Car Dealer will not supplying warranty we paid £450 for after ten weeks of chasing

Joseph2017

I purchased a Seat Leon for my partner from a garage in Neath, South Wales. We paid £3000 for the car and an additional £450 for a 12 month warranty. I can supply the company name if needed.

After many phone calls spanning 10 weeks it seems they have pocketed the money for the warranty. We called the company whom the warranty should be with and they say there isn't a warranty for the car. I asked for a refund but was told the money had already been used to purchase a warranty.

Looking at the original invoice, it isn't itemised, the number plate is present with a sale value of £3450. I have two screenshots taken from a mobile phone’s internet browser of the advertisement on Gumtree stating the price of £2999.

I don’t know who owns the company and am not sure how to proceed. Please help.

EDIT: Apologies for the misspelling of the title

SouthUKMan

Firstly, I would be very concerned about what a 12 month / £450 warranty for a secondhand car actually covers. After all, a single major service with just a few sundry parts by a main dealer can cost this alone. In fact, Seat's own website states £378 for a main dealer service. So, does the warranty specify what major components are and aren't included, does it include labour, are there restrictions on the annual mileage you can do, and is the warranty subject to you having the car serviced at regular intervals?

Secondly, you have evidence that you transferred a sum of money to the dealer - although it isn't quite enough to lock down it was in payment for both the car and a warranty. You need to ask the dealer for a printed copy of the warranty contract including terms and conditions. Give the dealership five working days to provide you with the information. That is reasonable on your part.

If you need to resort to this... state that failure to meet this very reasonable request will result in you alerting trading standards and starting action through the small claims court. Hopefully it won't come to this, but making a claim is designed to be easy for the consumer.

PS. What you shouldn't do is resort to leaving negative write ups on social media and review websites. I mention that because a lot of people do in these circumstances, but it can come back to bite you. So don't

Joseph2017

Thanks very much for your informative advice. Lesson learned on my part, I'll never buy a warranty through the dealer ever again.

I don't remember what the warranty covers off the top of my head. One question; what can trading standards do? Can the dealer simply ignore any threats from them as well as any letters from courts? This is new to me and I have no idea what to expect. I'm also concerned that this dealer is reasonably local to where I live.

SouthUKMan

Joseph2017 wrote: »

Thanks very much for your informative advice. Lesson learned on my part, I'll never buy a warranty through the dealer ever again.

I don't remember what the warranty covers off the top of my head. One question; what can trading standards do?

Trading standards investigate consumer complaints against businesses. In reality (thanks to today's financial pressures), they tend not to act on single complaints unless they are very serious. However, if a number of different people independently complain about one business / organisation then trading standards do tend to sit up and take notice. Unbeknown to you, you might be one of dozens of people to have had trouble with this car dealer. Also, no business wants to be flagged up to trading standards. Trading standards have the power to bring court action if it ever reaches that stage.

Can the dealer simply ignore any threats from them as well as any letters from courts?

Well, yes they can but they would be stupid to ignore any approach from trading standards and the courts - neither go away! When cases go to court, judges can still pass sentence in the absence of a defendant. PS. Trading standards operate under the umbrella of county councils, and tend not to 'make threats'. They carry out investigations and present factual evidence

This is new to me and I have no idea what to expect. I'm also concerned that this dealer is reasonably local to where I live.

Why do you say that?

At the end of the day, if the dealer is an established business then he / she would have to be very stupid to try and defraud you. I would however recommend writing down as accurately as you can all the key information about the purchase, promises made, dates & times of visits to the dealer/ dates & times of phone calls to the dealer, what was said on each occasion etc. It's useful information should you have to go to the small claims court. While the information might be reasonably fresh in your mind right now... the passage of time over several months while waiting to have your day in court can see facts fade and dates become confused.

photome

SouthUKMan wrote: »

Firstly, I would be very concerned about what a 12 month / £450 warranty for a secondhand car actually covers. After all, a single major service with just a few sundry parts by a main dealer can cost this alone. In fact, Seat's own website states £378 for a main dealer service. So, does the warranty specify what major components are and aren't included, does it include labour, are there restrictions on the annual mileage you can do, and is the warranty subject to you having the car serviced at regular intervals?

Secondly, you have evidence that you transferred a sum of money to the dealer - although it isn't quite enough to lock down it was in payment for both the car and a warranty. You need to ask the dealer for a printed copy of the warranty contract including terms and conditions. Give the dealership five working days to provide you with the information. That is reasonable on your part.

If you need to resort to this... state that failure to meet this very reasonable request will result in you alerting trading standards and starting action through the small claims court. Hopefully it won't come to this, but making a claim is designed to be easy for the consumer.

PS. What you shouldn't do is resort to leaving negative write ups on social media and review websites. I mention that because a lot of people do in these circumstances, but it can come back to bite you. So don't

not sure where you get that price of £378 for a service
http://www.seat.co.uk/content/dam/countries/uk/Downloads/Fixed%20Price%20Servicing%20Leaflet%202017.pdf

Shows a minor £169 and a major £279 not that it helps the OP