I think I was Sold a faulty used car

missteamackles

Hi would be grateful for any advice sorry it’s long. 

Purchased a used Vauxhall from a trader/dealer with 6 months warranty, service, a years MOT and cambelt changed for just over £3k in October. 

Car became faulty after 6 weeks,  would cut out once when stopping on a journey restart fine then not do it again for two weeks the fault ended up getting more frequent so booked it in for a diagnostics but no error codes were found Was basically told unless a fault is apparent the warranty company won’t cover any works. 

Car then drove fine for a week or so and at full power at which point I realised it had been quite sluggish previously. 

The fault returned even worse plus the loss of power so I  took it to the dealer to investigate. 

They couldn’t diagnose but tested engine compression and there was an issue they believe a head gasket / piston ring issue. They advised it’s best I just changed engine and hope that solves the problem they would  do it for around £500 with  free fitting. 

At first  I was agreeable although had questions about exact cost and if warranty would still be intact.while I awaited a response I contacted consumer advice who advised me not to pay for the repair and  ask them to  sort car. 

I asked they said no as I’ve had the car 3 months and driven nearly 2750 miles They were willing to buy car for £1500 or do engine change at around £500 

 I emailed back and asked to collect the car and get it looked at by someone impartial as the car never overheated with me and some things I mentioned when dropping off the car including videos from around the time of purchase lead me to believe the fault was there at the start of a compression/head gasket issue. 

I received an email back saying unfortunately I couldn’t collect car as works were already started so car was engineless. I said I would collect the car on a tow truck at which point I was told to go to court as they won’t release the car until issues are resolved??? 

My partner spoke to them on the phone and after speaking told me to just get the repair done as they won’t budge so I was considering it but they then emailed to say they aren’t repairing it and will buy back car for £2500 due to 2750 miles driven and bodywork damage I didn’t not do I pointed out the damaged bumper had been there at purchase and is showing up on the photos they used to advertise the car but they just thanked me for the info and didn’t adjust the offer. 

I don’t know who’s in the wrong or if I should collect the car or just let them buy it for that reduced price as I just want it to end. It has all got a bit messy. 

Jenni_D

How many miles were on the car when you got it? (Just to gauge the percentage addition that 2750 miles would be). Deducting 1/6th of the cost seems excessive.

missteamackles

Jenni_D said:

How many miles were on the car when you got it? (Just to gauge the percentage addition that 2750 miles would be). Deducting 1/6th of the cost seems excessive.

Oh yes forgot that bit mileage was 81,324 and car was  £3190 just checked

Thank you for reply 

Grumpy_chap

OP paid £3,190 for car
OP had car for 3 months
OP covered 2,750 miles
Dealer offered by-back at £2,500
That is a loss of £690
Equals 25 pence per mile

The car is clearly not an easy repair otherwise the Dealer would not be offering the buy-back.
The OP is probably best letting the car go.
The OP needs to pay something for the beneficial use (2,750 miles) the OP had from the car.
10 pence per mile would be more reasonable (realistically fair) than 25 pence per mile.
That means £275.
The Dealer probably expects the OP to negotiate from the £690 cost.
How close to £275 can the OP negotiate down to?
One factor the OP might do is to look at PCP excess mileage rates for similar car as a negotiating tool.

missteamackles

Grumpy_chap said:

OP paid £3,190 for car
OP had car for 3 months
OP covered 2,750 miles
Dealer offered by-back at £2,500
That is a loss of £690
Equals 25 pence per mile

The car is clearly not an easy repair otherwise the Dealer would not be offering the buy-back.
The OP is probably best letting the car go.
The OP needs to pay something for the beneficial use (2,750 miles) the OP had from the car.
10 pence per mile would be more reasonable (realistically fair) than 25 pence per mile.
That means £275.
The Dealer probably expects the OP to negotiate from the £690 cost.
How close to £275 can the OP negotiate down to?
One factor the OP might do is to look at PCP excess mileage rates for similar car as a negotiating tool.

They initially said 75p per mile but back but I refused. I will look into this thank you for reply 

Grumpy_chap

Well 75 pence per mile would be absolutely extortionate!

£690 for 3 months would be £230 per month which you could get a reasonable choice of Vauxhalls brand new on finance for that.  

It is obvious that you choose the second hand car to achieve lower acquisition costs than the brand new car.

Is the Dealer a main agent / large national company, or a smaller back-street independent?

missteamackles

@Grumpy_chap It is a small family run operation 

MX5huggy

I would get the £2500 in your back pocket ASAP, if you can negotiate a bit more on friendly terms then fair enough. Once you have the money decide if you want to go after the rest via small claims. 

Richard53

Agreed. Take the hit, put it down to experience, get your money back (negotiate an improved offer if you can) and move on. Even if they suddenly managed to fix it for you free of charge, would you ever be happy taking it back to them for any reason in the future, given the way they have dealt with you?

Take the money and spend some time getting personal recommendations before you commit to the next purchase. A cheaper car from a decent dealer would be better value for money.

caprikid1

Personally that's a great offer, they could well withdraw it !. Grab it !.

caprikid1

I should add "Car became faulty after 6 weeks" you were not sold a faulty car, you were sold a car that became faulty.