Bought car, head gasket blew 29 days later

swingaloo

I assume you would have had a 12 month MOT on the car when you bought it? If so then the mileage will be recorded on there.

greendoor665

The MOT was done a couple of weeks before we bought it, so fairly recently but it had definitely done some miles since then.

greendoor665

Update:

A disappointing end to the chargeback claim with the bank. The bank has sided with the dealer. They accepted the dealer's argument that the car was 'sold as seen' and that a 10 year old car is expected to have problems.

Nevertheless, the bank is not the arbiter of the law and I think we still have a good chance of winning at the small claims court. The question is, is it worth it?

The way I see it I think we have 5 options:

1) Don't get the car repaired and take the dealer to small claims court for the full cost of the car. This means the car will be unusable until the case is heard in court, maybe 6 months later, and it may be more difficult to win than getting the repair which we are definitely entitled to.

2) Get the fault diagnosed and an estimate for the cost of repair, and take the dealer to small claims court for the cost of the repair. Again this means the car will be unusable until the claim is heard.

3) Get mechanic(s) to assess the car, get quote(s) for repairing the car and get the car repaired. Take the dealer to small claims court for the cost of the repair. This at least means the car will be usable.

4) Get the car repaired and then take the dealer to small claims court for the full cost of the car. However this does mean if we have to give the car back we will be handing back a better car than the one the dealer gave us.

5) Give up on getting anything back from the dealer, get the car repaired and move on.

While my partner is unable to use the car, it is costing her around £100 per month extra to commute via public transport and taking her 45 minutes longer each way. This is obviously impacting the amount of time she has on weekdays and reducing the amount of time we can spend together.

The car is still sitting outside my house unusable and I know some of my neighbours are getting annoyed at it constantly occupying one of the limited parking spaces on the street.

Due to these factors I don't think options 1 and 2 are sensible. I think option 3 is the best, and fits best with the outcome we want. All we want is for my partner to have a working car, but not have to pay hundreds of pounds in repairs immediately after buying it.

However I'm not sure whether we need to get multiple quotes before getting the car repaired, and how to go about this, bearing in mind the car cannot be driven in its present condition.

What do you think? Is my assessment of the options correct?

scaredofdebt

I've not read every post in this thread but agree option 3 seems best, definitely do ring around for quotes as my experience is that things like CHG can vary dramatically in cost depending on the garage/mechanic.

DoaM

Do you have it in writing from the bank regarding accepting the "sold as seen" statement from the dealer? If yes then you should remind them that the dealer has committed an offence - "sold as seen" is not a legal waiver that a business seller can enforce on a consumer.


(Someone may be along later to point out the wheres and whyfores regarding this).


PS - your options 2 and 3 are basically the same thing surely?

greendoor665

DoaM wrote: »

Do you have it in writing from the bank regarding accepting the "sold as seen" statement from the dealer? If yes then you should remind them that the dealer has committed an offence - "sold as seen" is not a legal waiver that a business seller can enforce on a consumer.


(Someone may be along later to point out the wheres and whyfores regarding this).


PS - your options 2 and 3 are basically the same thing surely?

Not yet, my partner was told this over the phone. Apparently the bank has also sent us a letter but that's not been received yet. In any case the car was not 'sold as seen' - this was not said in the advert or by the dealer at the point of sale.

I made a mistake in option 2, I've now corrected it.

motorguy

Stepping this through and lets assume you take it to court and lets assume you do win. What happens then?

Chances are he simply wont pay and then you're in to the realms of paying for bailiffs (expensive) to recover a relatively small sum.

BUT, a LBA is no cost to you so you could stick one in and see what happens. Usual setup

• Summary of complaint. Factual only, no emotion.
• What you've done so far to resolve this amicably. Factual only
• What you want to happen - either full refund, car repaired to your satisfaction, payment of quote to repair (attach it).
• When you want it to happen by - withing 21 days (has to be a reasonable time between sending and action).
• What will happen if they dont comply - you will have the car repaired and then seek to recover your costs through the court system.

I dont think he will pay up though even if you go to court.

greendoor665

Already sent an LBA back in November, which they ignored, but decided to try a debit card chargeback through the bank first. Could do another but I doubt they'll respond.

motorguy

greendoor665 wrote: »

Already sent an LBA back in November, which they ignored, but decided to try a debit card chargeback through the bank first. Could do another but I doubt they'll respond.

Oops. Sorry. Missed that bit.

Not sure then.

Seek formal legal advice? Solicitors letter, then small claims court?

Which i guess you would tie in with Option 3.

wesleyad

greendoor665 wrote: »

Not yet, my partner was told this over the phone. Apparently the bank has also sent us a letter but that's not been received yet. In any case the car was not 'sold as seen' - this was not said in the advert or by the dealer at the point of sale.

Its actually a shame it wasn't, sold as seen only applies to private sales and straight away you would have had proof of wrongdoing. I'd be interested in seeing what the official letter from the bank says. If they do mention they agree with it being sold as seen then they either missed the fact it was a dealer, or they have made a right balls up, either way its easy to appeal.