Section 75 protection on a used car

Tomo42

Hi,

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I bought a used Ford Focus ecoboost from a non-Ford dealer less than two years ago. The engine has just overheated, causing it to need a new engine. This is a well-known fault in these cars. My question is, having paid for it on a credit card, am I protected under section 75? Even though I bought it from a non-Ford dealer?

Any ideas? Trying to work out if it's worth paying for the new engine or cutting my losses and pursuing some sort of compensation through the credit card company. Or both.

thanks

foxy-stoat

It has just over heated and you have been driving around in it for under 2 years.....its your car now and your problem.

Work out why it overheated and get it fixed, it did you drive it with no coolant until it seized?

Tomo42

No, it has a known problem where there is a sudden coolant leak with no warning and it overheats. There are hundreds of people who have had the same problem. Ford have admitted the problem and are offering a 55% goodwill gesture towards the new engine, but that is still a lot of money. So my question is about section 75 protection. Possibly this is the wrong place to post this?

foxy-stoat

If Ford have offered you a 55% goodwill gesture (assuming without prejudice) then you can possibly use the S75 for the other 45% - you may have to pay for it yourself and fight for the money back. Look on your providers process for a reclaim under S75.

Once repaired get it shot of it quick and buy something else.

Good luck and report back.

AdrianC

Do you still owe the financier for the car, or have you paid it off?


The fact that you've been using the car for two years means you have not got a hope in hell of proving that the fault was present at the time of purchase.

Was your car within the degas hose recall? Did it have the work done?

foxy-stoat

AdrianC wrote: »

The fact that you've been using the car for two years means you have not got a hope in hell of proving that the fault was present at the time of purchase.

Was your car within the degas hose recall? Did it have the work done?

Yeah but its a known fault so it should be an open and shut case, no?!

AdrianC

No. A relatively large number of cars may be affected, but it's still a small proportion of cars fitted with that engine. Even then, many cars suffering will only need the cracked hose replaced, not a replacement engine. A lot is down to preventative maintenance, and how quickly the driver reacts to the problem.

Especially if the degas recall was missed, because Ford also checked for incipient coolant hose faults as part of that.

System

AdrianC wrote: »

The fact that you've been using the car for two years means you have not got a hope in hell of proving that the fault was present at the time of purchase.

In the case of a common fault due to a design or manufacturing problem the maker has acknowledged, this is not the case. Nvidia made a generation of graphics card chips, the 8000 series, where they eventually admitted a manufacturing issue and said every single one ever made had the fault and it wasn't a case of if they would fail but when. I know of one person who successfully got a laptop repaired because this chip failed after 4 years of ownership.

AdrianC

As it happens, I had a laptop with that particular GPU in it - and the motherboard was replaced out of warranty by Dell. But that was not an open-ended offer, and my laptop was close to being outside of the extended coverage period IIRC. Anyway, it's not analogous to the Ecoboost issues because that was indeed a 100% eventual failure rate, and the failure meant the only repair was replacing the motherboard.

Arklight

The Sale of Goods Act legislates that products must be "fit for purpose" for a "reasonable" length of time. The 2012 amendment added the clause that if a defect arose within 6 months then the consumer is entitled to assume that the defect was present at purchase.

If it's the same engine failure that Ford recalled these vehicles for and your one wasn't recalled, then the fault was definitely present at the point of purchase.

This wasn't a safety issue you though so the liability sits with the dealer you bought the car from, not Ford. The fact that Ford are offering you 55% isn't bad. I suggest the dealer swallows the other 45% and is more careful about checking that cars he sells that were subject to major recalls, have had the recall work done, in future.

DoaM

Arklight wrote: »

The Sale of Goods Act legislates ...

And the SOGA was replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which became law in June 2015 (from memory). So whatever SOGA says is irrelevant.