Car brought with no advisories actually had lots!

HelpM3ee

So I have no idea if anyone can help me with any advice and if it’s actually worth fighting for .. 

I brought a car from a garage end of September 2022 with ‘good condition tyres’, new mot and service with no advisories on the mot done one week prior. 

The car started making a funny noise in January so I took it to a (very reliable) mechanic and upon his inspection found the brake pads and discs completely bare, two front tyres completely bald and illegal and no service only ‘oil change’ for the last 5 years. The car cost me £750 to be made road safe and to have an actual service carried out. 

I have spoken to car garage and he takes no responsibility and says it’s due to my wear and tear but I have driven it less than 800 miles and would be impossible to create that much damage to a car with supposedly no advisories. I literally drive to and from school 3minutes drive away and that’s it. 

A mot would tell you if break pads/discs were worn and if tyres were close to legal limit, all of which there were no notes. Car garage is also adamant an oil change is a service which it is not. 

I have asked the garage to reimburse me of my mechanical fees as I would not have purchased the car had the advisories been mentioned and he refuses.
Is it worth fighting for to get my money back? He is not registered with the motor ombudsman so I cannot go through them so more likely a small claims court if I did follow through.

Alderbank

Eyeballs can tell you if you have 'two front tyres completely bald and illegal', very reliable mechanic not required.

diystarter7

Hi OP

Sorry about that.
A garge cant give you advisories if there were none.
Sorry, but from what you have said, I'm with the garage.
What is their feedback like, you did check before buying?

Do you have a copy/access to the original advertisement?

Did you not realise the condition of the tyres as you said they were in "good condition"?
"completely bald" doe not happen over a few hundred miles unless one is racing which you are not

TBH, the more I think about it, the more I'm with the garage you bought from a first for me

The mechanic that told you all this, did he sell you the tyres/brakes/discs etc?

My posting is to make you think and then decide if you have a case or not

I sincerely wish you luck and either way, I hope the car serves you well

Thnaks

turnitround

How does this mechanic know there hs been no service for 5 years?

Penguin_

HelpM3ee said:

So I have no idea if anyone can help me with any advice and if it’s actually worth fighting for .. 

I brought a car from a garage end of September 2022 with ‘good condition tyres’, new mot and service with no advisories on the mot done one week prior. 

The car started making a funny noise in January so I took it to a (very reliable) mechanic and upon his inspection found the brake pads and discs completely bare, two front tyres completely bald and illegal and no service only ‘oil change’ for the last 5 years. The car cost me £750 to be made road safe and to have an actual service carried out. 

I have spoken to car garage and he takes no responsibility and says it’s due to my wear and tear but I have driven it less than 800 miles and would be impossible to create that much damage to a car with supposedly no advisories. I literally drive to and from school 3minutes drive away and that’s it. 

A mot would tell you if break pads/discs were worn and if tyres were close to legal limit, all of which there were no notes. Car garage is also adamant an oil change is a service which it is not. 

I have asked the garage to reimburse me of my mechanical fees as I would not have purchased the car had the advisories been mentioned and he refuses.
Is it worth fighting for to get my money back? He is not registered with the motor ombudsman so I cannot go through them so more likely a small claims court if I did follow through.

What does the MOT history checker say online? That will show if there were any advisories. What is the vehicle's registration number - Check MOT history – GOV.UK (check-mot.service.gov.uk) 

daveyjp

Eveything you list can be checked as part of due diligence before buying.

If tyres were illegal after 800 miles they would have been close to illegal when you bought it.  A look at each tyre takes seconds.

Brakes can usually be seen through the wheels.  You can ask to see the service history.

Of course there is the consipracy theory approach that the vendor swapped the tyres and brakes just for the MOT for it to pass and replaced them before you picked the car up.

cymruchris

It's nearly 6 months since you bought the car - not wanting to sound like I'm saying it's partly your own fault - but a genuine question - did you not check the tyres yourself since buying it? Even at the actual time of purchasing it? Completely bald tyres are very easy to spot even for someone that doesn't know much about cars.

I can't see how your mechanic would know that it's only had oil changes for a few years, even by plugging the car into a scanner. A service could very well have been carried out by the previous owner at home, and the service light reset with an easily available tool.

Brake pads and discs - discs don't go bare - only pads. In 6 months of driving your short distances to and from school, you may have used the brakes quite a bit.

If you think about it - if you drove from your house to the motorway and then 50 miles cruising along, and then drive a short distance to your destination once you leave the motorway, your brakes might get used the same amount as you going to the end of the road, stopping at the next junction, and then the next junction, and then stopping for traffic lights, and then over the speed bumps, and then giving way to traffic as you go through the high street, and again when you get to the school, and repeating it all on the way back. The former driver would rack up the miles - but use the brakes just as much as you do going back and fore to school.

If the pads the last owner fitted weren't the best quality, and although not low enough to be an advisory at an MOT, I could easily see them getting down to a level of potentially needing replacement after 6 months of your driving style, even though the mileage you've covered isn't huge.

Things on cars do wear out, brakes and tyres are the most common. If you'd picked these up as being an issue at the time of purchase, you might have had some evidence that the seller pulled the wool over your eyes - but realistically at this stage after purchase, I don't think you'd be able to prove anything untoward.

It would genuinely be beneficial to get your mechanic when he services your car now to talk you through some of the basics to look out for when you next buy a car, to ensure these areas aren't a concern on your next purchase.

As mentioned above - you can check the MOT history to see if it genuinely had no advisories at the last MOT quite easily. If there it says that the pads or tyres were borderline, you might have a bit more clout, but if it doesn't - I'd say you'd need to get the bits that need replacing replaced, and keep on enjoying your car. Brakes and tyres are both consumable items.

HelpM3ee

So I checked mot history online which was done a week prior to buying and it had no advisories. Service book is ticked with oil change only, and I had then rung the garage that did it and they confirmed ‘oil change in as per request’.

Unfortunately I am not the best to knowing how brake pads/discs should look and yes stupidly didn’t personally check tyres upon purchase. His advert claimed good tyres and as the mot had only done a week prior I honestly didn’t even think to check. Usually if they’re close to legal limit an advisory would come up, but as it didn’t I didn’t think to check. 

Also in the mot prior to most recent there was an advisory of exhaust clamp corrosion and newest mot no mention, and then in mechanics this was also something that had to be renewed as it was completely corroded.

HelpM3ee

And sorry for additional information, I raised this all with him just after 3 months of use and not the 6 months that I’ve had it. It’s just taken until now to hear from him and ombudsman services. 

(800miles driven in the 6 months, and not in the first 3) I brought the car based on it having no advisories and a recent service (and not just an oil change as I since found out). Thanks for all of your help and input everyone - and yes I obviously completely agree with you all I should have checked tyres etc prior to buying I just stupidly took the word on the mot history. 

Reviews online are mostly good and then a couple actually in the exact same situation as me. 

lindos90

Did the garage tell you it had passed the MOT with no advisories, or did the MOT not have any advisories? (The first scenario the garage is fibbing to get a sale, and you missed an opportunity to check the MOT, the second scenario is suggesting that an MOT assessor has falsified the MOT, which is a massive deal, but difficult to prove. 
I recently bought a second hand car and learnt that you can now (if you have the reg number) see past MOTs online for any car. It was quite an insight, and something I'd do in future, and recommend to anyone.

powerful_Rogue

HelpM3ee said:

So I checked mot history online which was done a week prior to buying and it had no advisories. Service book is ticked with oil change only, and I had then rung the garage that did it and they confirmed ‘oil change in as per request’.

Unfortunately I am not the best to knowing how brake pads/discs should look and yes stupidly didn’t personally check tyres upon purchase. His advert claimed good tyres and as the mot had only done a week prior I honestly didn’t even think to check. Usually if they’re close to legal limit an advisory would come up, but as it didn’t I didn’t think to check. 

Also in the mot prior to most recent there was an advisory of exhaust clamp corrosion and newest mot no mention, and then in mechanics this was also something that had to be renewed as it was completely corroded.

You should be checking the tread on car tyres regularly and at least once a month the car tyre pressures. You shouldn't be relying on an MOT once a year to do this for you. At 3 penalty points & fine for each defective tyre, it could work out very expensive.