Taking a car dealer to the small courts

Lauren5454

I bought a car from a dealer in Bristol - I live in Plymouth - on the 3rd august after a pre-sale inspection and service. On the 13th I noticed a knocking sound on the breaks - I then went on holiday for a few days so wasn't driving the car. On the 19th August I took it to a garage and they informed me that the breaks needed replacing and had been a long standing issues at a cost of £443.50, which I went ahead with.
I have tried to contact the garage twice , to get a refund on the repair as part of the consumer goods act 2015 - but I've had no response.
If i take them to the small claims court, do I have a leg to stand on as I've already had the repair works done? I didn't know it had been an ongoing issue before the work had been done, if not I'd have contacted the garage straight away.
I only have 3 months warranty with the garage for moving parts, so I know it's not covered by that, it's more that the breaks were faulty before I purchased the vehicle but had been advised they were okay per the inspection sheet.

Any advise??

Retrogamer

I don't think you'll get anywhere here.

If you buy a car from a dealer / trader and it has any problems you should notify the seller and ask them to fix it.
If they refuse, then you can go somewhere else, get it repaired then try and sue them for the cost of the repairs.

But you never gave them the opportunity to inspect your car or fix it, and as they were never given the chance i don't think a court would find in your favour should you try and force them to pay it.

kittennose

You should get a letter from the garage that did the repair to detail the state of the breaks and how much of a long-term issue it was and his/her evidence to support that.

Once you have it you should have a good cause for compensation.

k3lvc

So your breaks were braked ?

Seriously though what exactly was wrong with them that was the long standing issue. Hopefuly it wasn't a Kwik-Fit (other con artists are available) that told you they needed replacing

To get any advice better than you're received so far (i.e. you didn'y follow the correct process so don't really have a leg to stand on) you'll need to give more details

JJ_Egan

The vendor was given no chance to repair as per the Consumer Rights Act .
Is the garage still open and trading ?

SHAFT

kittennose wrote: »

You should get a letter from the garage that did the repair to detail the state of the breaks and how much of a long-term issue it was and his/her evidence to support that.

Once you have it you should have a good cause for compensation.

What about giving the original dealer a chance to rectify the brakes?

bigisi

Try to spell brakes correctly in your court papers

Lauren5454

A caliper, the pads & the discs needed replacing - the repairs garage showed me it and I could see all the scratches from where it had seized.

I know I never gave the original garage a chance, but at the time the vehicle was undriveable and I need it for work - it was only when I was told that this has been an issue for a while that i even thought of going back to the garage.
There's no way the vendor would have been able to do the works, without spending money to get the car towed back up to Bristol which is 2 hours away and then driven back down to me - unless he arranged with a garage down here.

The repair garage have agreed to put it in writing for me so i can use it as evidence

I called the garage today and spoke to someone, he told me he'd never received my email and to resend it (obviously checked it was the correct address with him) and funny enough I've heard nothing back again

k3lvc

Lauren5454 wrote: »

I called the garage today and spoke to someone, he told me he'd never received my email and to resend it (obviously checked it was the correct address with him) and funny enough I've heard nothing back again

You're not going to hear back from him - he's got your cash and you've had repairs done to the car without giving him the opportunity to do the work (assuming it needed doing given you weren't capable of seeing the issue when you bought the car 10 days earlier but it was suddenly undriveable when you took it to another garage who saw £ signs)

At least you now have your new car safe in the knowledge that the brakes won't need doing the week the warranty runs out

Out of interest what was the car/age/mileage - seems unusual for pads/discs and calipers to all need doing

Aylesbury_Duck

kittennose wrote: »

You should get a letter from the garage that did the repair to detail the state of the breaks and how much of a long-term issue it was and his/her evidence to support that.

Once you have it you should have a good cause for compensation.

I don't think so. If it got to court, the vendor could simply point out that they weren't permitted to inspect the car or to have a chance to make any repairs. If the vendor is so inclined, they might make a goodwill payment to contribute to the repairs but I would think that highly unlikely.

Lauren5454

A little harsh, saying I'm not capable of noticing this before the sale.. Purely asking for advice. As far I was concerned the car drove fine and the brakes had been inspected by the garage pre-sale with no issues...

The car is a Mitsubishi Lancer, 60 plate with 65,000 miles. It's got full service history and seems to have been taken care of nicely. It was only 1 caliper that needed doing, but 2 pads and discs

The only reason I didn't call them as the brakes weren't included in the warranty, it was after the repairman pointed out that this has been going on for a while that I considered involving the vendor

I've had brief contact with the vendor, but seems like he is trying to fob us off.. which i understand, its just annoying. They claim that the could have got the work done cheaper, so I'm hoping we can at least get a refund for their own quoted price. But it doesn't take into the fact of towing the car up to Bristol and I would have been without a car while it was repaired. They have been avoiding my phone calls, but I'll keep trying for now