Rights concerning Arnold Clark HP within 1-30 days.

gameover_14

Hello,

I purchased a car, and entered into a HP agreement, on the premises of an Arnold Clark dealership last weekend. On inspection and test drive of the vehicle one week prior to this, I noted a few points (minor bodywork issues) that I requested be remedied in order for me to enter into a finance agreement to purchase. When test driving the vehicle, no issues were apparent, it seemed to drive as expected whilst running it up to 60mph, and driving for around 15 minutes.

The following weekend I noted that the problems mentioned had been sorted, and ended up handshaking and signing an agreement to Hire Purchase the car.

However, when driving the car home (50 minute journey) - it became apparent that the turbo would lag at random, and it got me slightly concerned.

Over the last 5 days, I have noticed the lag when driving to and from work, and although it only occurs for a split second at a time, and appears to be at random, is enough to make the heart-rate rise slightly when it does.

Additionally to this, I have also noticed there is vibration from - I'm guessing - the engine at around 1400-1700rpm - more noticeable when the weather is colder - however, it certainly is not a sound that I would associate with a car driven off a dealership forecourt less than a week before.

I have obviously heard horror stories of Arnold Clark, mixed with good stories, and hoped these wouldn't happen to me. I am not claiming this to yet be a horror story, and am not expecting that I'm going to walk away with everything perfect and to my liking, however I do want to try and get myself into as good a position as possible concerning my rights.
I do not want to have a car that has problems so early on after purchase. I'd rather get rid of this vehicle after noticing this, and own a vehicle that is reliable ( I understand I may be too late to do this, but am not 100% sure on that - hence my asking for advice).

My question's:

• Is there a way I can gain technical proof that these faults were not caused by myself in the short time I have owned the vehicle?

• What are my rights concerning - either getting the problems fixed, or returning the vehicle as it does not feel or sound like (at certain times) a vehicle which HAS just recently passed an MOT, and that was purchased from an Arnold Clark dealership (a company I would expect to only sell vehicles that were running well)?

• What is the best way to make my concerns official, whilst making sure I have evidence/documentation of any agreements/whatever is said? (Send Arnold Clark or financier an email? Contact financier first?)

The FACTS:

• Put reserve on car (£100) - 21/10/2017 (13 days ago).

• Put £2,900 deposit on car to initiate Hire Purchase agreement with 'Black Horse Limited' (sister company of Lloyds, I believe) - 28/10/2017 (5 days ago).

• Drove vehicle home - 28/10/2017 (5 days ago) - noticed problems from this drive, which have occurred with each drive since then.

• Have NOT contacted dealership. My reasons for doing this; I would like to know if it is recommended to take the vehicle to an impartial garage (my local garage) and have them officially note problems - so as to have details in writing/documentation form to take to Arnold Clark when I raise the issue.

• Have NOT contacted the finance company either.

• Do NOT have any proof that these problems were not there when I bought the car, however it is obvious to me that neither of the mentioned issues could have occurred in such a short space of time. (Driven less than 500 miles).

• I purchased the car in Scotland. I also live in Scotland (perhaps applicable to certain consumer rights?).

Thanks again for taking the time to read this:). Any additional information required - just let me know.

James:o

Shakin_Steve

Your first port of call has got to be the dealer. He has the right to fix the car to your satisfaction before you can go down any other route.

gameover_14

Thanks for the quick reply Shakin Steve.

I wonder if I went ahead with that, if it would be wise and also acceptable, to ask to have any problems documented in writing.

My concern is that if I take the vehicle back - they could deny that there was a problem with it before I took it from them (as I have no actual documentation stating there was a problem). Also if I go in asking to have everything in writing will they take offense and immediately distance themselves/try to cover their own backs by not offering to remedy any problems etc.?

Also concerned that if this isn't settled soon (or they take their time to do what they need to do) I may lose consumer rights that are applicable only in the first 30 days of purchase (or 14 - I have read differing bits of information on this).

This is why I was wondering if it's advisable to have an independent garage/RAC inspection or whoever, try to find evidence that it could not have been me that caused the aforementioned problems BEFORE raising any query with Arnold Clark or the financier?

Having read quite a bit on Arnold Clark being a 'less than reputable' company - I hope people reading this can understand why I may have concerns about approaching them 'unarmed' so to speak.

Thanks again .

sccooter

You are meant to give them opportunity to fix the problems. As for your rights- You have them by the danglies because you bought the car on finance. Under sec 75 of consumer credit act effectively you in fact purchase the car jointly from the garage and form the lender (finance company). They have equal liability. That means if you have any problems you can raise a sec 75 claim with FOS. They finance company nor the garage will want that as it costs £300 just for FOS to get involved with is charged to the retailer regardless of whether they are at fault or not. If you research you will find more info on Google etc.

gameover_14

Thanks Scooter. Just read a wee bit about 'section 75' there. Interesting.

I appreciate this information will all be available on google, somewhere. I spent all of last night googling - and there were so many conflicting reports on forums, and grey areas on websites that I thought it wiser to ask on here and see if anyone could shed light on what the definitive answers to my queries may be.

I would always give the garage the opportunity to fix the problems, I'd be very happy if they were able to sort the problems back to a satisfactory level - I am just concerned about highlighting the problems and then not getting 100% customer service back from them (specifically Arnold Clark) - and thus being left a month later in a position where I have no backup/proof of my situation, less/no consumer rights covering me and a car I have to keep up finance repayments on for 48 months that doesn't live up to my expectations.

I hope it all turns out OK, and will probably take the car to them on Saturday. I'm wondering if it's acceptable/normal to start an email discussion with them, for the purpose of having recorded information, dates and times - then bring the vehicle in.

Thanks .

System

What is the car and when are you experiencing the lag? Turbo chargers do the sum total of nothing at low RPM so if you're accelerating from say 1500-1700RPM and expecting it to crack on it won't.

tykesi

Overthinking much? Just phone them, tell them there's a problem and get it booked in.

PeacefulWaters

sccooter wrote: »

You are meant to give them opportunity to fix the problems. As for your rights- You have them by the danglies because you bought the car on finance. Under sec 75 of consumer credit act effectively you in fact purchase the car jointly from the garage and form the lender (finance company). They have equal liability. That means if you have any problems you can raise a sec 75 claim with FOS. They finance company nor the garage will want that as it costs £300 just for FOS to get involved with is charged to the retailer regardless of whether they are at fault or not. If you research you will find more info on Google etc.

you make a section 75 claim via the credit card company.

You can bring in the FOS if you believe the card company are being unreasonable in their handling of the claim, once eight weeks have passed.

The FOS fee is a lot more than £300 these days.