Owned car less than a week... losing coolant due to head gasket. What can I do next?

aqueousdan92

Hi there guys,

Last Saturday 16th December I bought myself an Audi TT Mk2 TDI. I had a test drive and all seemed good so I went for it.

Two days later the coolant light came on on the dashboard. I topped it up and drove home from work. The next morning the light was on again. I took the car to a local garage as I bought it around a hundred miles away from my home I thought it would be easier to fix if it was just a cracked hose.

They did a test which indicated that the head gasket is on its way out and that that's where the coolant is leaking to. They also said that the fans are on all the time and there is also a small hole in the exhaust.

My partner phoned the dealer who didn't want to know. He spouted a load of legal mumbo jumbo at her and has left us confused. We are under the assumption that we are able to reject this car and get a full refund but he seems to say otherwise. He wants us to go through the warranty system that came with the car (it goes away to a garage they deal with as they are only a showroom) which looks to only cover up to £500 of repairs. I don't want to be out of pocket at all for a car that I cannot drive after three days!

We spoke to the warranty garage and the guy said that it did sound serious and that it would need picking up. That would be into January as they will be shut for Christmas.

At this point I would rather just get rid of the car.

The car is going into our local garage again to get these faults checked over and they will put it down on paper for us on their letterhead. We will also take photos.

The car will then be sat off road doing nothing as I don't want to put any miles on it.

I haven't put anything in writing to them yet so later on I shall email them with a formal complaint.

At this point what can I do? I have read that I need to wait for them to have a look at fixing the car but I really don't want the hassle as all this has already put me off it.

Many thanks for your help guys!

arcon5

Tell the garage you have taken legal advice and are within your rights to reject it and will be doing such.

How did you pay?

aqueousdan92

I paid £1500 of it with my debit card and then £6300 using my credit card

Exemplar

Then some of this payment should be protected by the CC company.

In addition speak to the garage again, get the name of the person to whom you spoke.

Send a recorded delivery letter stating what you want to happen and give them a time frame to respond.

Also I'm a bit concerned about the 'legal mumbo jumbo' statement, can you be more clear? (in case the car was 'sold as seen' or sold as a 'trade sale' and you inadvertently signed to that effect ).

m0bov

Take it back to the dealer with a letter stating you are rejecting it, but I suspect you will have to give them the opportunity to rectify it first. CC in your card provider. Given the fact they have said they "dont want to know" I'd be more inclined to try and reject it and go via your credit card company.

DoaM

Exemplar wrote: »

Then some ALL of this payment should be IS protected by the CC company.

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is your friend should the dealer not see sense.

DoaM

Exemplar wrote: »

Also I'm a bit concerned about the 'legal mumbo jumbo' statement, can you be more clear? (in case the car was 'sold as seen' or sold as a 'trade sale' and you inadvertently signed to that effect ).

You can't waiver your statutory consumer rights - even if you are coerced to sign paperwork to that effect.

wgl2014

Bear in mind that any warranty covers new issues not pre-existing ones. Given the short time you have had the car it's fair to say the engine was faulty before you purchased it.
Responsibility is with the seller.

System

Sold as seen and sold as trade carry no legal weight in law if sold by a trader to a private individual. Been there, played that game with a car dealer before.

aqueousdan92

The legal mumbo jumbo bit, he was basically saying that we couldn’t reject the car unless it was physically undriveable.

Do I need to go through the whole thing of him getting it checked over by the garage? I’m worried that they will somehow say it’s ok and I’ll havd to keep it!

Further to all this our garage further checked it and the exhaust problem is at the manifold end, high up inside the engine so potentially a big job there as well.

aqueousdan92

Also a quick one. Their garage has agreed that the car isn’t safe to drive as it could lose all its coolant and leave us stranded on the motorway and will be arranging a pick up. I don’t want to be out of pocket for this either. How can I make sure of that?