Friend bought a car on finance and has massive problems with it.

stepp

Hi all


My friend bought a car 6 weeks ago from a garage near London. 

The tyre pressure light is on  and wont go off so we took it to a local garage today who informed us that it has winter and summer tyres mixed the wrong way round and also one of the tyres is inside out! They advised us not to drive it until it was sorted. 
Also the clutch is slipping like crazy, and the whole car is rattling from underneath.
The starter motor makes strange noises and just sounds on its way out. 
The front  wheel passenger arch liner has a massive hole in it with a piece of plastic hanging down. 

I drove it to the tyre garage today and it feels like it's falling to bits and it's a 2016 car.

She has contacted the garage who after ignoring her for days on end said for her to drive it back to them, but how can she when a local garage said it's not safe.
She paid 2k on card and the rest was on finance and i am at a lost end as what to do, she is distraught and upset with the thought of not having a car to take her kids to school in sitting there and 4 years finance to pay so i'm trying my best to help her out.  

I can't help feeling that she's been sold something that is basically a lemon car, and they knew this to have kids in a car with the tyres on the wrong way round i find totally shocking. 

Any advice as to what the next steps to take regarding law is? 

I assume the garage has to have a chance to fix all the problems but how does she get it back to them if she cannot drive it.

Any help advice would be great. 

foxy-stoat

If the fault(s) were advised to the garage before 30 days then full refund.
Garage has to have a chance to rectify them.
Get her to speak to the finance company first.

Was the clutch slipping like crazy when she test drove it, or is this since the 6 weeks she has owned it.  This will be a difficult one as any self unrespecting racer could easily toast a new clutch in less than an hour.

Sandtree

She didn't notice any of the other things when looking at the car? After how many days did she report the issues?

As to tyre low pressure light, I know on my old car this worked by way of wheel rotation effectively rather than any sensor inside the tyre itself. It was supposed to come on when you had a puncture (probably 50/50 if it did or not in my case) but would also come on if you changed the tyres etc. There was a button sequence you had to follow that reset the system, turned the light off and would then only come back on again if the diameter and so spin speed changed again.

stepp

foxy-stoat said:

If the fault(s) were advised to the garage before 30 days then full refund.
Garage has to have a chance to rectify them.
Get her to speak to the finance company first.

Was the clutch slipping like crazy when she test drove it, or is this since the 6 weeks she has owned it.  This will be a difficult one as any self unrespecting racer could easily toast a new clutch in less than an hour.

Unfortunately she is out of the 30 days window which is going to be what goes against her i think. 
She did tell them about the faults over the phone but they just strung it out by not contacting her back and stupidly she left it this long.
I think she's pretty much screwed and is now going to be in debt with a clapped out motor which is screaming at me that something just is not right about it.
The clutch i dont know she doesn't even know what a clutch is lol....so would not of been able to identify a slipping clutch ( bad i know ). 
Just wondered if there was anything else she could do. 

stepp

Sandtree said:

She didn't notice any of the other things when looking at the car? After how many days did she report the issues?

As to tyre low pressure light, I know on my old car this worked by way of wheel rotation effectively rather than any sensor inside the tyre itself. It was supposed to come on when you had a puncture (probably 50/50 if it did or not in my case) but would also come on if you changed the tyres etc. There was a button sequence you had to follow that reset the system, turned the light off and would then only come back on again if the diameter and so spin speed changed again.

I have no idea how she did not spot anything, i've looked over the car and i wouldn't pay even half what she has for it.
She rang them a week after getting it telling them about the light but they never got back to her. 
I'm just trying to help her as shes a single mum doing her best.
I've tried resetting the tyre light with the reset button, the local garage did as well and it doesn't do anything so they said its either broken sensors or something wrong with the whole system somewhere, advised us not to drive it especially on the motorway

foxy-stoat

stepp said:

foxy-stoat said:

If the fault(s) were advised to the garage before 30 days then full refund.
Garage has to have a chance to rectify them.
Get her to speak to the finance company first.

Was the clutch slipping like crazy when she test drove it, or is this since the 6 weeks she has owned it.  This will be a difficult one as any self unrespecting racer could easily toast a new clutch in less than an hour.

Just wondered if there was anything else she could do. 

Not buy another car on her own.
I would speak to the finance company, if she can get them on her side there maybe a chance she can reject the car with only paying something minimal.  Seriously, she needs to get out of this car, if that costs her a few hundred for the use she has had then I would pay it.

I only hope the finance isn't charging her like 25% interest - rubbish car with rubbish loan.

tacpot12

To return the car, you might drive it for her if you have insurance that covers you to drive other cars - but remember your cover is "Act Only" so if you damage her car while driving it, you will owe the finance company for the repair. It would be best to have it transported back to them on a low loader. You can find car transport services on eBay.

stepp

Thanks guys, the garage finally has been in touch and the finance company informed, so we are waiting to see what happens next. 

Geodark

Find this so hard to believe sorry - How on earth can it have had an inside out tyre! you dont get treads on the inside! 

tedted

rotational tyre fitted wrongly

stepp

Geodark said:

Find this so hard to believe sorry - How on earth can it have had an inside out tyre! you dont get treads on the inside! 

Asymmetrical tyre fitted with the "inside" writing on the outside ( sorry if i worded it badly ). We would let it slide but one of the tyres is 8 years old another 6 years old on a 4 year old car, plus summer and winter tyres on each opposite corner, which we have been told could be lethal in the wet.