Rejecting a second hand car

Ectophile

The electric power steering on small Fiats is known for going wrong. The official fix is to replace the steering column, which obviously isn't cheap.


Once it's fixed, there's no reason it should go wrong again for many years.

chuffniut

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Thanks all. We are 25 miles away from the nearest Halfords in any case, but yes, getting the battery checked is a good idea.

I suppose that if it is the steering column, and the dealer replaces it, then all is fine. My worry is where I stand if they tell us the problem is fixed and then 3 months later the problem occurs again. From what I have read online this could be a £500 plus repair.

With respect, you have bought an end of life banger. I understand that £1500 may be the world to some people and nothing to others but the fact remains that at the price point of £1500 you are buying end of life cars, especially when you are buying from a dealer. A private £1500 purchase would yield more value than a £1500 dealer purchase.

Anyway, you are where you are and the way forward is to cajole the dealer into helping you. Getting shirty with him and threatening this that and the other may end up getting you nowhere, he will probably think you don't have the means or wherewithal to take him to court so he'll ignore you if you start shouting the odds. The best outcome here for you is to get the problem fixed and be glad of it. Of course if the nicely nicely approach doesn't work and the dealer ignores you, I'd consider starting down the court proceedings route (you'd have a great chance of winning)

Beyond that, I don't think you can start worrying about "what if" because you have bought a car that may last you 3 months, 3 years, who knows. If you want to reduce the risk of having issues with a car, later down the line then buy a more expensive car, with a better warranty, from a dealer who has a good reputation for after sales support or good reviews. If £1500 is your maximum then accept you are buying something that may not last you very long. I don't want to sound harsh but it's the reality of what you're buying.

Play the game with the dealer, he may just be nice and play the game back.

Arklight

chuffniut wrote: »

With respect, you have bought an end of life banger. I understand that £1500 may be the world to some people and nothing to others but the fact remains that at the price point of £1500 you are buying end of life cars, especially when you are buying from a dealer. A private £1500 purchase would yield more value than a £1500 dealer purchase.

Anyway, you are where you are and the way forward is to cajole the dealer into helping you. Getting shirty with him and threatening this that and the other may end up getting you nowhere, he will probably think you don't have the means or wherewithal to take him to court so he'll ignore you if you start shouting the odds. The best outcome here for you is to get the problem fixed and be glad of it. Of course if the nicely nicely approach doesn't work and the dealer ignores you, I'd consider starting down the court proceedings route (you'd have a great chance of winning)

Beyond that, I don't think you can start worrying about "what if" because you have bought a car that may last you 3 months, 3 years, who knows. If you want to reduce the risk of having issues with a car, later down the line then buy a more expensive car, with a better warranty, from a dealer who has a good reputation for after sales support or good reviews. If £1500 is your maximum then accept you are buying something that may not last you very long. I don't want to sound harsh but it's the reality of what you're buying.

Play the game with the dealer, he may just be nice and play the game back.

If car dealers don't want to be bothered with legal obligations related to selling old cars then they shouldn't sell them.

PAS going in 3 weeks is a major mechanical fault. The main thing is whether the advert stated that it had working PAS at all. If it didn't the OP might be out of luck. Not sure if it's an MOT fail or not.

green.lander_2

I had the same problem on a 2002/3 model i purchased for my 17 year old daughter. It used to happen once or twice a month but then got worse. It never "failed" only had to restart the car when usually parking. As my daughter was using more and more i got a bit worried and so PXed it after a few months. Tell the dealer it is a safety item and its not going be solved cheaply. The Punto was a great fun car shame really.

Arklight

Actually just remembered that this happened a couple of times on the wife's 12 year old Micra shortly after we bought it, when setting off.

We started running all kinds of catastrophic scenarios on what was wrong and going back to the dealer. Father in law said it was probably just because it had been sitting around, which was exactly what it was as it never did it again.