Second hand car issues within two weeks - my rights

T_Wilson

Hi, hope everyone is having a good Christmas. Does anyone have any input on the following 

I bought a second hand car on 14th December which has developed an issue inside two weeks of ownership (driven about 250 miles). 

Prior to purchase I researched the company using auto trader reviews and they seemed legitimate. Within week one I had a minor issue with the car that I repaired at my own expense as I wanted to get sorted quickly before Christmas, while in my usual garage they said the engine had recently been taken apart and asked was I aware. I had asked for their opinion as the tappets sounded really ticky (my hearing isn't great so didn't pick up on test drive) 

Then while driving back to my parents for Christmas I had an engine management light intermittently flash and then go off. There was no noticeable issues with the car, temperature, sounds and I was close to home so thought best to plough on. The car then Went into limp mode a few hundred metres from my destination.

I also noticed in the journey that the washer pump wasnt working. 

I have since read a wider selection of reviews outside of autotrader and they are either entirely fabricated five star reviews or one star with identical issues to this situation e.g. Car sold with major issues that manifest days after purchase and dealer then refuses any help.

If this is something serious what are my options? Going off the reviews I read I expect to be fobbed off. 

Is this sufficient to reject the car?

The car was sold with a warranty but just googling the name alone only brings up horror stories of pretty much nothing being covered. 

Waiting to speak to legal advice via my insurance. 

I need to go back to my parents and recover the car, 120 miles away 

I haven't spoken to the dealer as yet due to the holiday, and wanted to speak to the legal helpline first. 

Any feedback welcome

Keep_pedalling

Why are you looking at legal advice even before you have spoken to the dealer? 

cx6

Did you pay any part of the purchase money by credit card (or debit card even), or was it all cash / bank transfer?

bris

Get a report from the mechanic you used and use the short term right to reject (first 30 days).

After 30 days it gets more difficult so make sure you get the report and rejection letter to them before thats up.

TELLIT01

Speak to the vendor first, if they are unhelpful possibly go to their local Trading Standards to see if they are a known 'problem' company, and finally when all other routes have failed it would be the small claims court or credit card company if purchased on credit card.

pinkshoes

You need to act quickly and use your short term right to reject it in the first 30 days. WRITE to the dealership (in writing - email is fine) and let them know the engine warning light came on and it has broken down so you would like to reject it.

It might be worth getting it to the mechanic that previously looked at it to diagnose the problem as they sound reliable. This will give you some ammunition to reject the car, or it might tell you that a fix would be straightforward. 

T_Wilson

So I had the AA come out. Ruled out sparks and coils. Diagnosis of engine compression and potentially broken piston. 

Had it recovered to the local ford garage who are going to do tests and report.

What other evidence would I need? 

pinkshoes

It's up to them to prove it wasn't faulty, but if you don't trust a company it is generally better to get the garage to put in writing that it has failed due to a fault present when the car was purchased.

It might also help to have a quote to get it fixed.

T_Wilson

I don't trust them at all unfortunately.

Will feed that back to the garage. Hopefully they will be able to help. 

The engine warning light wasn't there when I bought the car but literally the first journey other than a five minute drive to the shops is when it happened and there is an engine compression failure.