I need legal help regarding my car please.

GeorgieLou

I hope that I've posted in the correct place.

I bought a car on Wednesday, and a few hours later the 'check engine light' appeared. My husband contacted the car dealer, who agreed to us taking to our local garage, and getting back to him once we had. So we did this on Thursday morning. The garage told my husband that they would need to have a little look inside, and the car dealer asked if we would mind bringing it back to him to get fixed instead. 

My husband did this on Thursday lunchtime, as he is an hour and a half away. The car dealer says that the car would be ready for collection on Friday. Friday comes, and the it's moved to Saturday, possible Sunday. Today it's been moved to Tuesday. My husband was told that the car is with the mechanic. When asked where that might be, he tells my husband that he is unable to release those details, and that if he does, the mechanic will refuse to do any further work with the car dealer. 

My husband has been unable to deal with this further this afternoon, and we are a bit unhappy with what he is telling us. We decided that I will chase up where the car is, as I'm pretty sure we have a right to know (?) and just had some alarm bells ringing when we received that answer to a basic question. Just to note that so far the car dealer has been very polite in his dealings with husband

I had the chance to call about an hour ago. As soon as I explained that I calling up about this car, and that I am Mrs Husband, the car dealer interrupts me and informs me that he has already spoken with my husband about this, and that he doesn't need to do it with me also. I did explain that my husband is currently busy, and that we just wanted to know the name of the business that has our car,

That was the start of five minutes of utter rudeness. He shouted, talked over me, and mocked me. He told me that I am not the law, and that it is none of my business where the car is. He told me that he wouldn't give the address as 'you would just go and bang on his door'. I did tell him in the end that he was behaving very unprofessionally, and to please just let me explain. He further angers, and tells me that he will just give me back my money and keep the car if I carry on. I did say that he could not do that, and he asked me 'go on then, if you know it all, read me your rights' and 'you must be very bored tonight, just having the time to chat chat chat'. 

He ended the call that telling me that whilst I may be bored, he certainly wasn't, and then he hung up. 

My question is, taking my complete annoyance at the way he has treated me out of it, where do I stand here? He told me that the mechanic wasn't a registered business, and nor did he need to be. This is surely not correct? He said that the mechanic used to work in a garage and so knew what he was doing. 

Thank you if you have read so far, I just really need some guidance here. I did try to contact citizens advice, however they're now closed until Tuesday. 

neilmcl

Your relationship ends with the dealer who sold you the car. They are under no obligation to tell you who they are using to diagnose and fix the fault in your car nor where they are located. Personally I would've rejected the vehicle outright, as is your legal right but you have agreed to allow the dealer a chance to fix the car, so you should let them get on with it.

TonyMMM

Your relationship is with the dealer and you have returned it to him to be fixed which he appears to be arranging ... which mechanic he uses, or what the business status of the mechanic is, or where he is, is not relevant to you.

Al_Ross

Reject now for a full refund.

Grumpy_chap

GeorgieLou said:

I bought a car on Wednesday, and a few hours later the 'check engine light' appeared.
...
...
...
He further angers, and tells me that he will just give me back my money and keep the car if I carry on. I did say that he could not do that

You bought a car which immediately failed.

Your contract is with the supplying Dealer, so where he chooses to have the car repaired is his choice.  The Dealer then has a contract with the Mechanic.  It could cause complications if you contact the Mechanic directly as he cannot take instruction from you as you are not his customer (the Dealer is).

The Dealer has offered you a refund, which you refused.  I do not understand why you did that.

The best thing here would be for you to exercise your short term right to reject:
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/rejecting-a-car/

I hope that you can still do so and your refusal to accept a refund does not close that avenue.  It probably does not.

pinkshoes

GeorgieLou said:

He further angers, and tells me that he will just give me back my money and keep the car if I carry on. I did say that he could not do that, and he asked me 'go on then, if you know it all, read me your rights' and 'you must be very bored tonight, just having the time to chat chat chat'. 

Why did you do this?!?!?! You should have just accepted the refund!

They are clearly having issues fixing the car, it's none of your business which mechanic they use, so you should just reject it for a full refund.

daveyjp

If you have refused a full refund what solution do you want to this problem?

prowla

Is it a Vauxhall?

mattyprice4004

I'd reject the car personally, but the dealer is right - you have no right to know who is repairing the car, as this is down to the dealer. 
There's not really any such thing as a 'registered business' either.
You can have a registered company in terms of having a company number, or be VAT registered - but in terms of registration anyone can start trading and all they need to do is declare any income to HMRC and nothing else (when being a mechanic, anyway). 

Unfortunately it sounds like the dealer does indeed know their rights when it comes to repair, but you might have more of a battle on your hands to reject the car. 
The issue is the dealer now knows you don't know your rights, so might try and take advantage of this. 

Undervalued

GeorgieLou said:

My question is, taking my complete annoyance at the way he has treated me out of it, where do I stand here? He told me that the mechanic wasn't a registered business, and nor did he need to be. This is surely not correct? He said that the mechanic used to work in a garage and so knew what he was doing. 

Thank you if you have read so far, I just really need some guidance here. I did try to contact citizens advice, however they're now closed until Tuesday. 

For the vast majority of occupations in this country there is no legal obligation to hold any particular qualification or to be "registered" in order to practice.

As everybody else who has responded has said your claim is against the dealer. He has a duty to get any work he subcontracts done to an acceptable standard but how he goes about that and who he chooses is up to him.

It is never a good idea to take a "I know my rights" attitude unless you are certain that you do. 

born_again

>>>  I need legal help regarding my car please <<<

If you check the forum rules you will see...
It is instinctive to want to help someone, particularly if you are a professional in the area that is being discussed. However, please think carefully about the information you share and do not offer help framed as 'professional advice' to other Forum users.

But why refuse a full refund? You are clearly not happy with the car, or the dealer.