Rejecting a used car within 30 days of purchase

Reginald74

Several years ago I was with Admiral and had similar experiences around making changes and fees. I vowed never to get insurance with them again. Sounds like they are still up to their old tricks.

Ectophile

TheMidnightSkulker said:

Really? That's interesting, thanks Ectophile. 

How do I apply it if I can't get the hatch open, though?

If you can unlock the hatch, try prying the thing open a bit at a time.  With your fingers if possible, or maybe a flat implement that won't wreck the paintwork.  Or lower the back seats, clamber inside, and push from the inside.

I have got to the point in my Fiat where a passenger can't open the front passenger door from the outside without pulling the handle off, but a good shove from the inside will do it.

TheMidnightSkulker

Ah, right. The hatch doesn't *never* open from the outside by now, as I've managed it *once* - but it took a *lot* of force even that one time.

To open it from the inside, there's a detailed process which requires emptying the boot, opening the floor hatch and accessing some panels that would normally be left untouched. The dealership had to do it that way when I took it to them.

It's difficult and physically effortful even when the latch isn't jammed. I think I will just focus on getting it repaired.

TheMidnightSkulker

And speak of the devil, my Admiral voucher has arrived, just under three months after taking out the policy.

Haven't tried to use it yet though :-P

TheMidnightSkulker

In case anyone is still interested, I have a further update!

A couple of months later I started having problems opening the doors, and then the engine wouldn't start. Roadside assistance attributed this to a drained 12v battery. I gave the car a good long drive to recharge it.

A few days later it wouldn't start AGAIN. As the 12v battery was over a year old, I got it changed, but then the car started throwing codes. The mechanic told me my best option was to sell the car. 

Do I give up that easily? I do not. On the advice of a friend I joined the AA's specialist hybrid rescue plan. They were confident they'd be able to get it restarted, but as it turned out, they weren't able to fully recharge the hybrid battery and it was still throwing codes. 

They gave me the numbers of two electrical specialist garages they habitually used. One of them assured me they would definitely be able to fix it. They collected it for me and they found that the wiring loom to the bus was fried, and there was corrosion on the hybrid battery.

Neither of these faults could reasonably have been discovered by the pre-purchase inspection process, nor had they been apparent from the car's performance up till then. So, whattayagonnado, that's the risk you take.

I had to pay about £1300 for the labour and the replacement parts, but every aspect of the cost breakdown checked out. They also fixed the stuck latch for me, which saved me having to go out of my way to get it done separately.

So that was eye-watering, but also not really avoidable. It's a thing that happens with this make and model. Nobody was hiding these problems from me before I bought the car, it's just that the problems were not apparent.

The garage brought the car back to me, and they commented on how beautifully it drives and asked if it was for sale, saying that a number of people who passed through the garage were had asked about buying it.

I got a solar trickle charger to make sure the 12v battery doesn't drain while it's parked (not that that turned out to be the cause of the problem, but there is no sense letting a potential problem go unaddressed). It works great. I got the AA one.

I have had no problems with the car since then, and it passed its MOT in August outright with no issues.

As for the thing where the alarm kept going off - that problem went away after the first couple of weeks. I think it's possible that someone was trying to open the doors, maybe even mistaking it for their own car - Priuses are common on my street, and most of them are also grey.

It is not a glamorous car, but to me, it is unbelievably luxurious. I drove it on a 200-mile round trip a couple of weeks ago and I felt like I was in a land yacht. It's so spacious inside and the way it moves feels so smooth and elegant.