Faulty car bought from garage but I have spent money on it...

dsb181

Hi all!
I'll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible....

Purchased a car from a local garage (07.08.2020), sold in 'good mechanical condition' and purchased in good faith by myself, sold with a 6 month warranty (which I am yet to see) and paid for through the garage by debit card. Told by the garage the car had no issues other than one key which made the dash run in 'SAFE' mode.
The car had been owned by the garage for 10 years and used by one of the directors, the garage (listed also as the owner on the V5) had taken care of the car and MOT'd in-house during this time - although other than cam belt and water pump change written on the coolant bottle no documentation of any service or works - it was all completed in-house.
MOT'd in May this year.

Purchased the car and dash flashed up service due, taken to VW for service and they also performed a free health check which flagged up multiple issues listed below....

The garage where I bought the car are not willing to spend money on the car, they have offered to 'fix' the intercooler hose gap and 'fix' the undercover which is hanging down..... or refund me for the car, they will not put right the other issues flagged by the dealership as urgent. They tell me the warranty won't cover the issues so my options are to have it refunded or put up with the issues and have them put right the undercover and intercooler hose.

My question to you all... having potentially now lost out on the price of the service at the dealership £380 (11.08.2020) due to probably my ignorance in thinking the car was fine, a full tank of fuel, the weekend cleaning it and the admin fees for refunding the insurance and tax - likely to amount to £450+ which the garage won't honour, only the £2200 I paid...

Do I stand a chance of escalating the claim and getting the money back that I am out of pocket on?

Thank you all in advance.


Urgent issues flagged on the VW report which was done for free after they performed the service

(FYI there are also some amber but these are the most concerning flagged as urgent)
 Intercooler hose.
(On top of engine) has worn at locking lug - requires new hose.
(as not holding in position and can cause black smoke as leaking and has covered engine bay in oil
where leaked) -
 Under tray.
Is hanging down, rear bolts been broken off and snapped in sub frame allowing tray to drag on floor.
((suspect noise complaint) will require sub-frame to be drilled out and thread repair plus new bolts) -
 Clutch.
Pedal biting point is very sharp, pedal is also heavy which indicates the clutch kit is worn. 
(would require gear box removal to inspect clutch kit and check wear) -
 NSR anti roll bar.
Link ball joint has play + movement.
Advise replacing as pair complete with nuts and pins - likely to have to seized in wheel bearing knuckle
arm. -
 Squealing noise from engine bay requires inspection.
- Remove auxiliary drive belt and check pulley bearings for play wear. -
 Fault in GFF - with the alarm siren check.
Test does not carry out self check with activation and beep to show working requires rewiring check
(and check siren unit requires stripping of road wheel and arch liner trim and remove security cage drill
out rivets to access and check) -
 Fault in GFF - with the ignition switch is not reading the key (intermittent).
Can cause battery drain or non start issues - requires modified switch steering wheel -
Column trims required to be removed to access area. -
 Fault in GFF - with the NSF door lock.
Unit is in safe mode requires door skin removal to strip down and check wiring harness and locking unit
as may become jammed shut and will require damage to door card.
(However) door currently opens so would advise invest whilst working so does not require damage to
door card -
 Instrument cluster is reading in safe mode fault.
Stored with instrument cluster is being read as faulty - requires replacing has immobiliser built in so will
require any spare additional keys to be programmed.
This fault can cause vehicle to not start or central locking to not work effectively. –

treeroy

those really are not urgent issues. VW is trying to sell you stuff.

You bought an old car, yes some things will be "wrong" with it, however, the fact they are wrong does not mean they actually require fixing in order to use the car safely or to pass an MOT.

dsb181

Thanks for your reply.

VW questioned the current MOT from May as the car passed without advisories, as mentioned the garage that owned the car for 10 years had also been conducting the MOTs.

The model is a 2008 Golf Tdi with 88,500 on the clock.... the other option would be to keep the car, although I don't know to what extent these issues found would present a problem.. they obviously need sorting as they have been flagged as urgent?

AdrianC

dsb181 said:

The garage where I bought the car are not willing to spend money on the car, they have offered to 'fix' the intercooler hose gap and 'fix' the undercover which is hanging down..... or refund me for the car, they will not put right the other issues flagged by the dealership as urgent.
...
Do I stand a chance of escalating the claim and getting the money back that I am out of pocket on?

On a 12yo 90k two grand car? You are having a laugh.

Urgent issues flagged on the VW report which was done for free after they performed the service

(FYI there are also some amber but these are the most concerning flagged as urgent)
 Intercooler hose.
(On top of engine) has worn at locking lug - requires new hose.
(as not holding in position and can cause black smoke as leaking and has covered engine bay in oil
where leaked) -

Cheap new hose. The supplier is willing to sort.

 Under tray.
Is hanging down, rear bolts been broken off and snapped in sub frame allowing tray to drag on floor.
((suspect noise complaint) will require sub-frame to be drilled out and thread repair plus new bolts) -

Perfectly normal on a 12yo car. A couple of cable ties will do the job just as well.

 Clutch.
Pedal biting point is very sharp, pedal is also heavy which indicates the clutch kit is worn. 
(would require gear box removal to inspect clutch kit and check wear) -

Perfectly reasonable wear and tear after 90k.

 NSR anti roll bar.
Link ball joint has play + movement.
Advise replacing as pair complete with nuts and pins - likely to have to seized in wheel bearing knuckle
arm. -

Perfectly reasonable wear and tear. Cheap part, easy to fit. Does not need replacing as a pair.

 Squealing noise from engine bay requires inspection.
- Remove auxiliary drive belt and check pulley bearings for play wear. -

Perfectly reasonable wear and tear.

 Fault in GFF - with the alarm siren check.
Test does not carry out self check with activation and beep to show working requires rewiring check
(and check siren unit requires stripping of road wheel and arch liner trim and remove security cage drill
out rivets to access and check) -
 Fault in GFF - with the ignition switch is not reading the key (intermittent).
Can cause battery drain or non start issues - requires modified switch steering wheel -
Column trims required to be removed to access area. -
 Fault in GFF - with the NSF door lock.
Unit is in safe mode requires door skin removal to strip down and check wiring harness and locking unit
as may become jammed shut and will require damage to door card.
(However) door currently opens so would advise invest whilst working so does not require damage to
door card -

None are exactly unexpected on a 12yo car.

 Instrument cluster is reading in safe mode fault.
Stored with instrument cluster is being read as faulty - requires replacing has immobiliser built in so will
require any spare additional keys to be programmed.
This fault can cause vehicle to not start or central locking to not work effectively. –

But only with one key, not the other, and you knew that pre-purchase.

Take their generous offer of a full refund, and buy a brand new car. Or recalibrate your expectations of a car that's less than two years younger than the average age at scrapping.

facade

The choice appears to be get rid and lose £380 for the service, or keep it and they fix the intercooler pipe (I'd be worried if a large amount of oil were coming out of the pipe, the turbo bearings are the only source) and the tray, then you cross your fingers and hope the key/immobiliser faults don't catch up with you. 

If the immobiliser fails it will cost a lot more than £380 to fix.

I'd take the refund. It isn't their fault you had it serviced, you can try and use the fuel driving round at the weekend, and the admin fees aren't their fault either.

angrycrow

When you say the dash is in Safe mode do you actually mean that one of the keys does not start the car and causes the dash to display the message safe. On vag cars this means either that key is not coded into the ecu or the transponder chip in the key is broken. The key may still unlock the car as the central locking runs off a different system.

They are being entirely reasonable in offering to replace the intercooler pipe.

If the undertray is now dragging on the floor but was not prior to going in for service but is now it suggests the clips broke during the service, this is not unexpected on a 12 year old car. My audi is 15 years old and I have just had to replace all the undertray fixings as they were failing. Worth seeing if there is a play to attach an alternative fixing or as suggested above use some cable ties.

Clutch is still working and the wear is entirely consistent with a 12 year old 90k car. 

The Vag alarms have an internal rechargeable battery. The batteries can fail at around 10 years old, this is entirely normal. Repair is a near siren or to cut the existing siren open and replace the batteries. This is normal wear and tear on a 12 year old car. 

Buying a car with no service history is always a gamble but given the short list of issues looks like you got lucky. Get them to sort the intercooler pipe, and  to secure the undertray. If the key is as described above you accepted it's condition as part of the sale. 

dsb181

Thanks all for the useful advice, as facade suggests, the options appears to be take the car back for a refund and take the money I have spent on having it serviced on the chin and put it down as experience, or better understand the severity or not so of the issues that VW have highlighted and keep the car. 

I just wouldn't know the cost or priority to put the stuff that is wrong with the car to right.

The reason I opted to purchase the car for a garage is in thinking they would have done their due diligence of scanning the car/checking it over.

MinuteNoodles

dsb181 said:

Thanks for your reply.

VW questioned the current MOT from May as the car passed without advisories, as mentioned the garage that owned the car for 10 years had also been conducting the MOTs.

The model is a 2008 Golf Tdi with 88,500 on the clock.... the other option would be to keep the car, although I don't know to what extent these issues found would present a problem.. they obviously need sorting as they have been flagged as urgent?

The only thing that would be testable during a MOT on that entire list is the NSR anti roll bar link and it is quite possible it would have been fine for the MOT and failed after that. Absolutely nothing else in that list is testable on a MOT.

angrycrow

Also worth noting that the official vag com softwhere is far more sensitive to fault codes than a normal reader. Had a code pop up on my Audi months ago, fixed the issue and cleared the code. On a recent service the garage scanned it with vag com and found the historic code despite it being cleared. The garage who sold it are unlikely to know about the issues VW have flagged up such as the alarm. 

dsb181

Thanks again all, this is really informative information and Ive learnt alot from your comments. 

Alarm bells rang from the VW health test but generally the comments on this thread suggest it’s not as critical as it was made out to be. 

Is it advisable now to keep the car, sort the mechanical issues out as a priority and then pray that the electrical codes that were flagged don’t become problematic?

Thank you all once again

Grumpy_chap

dsb181 said:

Purchased a car from a local garage (07.08.2020),

Purchased the car and dash flashed up service due, taken to VW for service and they also performed a free health check which flagged up multiple issues ...

The garage where I bought the car are not willing to spend money on the car, they have offered to 'fix' the intercooler hose gap and 'fix' the undercover which is hanging down..... or refund me for the car, they will not put right the other issues flagged by the dealership as urgent. They tell me the warranty won't cover the issues so my options are to have it refunded or put up with the issues and have them put right the undercover and intercooler hose.

The garage offered you a refund - you can't ask them to be fairer than that.