Taking reputable car brand to small claims court?

MagdalenaK

I bought a £47k executive car brand new in March 2017. It had minor faults from the first minute I owned it (dashboard wasn’t fitted properly and sat nav wasn’t working on the day of collection which was acknowledged by the dealer). I’ve not driven this car much since I bought it, no commute just pleasure use so I kept the mileage very low. After a year (at 6k miles) the faults became more software related. After 2 years and 13k miles on dash more mechanical problems started such as braking system faults and sudden loss Of power (and couple near misses with other motorists!), air intake pipe fault, very noise bearing that needed replacing at 13k miles(!!!!), accelerator connection faults, etc. 

I listed 12 different faults which were going on until Sep 2019 when I asked the dealer to take this car back as at 15k miles it was totally unreliable, I was scared of driving it, it felt so fragile and dangerous to other road users I almost stopped driving it unless I had no other choice. I was paying £580 every month for PCP finance on it and I kept visiting the dealership frequently for years to ask for help but the only thing they were offering me was warranty repairs and more expensive cars on higher finance. 

I found customer service of this brand disgusting, every visit left like i was a burden to them, they were undermining and belittling me and even told me I shouldn’t have more than one drink at the branch at each visit when I actually spent hours if not days there...

Never advised me of any other options until one day I came back with yet another fault and I broke down in tears in front the branch manager saying that this car is giving me nothing but anxiety and stress. He then informed me that I might be able to return the car but he was trying to persuade me not do do it as the process was made to be too complex. 

After taking this option I made a request for return of the car and the reply was no because I kept the car for so long so I must be satisfied with it. They offered me compensation of £250 for all the times the car was recovered from roadside when I was heading for weekends away but had to have my plans cancelled due to faulty car. 

I took the case to Financial Ombudsman in Nov 2019 to help me return the car to the finance company but this case is still going on... In February 2020 I voluntarily terminated the contract (still have £1400 to pay up to 50% value of the car) as the super expensive service was due (+mot), the warranty was expiring and the car was developing more faults which I would’ve be able to afford to pay after March. Please note the car had less than 20k miles on the clock when I returned it after 3 years!! 

Now FO are considering my case as a compensation claim since I returned the car and they are suggesting £500 as reasonable figure to which car finance company disagrees. The finance company denies selling me a faulty car, they say that faults were very minor and that “the accident related to loss of power and brakes could’ve happened but didn’t” which I find absolutely appalling. 

So my question is: the FO suggests that I could go to Motor Ombudsman as the claim is now against the car dealer or brand and not the finance company (which is the same name as the car brand) but I’m wondering if it’s actually worth it and I should go straight to small claims court? 

P.S. I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here...

mobileron

Its the dealer you need to take to court not the car maker,you didnt buy from them.
This looks like a long one,

oldagetraveller1

"P.S. I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here..."

Is it allowed to take a stab at this? I suspect it's something German?

JamoLew

sounds like a Land/Range Rover

JJ_Egan

OP needs proper legal advice not random advice from a forum of non legal experts .

davidmcn

MagdalenaK said:

I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here...

Did you even look at the forum (or the rules) before posting here? There are company names mentioned all over the place, as long as you're not actually being defamatory it's fine.

Lomast

Some of the later faults could well be down to lack of use, cars really need to be used regularly. Wheel bearings for instance are far more likely to seize if sat for long periods same with brakes.

MagdalenaK

oldagetraveller1 said:

"P.S. I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here..."

Is it allowed to take a stab at this? I suspect it's something German?

MayBe 😬

societys_child

MagdalenaK said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

"P.S. I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here..."

Is it allowed to take a stab at this? I suspect it's something German?

MayBe 😬

Is that a yes then, is this some sort of quiz?

Erm . . ???   what is the first letter of the brand name?

ThumbRemote

MagdalenaK said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

"P.S. I’d love to tell you which brand it is so you stay away from it but I don’t know if I’m allowed to say here..."

Is it allowed to take a stab at this? I suspect it's something German?

MayBe 😬

Please tell us through the medium of interpretive dance.

tacpot12

To answer your question, you have nothing to lose (except time) if you use the Motor Ombudsman. Their decision is not binding on you, but it would be unreasonable to enter the process if you know you are not happy to settle for anything out than an outright "win". 
You should be careful about going to court; the judge WILL settle the case in a fair way, and will not take your distress/worry/frustration into account unless the dealer behaviour was really bad. The judge may also take against you if you mis-manage the case by presenting lots of extraneous details. You are not guaranteed to win at court, even if you have a sound case. You might fall down in your presentation of it.

You haven't said how much would claim off the dealer. Have you set out you calculation and sent it to them? Usually, if the other party can see that all your numbers stack up, they know that they will have a hard time arguing in court, so will often settle.