Bought used car 10 days ago - when is a Motor Trader not a Motor Trader?

Delarge2

Bought a 60 plate used car at the end of January, lovely car but a few issues have arisen.

Driving it back home the engine management light came on (car bought 85miles away, light popped on within 5 miles of home)
List of issues found
EGR valve is main reason for Engine management light warning (checked at local garage)
One rear tyre worn badly on inside edge (local garage stating this would fail Mot, Car was Mot'd on 8th Nov 2021, both rear tyres were on advisory - one was replaced before car was bought, car has travelled 3k miles since MOT but prior to us buying the car.)
Front spring broken
Front bottom arm bushes failed
Discs badly pitted and rusted

Spoke to Dealer who is based in Leeds, they are stating that this is nothing to do with them, and I quote
1) 'we give the customer (you) the keys you checked over the car and were happy'
2) we are not a motor dealer we sell to trade only which is why our prices are so low as we are selling at trade prices (obviously at no point did he ask us prior to the sale if we were trade etc as we are not...

The dealer has told me to get it booked in with a warranty approved garage to be looked at, we have yet to do this (will call tomorrow)


All of the above issues are not covered by the warranty for one reason or another except possibly the spring though this comes with a 'mileage and age dependant' it also states very clearly that it is not covering pre-existing issues... the car has travelled approx 281 miles since we bought it 85 of which were the miles to drive it home on the first day....

In essence, I would like to ask if anyone knows legally where we stand? not looking to cancel the purchase, just want to know if these issues are down to us to pay or the Dealer but not a Dealer 
My feeling is that the EGR valve (engine management light issue) is down to them plus should they be selling a car with a tyre that would fail an mot? Broken Spring? (yes i guess it could be argued that it broke in the 281 miles since buying it. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this far

cheers
Delarge2

caprikid1

Classic old skool rubbish of being a trade sale, sorry not our problem.

Do you have a link to the garage ? Where did you see it advertised ? 

If you are not a trader or did not state you were a trader then this is not a B2B trade sale. If they wanted a trade sale in my opinion they should have requested details of your trading company...

That said traders who operate in this manner are normally bottom feeders and will be tricky to deal with when anything goes wrong. They trade at low margins from backstreet lots and try and persuade buyers they have signed away their consumer rights.

There will be those that come along and are in the motor trade stating that you bought it trade on trade terms cheap , don't moan when it breaks as its not fair on the poor dealer.

All you can do if you don't want to reject is to tread carefully and listen carefully to the signals the dealer gives you, they may be reasonable but only time will tell. GOOD LUCK !

Grey_Critic

Could always give Trading Standards a call

Grumpy_chap

Delarge2 said:

Bought a 60 plate used car at the end of January, lovely car but a few issues have arisen.

Driving it back home the engine management light came on (car bought 85miles away, light popped on within 5 miles of home)
List of issues found
EGR valve is main reason for Engine management light warning (checked at local garage)
One rear tyre worn badly on inside edge (local garage stating this would fail Mot, Car was Mot'd on 8th Nov 2021, both rear tyres were on advisory - one was replaced before car was bought, car has travelled 3k miles since MOT but prior to us buying the car.)
Front spring broken
Front bottom arm bushes failed
Discs badly pitted and rusted

Spoke to Dealer who is based in Leeds, they are stating that this is nothing to do with them, and I quote
1) 'we give the customer (you) the keys you checked over the car and were happy'
2) we are not a motor dealer we sell to trade only which is why our prices are so low as we are selling at trade prices (obviously at no point did he ask us prior to the sale if we were trade etc as we are not...

The dealer has told me to get it booked in with a warranty approved garage to be looked at, we have yet to do this (will call tomorrow)


All of the above issues are not covered by the warranty for one reason or another except possibly the spring though this comes with a 'mileage and age dependant' it also states very clearly that it is not covering pre-existing issues... the car has travelled approx 281 miles since we bought it 85 of which were the miles to drive it home on the first day....

In essence, I would like to ask if anyone knows legally where we stand? not looking to cancel the purchase, just want to know if these issues are down to us to pay or the Dealer but not a Dealer 
My feeling is that the EGR valve (engine management light issue) is down to them plus should they be selling a car with a tyre that would fail an mot? Broken Spring? (yes i guess it could be argued that it broke in the 281 miles since buying it. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this far

cheers
Delarge2

I would assume that a trader buying from another trader would not get a warranty...

You chose to buy this car from far away.  Why was that?  Was it influenced by the price being "too good to be true"?  

You have some faults that may be covered by the warranty.  I'd try to claim everything and see what they reject.
Other than the EGR Valve, none of the items look to be terminal or particularly expensive, so did the low price for the car save you enough that you can get the faults fixed and it was still a good deal?
Once you know the root cause on the EGR Valve, that might be a simple and cheap repair also...

This might still work out

ontheroad1970

The potential illegal tyre is likely one you will have too suck up, as being something which is assessable by most people via the use of a 20p coin and MK1 eyeball.  After all, all drivers are meant to be aware of the state of their tyres legally.  

Herzlos

Motor dealers who sell to trade only won't have let you look at the car without proving you were in the trade. It's also a pretty stupid business model on the whole as you're cutting out most of your customers and profit margin. Dealers who want to get rid of trade ins just put them through an auction.

But as said, the dealers who pull this one are the Del Boy types that give car dealers a bad name. Legally they are liable to fix or refund the car but you're going to have a nightmare time getting anything from them but hassle. Even if you take them to court and win it'll take months and they'll just shut down and re-open to avoid paying you anything.

Definitely take it to Trading Standards, who might eventually be able to shut them down.

But for now, it's probably easier to just pay to get the car fixed yourself - it's mostly wear and tear stuff and at least you'll know it's been done properly. Get a thorough inspection first to ensure the car will be OK once repaired. If it is then take it as an expensive lesson and move on, if it's not then it's up to you whether you want to dump the car back on their forecourt and then go through the hassle trying to get any money from them.

caprikid1

"it's up to you whether you want to dump the car back on their forecourt and then go through the hassle trying to get any money from them."

Always a high stakes poker game this one, you could end up with no car and no money.

Herzlos

caprikid1 said:

"it's up to you whether you want to dump the car back on their forecourt and then go through the hassle trying to get any money from them."

Always a high stakes poker game this one, you could end up with no car and no money.

Absolutely, but if the car is essentially scrap anyway it's not so big a deal.

As long as you update the ownership and insurance so that you don't get into any further trouble based on it's usage.

MattMattMattUK

Grey_Critic said:

Could always give Trading Standards a call

Trading standards do not deal with the public any more. 

mobileron

So lets have the name of the dealer,will stop more people buying there.

Delarge2

caprikid1 said:

Classic old skool rubbish of being a trade sale, sorry not our problem.

Do you have a link to the garage ? Where did you see it advertised ? 

If you are not a trader or did not state you were a trader then this is not a B2B trade sale. If they wanted a trade sale in my opinion they should have requested details of your trading company...

That said traders who operate in this manner are normally bottom feeders and will be tricky to deal with when anything goes wrong. They trade at low margins from backstreet lots and try and persuade buyers they have signed away their consumer rights.

There will be those that come along and are in the motor trade stating that you bought it trade on trade terms cheap , don't moan when it breaks as its not fair on the poor dealer.

All you can do if you don't want to reject is to tread carefully and listen carefully to the signals the dealer gives you, they may be reasonable but only time will tell. GOOD LUCK !

sorry for the delayed response, it was in autotrader - company has multiple sites and is called reposessions-uk - we bought from their Leeds Branch - as another responder has pointed out they gave us a warranty - all these items are not covered by the warranty of course.

To be clear, the car is not a disaster, it was sold at a good price, im not looking feeling like I've/we've been robbed but just wanted to know where i stand legally with some of the costs of getting these issues sorted...