need help with rejecting the car - legal advice

ifeedcat

Hello ,

So on 24th of April I have purchased a car from a trade company - they are classed as a garage but they sell cars as well.

Long story short:

On 21st I reported the fault to him , because I went to local garage and they said tell the company I bought it from to tow it back because its under 30 days. The trade told me to drive it back like that with EML light on and engine misfiring , it was diagnosed with cylinder misfire + coilpack. Car didn't stay there , was told to drive it back home and come back in 5 days in attempt to fix. I have turned up on Monday and he send me back home because its bank holiday and parts didnt arive... I have requested a refund straight away , because the fault was reported in under 30 days and car only done 30 miles since leaving their premises. He refuses to refund and tells to leave the car and he will fix it. I walk away , didn't sign anything to agree to fix it. All conversations were verbal. He messaged me today on facebook that car is fixed - but I dont want it back because I dont know what else could be wrong with the car. There was issue with the logbook , car was sold with receipt and later tomorrow i rang DVLA and was told it has registered owner so it will take 3 weeks before I will get new logbook and will able to tax/drive it.
I will copy paste the letter that I have e-mailed to them 2 days ago and send via post.

Dear Sir/ Madam

Ref: FH06WPV

On 24.04.2019 I purchased, and took delivery of, the above vehicle Mazda Rx8 231 Red from you. On 10.05.2019 the Engine Management Light come up and car started to idle roughly causing misfire , which is classed a MOT failure and makes car unroadworthy. Since the purchase the car has done 30miles which is the distance from your premises. During the purchase the Engine Management Light was present , but was advised due to its recent service and it was removed. At the point of sale was advised that V5C isn't present , which turned out the next day after ringing DVLA that the car has a present registered keeper who isn't neither your company or the seller which created a situation that the car wasn't available to be taxed for 22 days before new V5C arrived neither possible to drive the car to your workshop. Within the first 30 days the fault was reported , and I have driven a faulty car to your workshop on 2 occasions – on both occasions I was told to drive the car with the fault on to the workshop and back to my home address . I was in my right to reject the car due to its unroadworthy condition and doesn't match the original advert on the website , which you refused. As of 28.05.2019 of purchase its been 34 days and the car is still unroadworthy. On 27.05.2019 have asked for a refund under Consumer Rights Act 2015 due to its been more then 30 days and the fault is still there – yet again was told to drive car back home with a fault for the 3rd time. Only after refund request car end up staying on your premises in attempt to fix it – but this isn't what I agreed to.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires dealers to supply goods of satisfactory quality. However, the vehicle is clearly unroadworthy. You are therefore in breach of contract.


I was told legally I dont have to go to collect it , I have send them the letter and I have officially rejected the car if they dont comply I have go to small claims court who will sort it out.
Have I done everything kind of right , or my chances of refund are zero now... ?

forgotmyname

DVLA said it was registered owner? Explain.

You have been driving it so how did you tax it to drive it away when you purchased it?

Seems you already rejected it because that vehicles still up for sale.

ifeedcat

*Basically DVLA said I cant tax it because there is a registered keeper on the record , who turned out wasn't neither the garage or the company owner(this was on second day of the purchase) I had to send new form + postal order. I was advised I can drive car with receipt which turned out a lie later on - I could end up getting fined for driving a car without tax(this was on the day of purchase).
*I have only drove it from their premises to my home address which was 30 miles away and EML light come up , they said cant tow it so I was waiting for logbook under my name to come in so I can tax it. I wasn't actually aware in regards how legislation works with the faults on used car , its my local garage that advised me to tell the company to take car back to fix it. Once logbook came in on 21st , I drove the car to the local garage ( its less then half a mile away ) Obviously new cars got warranty and etc.
*Dont know about that , its still registered on me/taxed/insured and I was texted on facebook to collect the car yesterday noon which I ignored and they didn't even bother ringing me.
If its lcmotorsport , I think they never took it off.
There were already some signs of this entire purchase being dodgy , but i wanted that model so end up getting it...

angrycrow

Looking at the mot history suggests the car is likely to have some issues. It was off road from at least October 2017 to May 2018 as not presented for mot.

It has only covered 38 miles in the last year, 68 including the Ops 30 miles. Only a 1000 miles in the last 3 years.

Why would you buy a car with only a month's mot left and no log book present. Sounds like buyers remorse.

I wonder what state the tyres and suspension were in after such little use.

chrisw

It isn't necessarily unroadworthy just because the EML is illuminated.

Which is fortunate as you've agreed to drive it on the road twice.

AdrianC

We're looking at a very low-value 13yo car. Is a misfire sufficient grounds to reject? No. If it turns out to be a more deep-seated engine problem than a coilpack (in an RX8? What a surprise that would be!), then you may have grounds to reject. The clock stopped on the misfire within the 30 days when you notified them initially.

You have zero grounds to complain over the delay in the V5C - you chose to buy the car in the full knowledge the V5C was not available, and that would delay being able to tax it. Who the previous RK is makes no difference to the timescale.

almillar

The RX-8 does need good coils and coil pack, and leads. That can very likely be the cause of a misfire, and the car could well be fixed now. Garage has put in time and money to repairing it, so why not take the car you bought and see if it works, after he's had one chance to repair it?
Also, to do a layman's compression test, drive the car and get the engine warm. Stop. Turn off the engine. Leave it for 2 mins. Try to start it. If it's difficult to start, you've got 'hot starting issues' which may indicate you're heading towards engine rebuild time...

ifeedcat

I'm aware of the way how to test it.
The issue is that I went there twice in to attempt to fix it and simply had enough , only when I insisted on rejecting the car they suddenly took the car to stay in the workshop until its fixed - even though I didn't agree to that.

In regards why i bought that car , that workshop is very known and reputable even though things like mentioned above are quite dodgy to buy the car.

Spoke to consumer helpline:

I have to send them letters 3 times before going to SCC because I have driven the car to them on 2 attempts and it wasn't fixed I can reject it now.

AdrianC

They forgot to mention that you only have a right to rejection for a fault that's unreasonable to expect in a used vehicle of that type, age, price, apparent condition.

almillar

I have to send them letters 3 times before going to SCC because I have driven the car to them on 2 attempts and it wasn't fixed I can reject it now.

But it's fixed, is it not? Do you want a car, or a fight?

ifeedcat

They have sent me a text over facebook yesterday apparently car is fixed , but thats on 3rd attempt and only after telling them im rejecting it.
At this point I dont want to be involved with them , and just want them to refund so i can go buy a car somewhere else.
I have send them 2 recorded letters so far using templates that consumer helpline gave me , and they raised a case for me as well. From the legal point they told me that I can legally reject the car now , and them not taking it back and trying to force a 3rd attempt to repair it is basically breach of CRA. I will send them 3rd letter next week if they won't respond or try to tell me I have to collect the car.