,000 with 63k on the clock.

Keep_pedalling

jahunt7 wrote: »

Yes, in an ideal world the car would've gone straight back to the trader. We've been told by CAB that consumers have up to 6 years to claim for faulty goods, although the sooner you claim the better.

You don't get 6 years on a 10 year old banger.

waamo

In other words it's not a dirt cheap thing with no value. His big problem is letting a third party attempt a repair. The seller can now claim that not only didn't they get a chance to rectify any faults but the attempted repair may have caused things to get worse not better.

wealdroam

jahunt7 wrote: »

Around £7,000 with 63k on the clock.

Make and model of the car?

What value would you place on the vehicle now - assuming it was in good working order of course?

jahunt7

Ford Galaxy 2.0 tdi - because of the engine probs, in 18 months, they've only done 5000 miles more, so it's not got 70k on the clock yet. Not sure of exact market value - think they said based on 110k mileage and working engine iit is around £5,000?

jahunt7

Waamo - thanks, yes, these are real problems for them :-(
CAB said it 'muddied the water' but thought they potentially had a claim.