Used Car - Faulty - Expenses Question

Strebor123

Hi, 

I will try and keep it brief. 

Purchased a used car. 130k miles, 07 plate. After a week I took it in for a service and check over at my local garage and they found quite a large number of faults. 
I narrowed the faults down to ones that I deemed made the car not fit for purpose. 4 issues that would lead to a failed MOT if the car was tested. Brake cylinder corrosion, 3 of them had large lips on them, brake pipe corrosion, fog light switch doesn't work (80% of the time, of course it worked when I checked it) and the track rod had excessive play. There were about 12 issues in all. Perished tyres, brake pad wear, broken exhaust bracket, the list goes on. I discounted all of them due to the age of the car, just trying to be clear that I was realistic about the faults that were found. 

Dealer originally agreed to MOT the car and then fix the failures. I then told him I would take the car back to my garage afterwards to get a second opinion on the work to make sure it was all done to a good standard. Only for those 4 issues. After I told him this he reversed his decision and insisted I be given a refund instead. So to his credit, he has given me the full refund but I am wondering where I stand with regards to the £210 for the service/minor work that was done on the car. He is refusing to reimburse anything for it at all. Since he refused to repair the car I feel a bit like he should take on some of the cost for the service as he is now getting the sole benefit from it. 

My logic is that I would claim for around £150 as I would guess a small amount of the labour charge for the car as the inspection time vs. the actual service. Does anyone know where I stand with regards to this? 

Thanks. 

Grumpy_chap

The Dealer has given you a full refund.
You won't get anything for the £200 or so.
It may be the best £200 you've ever spent.

Strebor123

Grumpy_chap said:

The Dealer has given you a full refund.
You won't get anything for the £200 or so.
It may be the best £200 you've ever spent.

Yeah well it definitely could be worse as it's meant I haven't ended up with a big problem car. Just a bit peeved that he's got a full service on the car for free. And I am now carless too! 

Is there no legal basis for recouping some of the money at all? 

JJ_Egan

Send them your quantified losses as a bill and see what they say .

Fail to pay you have the choice of small claims court .

Strebor123

JJ_Egan said:

Send them your quantified losses as a bill and see what they say .

Fail to pay you have the choice of small claims court .

Thanks. He is refusing to reimburse anything at all and has said to take him to small claims. I have done small claims before for work and I know how annoying they can be so just wondered if anyone knew if I was likely to actually be successful with a claim. Even getting £100 back would be nice. 

powerful_Rogue

Strebor123 said:

JJ_Egan said:

Send them your quantified losses as a bill and see what they say .

Fail to pay you have the choice of small claims court .

Thanks. He is refusing to reimburse anything at all and has said to take him to small claims. I have done small claims before for work and I know how annoying they can be so just wondered if anyone knew if I was likely to actually be successful with a claim. Even getting £100 back would be nice. 

Slim to none I would say.

Strebor123

Having spoken to CAB they have advised that I might have a case for claiming for consequential losses as a result of his breach of the contract. Does anybody have any experience with this? 

Strebor123

Strebor123 said:

Having spoken to CAB they have advised that I might have a case for claiming for consequential losses as a result of his breach of the contract. Does anybody have any experience with this? 

This seems like it would support the sort of cost I am looking to recover too? 

https://conversation.which.co.uk/motoring/brief-cases-faulty-car-rights/

powerful_Rogue

You've got to remember you're talking about a 14 year old vehicle with quite some mileage on the clock.

Carrot007

You would have to proove reasonably, that he sold you the car knowing of the issues for any claim to work.

You cannot.

The fact it was a banger and likely to have issues is also in his favour.

unholyangel

Strebor123 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

The Dealer has given you a full refund.
You won't get anything for the £200 or so.
It may be the best £200 you've ever spent.

Yeah well it definitely could be worse as it's meant I haven't ended up with a big problem car. Just a bit peeved that he's got a full service on the car for free. And I am now carless too! 

Is there no legal basis for recouping some of the money at all? 

Yes but when did you actually reject the car? Within 30 days you're entitled to a full refund but, for motor vehicles, after 30 days the refund can be reduced (for other items it's 6 months before it can be reduced). So if that applies, you may want to consider you could end up worse off if you push it. 

Also, you wouldn't need to prove he was aware of the issues. Only that the goods didn't conform to contract and that the loss was caused by that breach of contract.