Sold car with FSH - no FSH and warranty possibly invalid

lld890

Hi all,

looking for some ideas around what I can do about my current stressful situation.

In a nutshell, bought a 2.5 year old Honda Jazz from what appeared to be a well known and reputable Honda dealer in the New Forest. We were in the market for a reliable vehicle above all else, so we wanted to buy Honda Approved. We found our vehicle, test drove etc. and then sat down to negotiate. Being sold extended warranty or servicing I checked that being Honda Approved it would have full service history. Was told yep and pointed to the service history that wasn’t listed in the paper print out of the ad in front of me. Later told that the service history was with their other garage down the road so would be posted out. Naive in hindsight but this is supposed to be a main dealer so I did just think OK. 

Anyway three weeks later no history sent so I pick it up from the dealer myself. It has only had a service the at after we paid the Esposito and neither of the 13 month or 24 month services that were due before that. On enquiry the original owner confirms this hasn’t been done. Dealer says it’s fine will give you a free service in March to bring it back into schedule.  

Warranty (original manufacturer, Honda approved and the additional two years we bought) are technically according to the Ernst of the arrant year invalidated by this service record (or lack thereof). We contact Honda UK about whether they would honour the warranty and four people tell us no or only partially whilst one says yes probably. The dealer say it is covered and the car wasn't missold at all. To make matters worse did an hpi after realising the dealer was not veing totally straight with us and it showed outstanding finance on the vehicle.  The dealer does an HPI two days later and it doesn’t show outstanding finance. Very confusing. 

Anyway we don’t know where you go from here. Despite us specifically buying by Honda Approved and buying the cuteness warranty for piece of mind we have nothing of the sort - Honda UK say it is a matter for the dealer, and the dealer say nothing was missold and they won’t accept rejection of the vehicle under the sale of goods act. We are trying via the credit card however I don’t know if there are other routes we could also try. The Motor Ombudsman who everyone keeps referring us to requires a final letter after a complaint process has been been followed but the dealer won’t give us details on their complaint process or issue this final letter. They just keep saying the car will be fine (note we called another local and unaffiliated dealer yesterday and they said the car should not have have been sold as Honda Approved, the warranty would not be valid etc etc). 

Thanks very much for any ideas or advice (PS obviously there are lessons to be learned here so not needing those pointed out but rather a way forward with the current situation!)

lld890

lld890 said:

Hi all,

looking for some ideas around what I can do about my current stressful situation.

In a nutshell, bought a 2.5 year old Honda Jazz from what appeared to be a well known and reputable Honda dealer in the New Forest. We were in the market for a reliable vehicle above all else, so we wanted to buy Honda Approved. We found our vehicle, test drove etc. and then sat down to negotiate. Being sold extended warranty or servicing I checked that being Honda Approved it would have full service history. Was told yep and pointed to the service history that wasn’t listed in the paper print out of the ad in front of me. Later told that the service history was with their other garage down the road so would be posted out. Naive in hindsight but this is supposed to be a main dealer so I did just think OK. 

Anyway three weeks later no history sent so I pick it up from the dealer myself. It has only had a service the at after we paid the Esposito and neither of the 13 month or 24 month services that were due before that. On enquiry the original owner confirms this hasn’t been done. Dealer says it’s fine will give you a free service in March to bring it back into schedule.  

Warranty (original manufacturer, Honda approved and the additional two years we bought) are technically according to the Ernst of the arrant year invalidated by this service record (or lack thereof). We contact Honda UK about whether they would honour the warranty and four people tell us no or only partially whilst one says yes probably. The dealer say it is covered and the car wasn't missold at all. To make matters worse did an hpi after realising the dealer was not veing totally straight with us and it showed outstanding finance on the vehicle.  The dealer does an HPI two days later and it doesn’t show outstanding finance. Very confusing. 

Anyway we don’t know where you go from here. Despite us specifically buying by Honda Approved and buying the cuteness warranty for piece of mind we have nothing of the sort - Honda UK say it is a matter for the dealer, and the dealer say nothing was missold and they won’t accept rejection of the vehicle under the sale of goods act. We are trying via the credit card however I don’t know if there are other routes we could also try. The Motor Ombudsman who everyone keeps referring us to requires a final letter after a complaint process has been been followed but the dealer won’t give us details on their complaint process or issue this final letter. They just keep saying the car will be fine (note we called another local and unaffiliated dealer yesterday and they said the car should not have have been sold as Honda Approved, the warranty would not be valid etc etc). 

Thanks very much for any ideas or advice (PS obviously there are lessons to be learned here so not needing those pointed out but rather a way forward with the current situation!)

Sorry for typos autocorrect seems to be having a field day today!
- service history that WAS listed in the ad in front of me.  
- terms of the warranty not Earnst of the arrant 
- service was done day after deposit not Esposito
- extended warranty not cuteness warranty!!

neilmcl

So what outcome do you want. If you want to return the car then you have the right to reject it as they've breached the contract as it's clearly not as described. My gut feeling is that Honda would probably honour the rest of the manufacturer's warranty, but then that's only 6 months until it runs out anyway (my assumption it has  3 year manufacturer's warranty). If the car is genuinely approved used then you will get a 12 month guarantee with it anyway, regardless.

If you do want to reject it then you need to formally do so and stop driving the vehicle.

sweetsand

Dear OP
If you don't get your way, what do you want? Then I should be able to tell you of your rights.
TIA

neilmcl

sweetsand said:

Dear OP
If you don't get your way, what do you want? Then I should be able to tell you of your rights.
TIA

What makes you the expert in consumer rights all of a sudden?

bengalknights

Honda warranty as mentioned above is only 36 months so you will only have 6 months of it left.
Is the extended warranty dependant on the service history? And is the service schedule long or short life . If long life then having it serviced not if warranty dependant on it should bring it back in line.
But it all depends on what you actually want to get out of it, refund and return?

AdrianC

Honda approved used gives you 30 day, 1k mile right to an absolute swap. Use that to swap it for something that you can see the service history before agreeing to buy it.

rhino_horn

Finance issue was probably the car was on the dealer's stocking loan. They were probably a bit slack in taking it off. 

macman

neilmcl said:

sweetsand said:

Dear OP
If you don't get your way, what do you want? Then I should be able to tell you of your rights.
TIA

What makes you the expert in consumer rights all of a sudden?

It's all part of the Respected Philanthropy qualification...

HHarry

In terms of the warranty I'd expect you to be OK.  It was a used car that's been put back into the Dealer network and made part of their 'Approved Used' scheme, with any checks necessary to facilitate that having been done.  If you did have a major warranty issue you can always take it back to the selling Dealer and let them sort it out - they've told you there won't be a problem.

The second issue is whether you'd have bought that car (or paid the price you did) knowing the actual service history. If the answer is 'No' then it sounds like you might have a bit of a fight.  You don't need to know the Dealers 'complaints procedure' - just write them a letter titled Complaint.  If the Dealer rejects your complaint (and provides a 'deadlock' letter) or 8 weeks passes, the Motor Ombudsman will look at your case.

https://www.themotorombudsman.org/useful-information-about-dispute-resolution

And if that doesn't get you anywhere you still have your CC and the Small Claims court - although there's one caveat, which is that if the advert didn't list a FSH it's your word against theirs.

fred246

The Motor Ombudsman is run by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and traders. They share the same building. No prizes for guessing who they favour. As much use as a chocolate teapot. Check out their reviews on Trustpilot. Even if they find in the customers favour the garage just ignore it. I suspect their actual purpose is to prevent people taking garages to court.