Bought a used car from a dealer, AA approved trouble after

AdrianC

kielyjohn said:

AdrianC said:

kielyjohn said:

AdrianC said:

How old, what price, what car?

It's an Astra 2008 £1,600 I paid

12yo, grand-and-a-half car...?

Your legal expectations are minimal.

Ok thanks for the input, brief and to the point I wasn’t talking anything legal just where I stood and opinions I came here as a bit of a novice in car buying not taking someone to court....

Unless the vendor agrees to repair or refund, then you would have to go to court to force them to do anything.

Ultimately, it's a shed that's one decent bill away from the scrappy... The average age of a car at scrapping in the UK is just under 14yo.

Grumpy_chap

kielyjohn said:

mattyprice4004 said:

You can't expect working A/C on an end-of-life cheaply produced Vauxhall realistically. 
They were right to charge you, but they should fix the fans if everything has completely packed up now. 

They didn’t fix the fans the garage I trust did, so if a car is advertised as having aircon and isn’t working no matter the age I’m expected to pay? That’s what I’m asking but if you say they’re right to charge then fair enough. I wasn’t disputing the age or an end of life car. Just wondering my rights if I had any and it’s my faulty for buying without checking first 

I think it is fair to expect that any 12 year old car at £1600 is going to have some elements of wear and tear and not working "nice to haves".  As long as the car runs and is safe, then that is all you can really expect at this point in the market.

kielyjohn

Grumpy_chap said:

kielyjohn said:

mattyprice4004 said:

You can't expect working A/C on an end-of-life cheaply produced Vauxhall realistically. 
They were right to charge you, but they should fix the fans if everything has completely packed up now. 

They didn’t fix the fans the garage I trust did, so if a car is advertised as having aircon and isn’t working no matter the age I’m expected to pay? That’s what I’m asking but if you say they’re right to charge then fair enough. I wasn’t disputing the age or an end of life car. Just wondering my rights if I had any and it’s my faulty for buying without checking first 

I think it is fair to expect that any 12 year old car at £1600 is going to have some elements of wear and tear and not working "nice to haves".  As long as the car runs and is safe, then that is all you can really expect at this point in the market.

Spot on thanks, it does run great and safe so you’re right that’s the main thing it’s not a long term car something to hopefully last me 2 years or more if I’m lucky. Thanks 

MinuteNoodles

AdrianC said:
Ultimately, it's a shed that's one decent bill away from the scrappy... The average age of a car at scrapping in the UK is just under 14yo.

This. The car my sis in law recently bought was a 2006 Hyundai SUV type thing for £1200. When she got it back I noted it needed two front tyres as the sidewalls had started to split from age and they were the worst retreads I've ever seen, and that the front and rear brake pads would need doing fairly quickly. £250 saw everything done that needed doing and she was quite happy and not bothered it did because ultimately it's a 14 year old car for shed money so she expected it'd need something.

EdGasketTheSecond

Grumpy_chap said:

kielyjohn said:

mattyprice4004 said:

You can't expect working A/C on an end-of-life cheaply produced Vauxhall realistically. 
They were right to charge you, but they should fix the fans if everything has completely packed up now. 

They didn’t fix the fans the garage I trust did, so if a car is advertised as having aircon and isn’t working no matter the age I’m expected to pay? That’s what I’m asking but if you say they’re right to charge then fair enough. I wasn’t disputing the age or an end of life car. Just wondering my rights if I had any and it’s my faulty for buying without checking first 

I think it is fair to expect that any 12 year old car at £1600 is going to have some elements of wear and tear and not working "nice to haves".  As long as the car runs and is safe, then that is all you can really expect at this point in the market.

If you are buying retail, from a dealer, then I think it is reasonable to expect everything to work unless it is sold stated x,y,z, is non-functional. That's why you pay a dealer premium over a private sale.

AdrianC

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think it is fair to expect that any 12 year old car at £1600 is going to have some elements of wear and tear and not working "nice to haves".  As long as the car runs and is safe, then that is all you can really expect at this point in the market.

If you are buying retail, from a dealer, then I think it is reasonable to expect everything to work unless it is sold stated x,y,z, is non-functional. That's why you pay a dealer premium over a private sale.

No, you pay "dealer premium" for the warm-and-fuzzies and the legal comeback (such as it is on an old, low-price car).

If you want to satisfy that everything works, check it yourself before agreeing to buy.

macman

Or you ask the dealer a simple question such as 'is everything in working order'?: if he says 'yes' then he will have misrepresented the vehicle, should the aircon subsequently be found to be not working.
But no-one ever seems to ask. They just assume that they will be told if there are any issues.

EdGasketTheSecond

But when a dealer prepares the car for retail sale, it is understood that everything should work; the law basically says as much. Same as anything you buy retail, if it is faulty you take it back for exchange or refund.

Grumpy_chap

What law please?

EdGasketTheSecond

Consumer rights