Right to reject-Statutory interest

Ant82

Hi I’m looking for some advice 🙏🏼 

I have a car that I’ve rejected because of lots and lots of big problems resulting in many trips to dealer. The car still has lots of problems outstanding so I’ve decided to reject it and the dealer has agreed. 

The dealer is asking for .45p mileage excluding trips back to the dealer which I’m ok with. 

I’ve been told I should claim statutory interest at 8% on the purchase price from the date of collection to the time the car is picked up. A lot of the problems with the car should have been picked up and checks normally carried out before delivery so it’s never been fit for purpose or of satisfactory quality and is less than 6 months old but older than 30 days. 

Does anyone have any advice on statutory interest and if it’s applicable to my car rejection. 

Many Thanks 

user1977

Statutory interest is normally when there's a debt owing, I can't say I've heard of it being relevant in this sort of case - especially if you actually still have the use of the car.

Ant82

Hi user 1977,

I do know of a case where statutory interest was claimed on a car rejection, the vehicle had a lot of problems that should have been obvious to the dealer while carrying out a pre delivery inspection before sending out the new car. I’ve only found the one case though.

It was something to do with the owner should never have been sold the car as it wasn’t fit for purpose so was mis sold.... I’ll keep looking  

powerful_Rogue

When did you purchase the car?

Ant82

powerful_Rogue said:

When did you purchase the car?

I purchased the car in December 2020 (the rejection was within 6 months). It’s been back to the dealer 4 times for major problems but still has a very long list of problems that the dealer said will take a long time to fix as the parts are not available. I guess it must be bad for the dealer to agree the rejection straight away. The rejection has been going through for about 5 weeks now.

Ant82

powerful_Rogue said:

When did you purchase the car?

Hey powerful Rogue, does it make any difference when I purchased the car....Thanks 

Flight3287462

It's not a debt so I doubt it.  Do some more research but my gut says take the offer and run whilst it's on the table hassle free.

Ditzy_Mitzy

I suspect it's only relevant if you paid cash for the car.  If an outright rejection is accepted then you ought to be put back in the position you would have been in had the purchase not taken place, less the mileage claim already agreed.  What's being got at, therefore, is that if you had not bought the car you would have had the benefit of the cash for the period specified: purchase date to refund date.  Nobody can say what you would have done with the money otherwise, so FCA guidance is to offer interest at 8%.  

Of course none of that applies if you borrowed the money, as the loan capital isn't 'yours'.  

Batesy1976

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I suspect it's only relevant if you paid cash for the car.  If an outright rejection is accepted then you ought to be put back in the position you would have been in had the purchase not taken place, less the mileage claim already agreed.  What's being got at, therefore, is that if you had not bought the car you would have had the benefit of the cash for the period specified: purchase date to refund date.  Nobody can say what you would have done with the money otherwise, so FCA guidance is to offer interest at 8%.  

Of course none of that applies if you borrowed the money, as the loan capital isn't 'yours'.  

If the OP hadn't had the benefit of that car, they'd have bought a different one, surely?

I suspect this is just the OP being put out by the mileage claim and trying to counterclaim, it  but they've had the benefit of the car for 8-ish months.

I doubt you'd get a hire care for less than half a penny a mile.

This is the first time I've heard of anyone trying to claim statutory interest on the cost of a faulty product.  I certainly hope it's the last.

Ant82

Batesy1976 said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I suspect it's only relevant if you paid cash for the car.  If an outright rejection is accepted then you ought to be put back in the position you would have been in had the purchase not taken place, less the mileage claim already agreed.  What's being got at, therefore, is that if you had not bought the car you would have had the benefit of the cash for the period specified: purchase date to refund date.  Nobody can say what you would have done with the money otherwise, so FCA guidance is to offer interest at 8%.  

Of course none of that applies if you borrowed the money, as the loan capital isn't 'yours'.  

If the OP hadn't had the benefit of that car, they'd have bought a different one, surely?

I suspect this is just the OP being put out by the mileage claim and trying to counterclaim, it  but they've had the benefit of the car for 8-ish months.

I doubt you'd get a hire care for less than half a penny a mile.

This is the first time I've heard of anyone trying to claim statutory interest on the cost of a faulty product.  I certainly hope it's the last.

I have been in contact with a solicitor and the financial ombudsman, they have both said I am indeed able to seek a refund including statutory interest on the grounds a new car should never have been supplied with such problems. The problems where easy to see for a professional and I should never have been given the car in the first place. Thank you Ditzy

Jenni_D

45p per mile? 😲 That's about 3x the highest typical lease mileage overage charge AFAIK.