used car stress

goffie78

Why is it so hard to find legal advice for consumer rights? Tried citizens advice and all they came up with was contact the seller, already past that. Had email from their solicitor refusing to accept my short term right to reject car.

It was purchased as a gift for my son's 21st birthday.

After buying car I had it inspected and found oil sump was damaged and the timing belt and alternator belt needed replacing. It cost £400 to replace these items and dealer refused to pay as they claimed they were general maintenance issues. I had the car for a week at this point and covered less than 60 miles- basically I drove it home after purchase and parked it up before taking it the garage for inspection.

After these items had been replaced at my expense I parked the car up again for a few days waiting for my Son's birthday. On his birthday I went to pick the car up and present it to him, however, on the way to deliver it the car broke down. As it was bank holiday Monday and a gift for my son I paid to have the car collected and repaired, costing a further £250. i emailed the dealership and they said to contact warranty company as the repairs would be  covered. The garage that repaired the car do not deal with warranty companies because, as we all know, they rarely pay out and if they do it takes weeks if not months before they do. That being said, when I bought the car I was told and it is stated on the invoice the car has to be returned to the dealership for all warranty work-as the dealership is over 50 miles away and the car would not start it would have cost more than the repairs.

fast forward 14 hours and after the second round of repairs the car yet again broke down. My son needed the car for work that evening so again I paid to have the car repaired as I wasn't able to find a garage near by that carry out warranty work and the car needed repairing ASAP.

6 days later and the clutch is slipping and the car unusable.

The garage want me to return the car to them at my expense they have offered a refund of original purchase price but refuse to pay for any of the repairs.

Their solicitor has stated I have no short term right to reject as they believe the car was not defective when it was sold. 

Don't know whether I should return the car for refund of purchase price and loose almost £800 in repair costs for what was 1 weeks worth of use or do I try mediation. I purchased the car for £3,300 so the repair costs is a substantial percentage of the purchase price. I paid £3,000 of this on virgin CC and £300 cash.

ThumbRemote

You're not entitled to anything for the money you spent on the car. You chose to spend it rather than letting the dealer perform the repairs. 

I would take anything their solicitor says with a bag of salt - to be honest I doubt they even have a solicitor. 

You can't force them to mediation, and since it appears they are fulfilling their legal requirements by offering a refund, I'd take it and run. 

Aylesbury_Duck

^^ I agree with this.

Grumpy_chap

goffie78 said:

Why is it so hard to find legal advice for consumer rights? Tried citizens advice and all they came up with was contact the seller, already past that. Had email from their solicitor refusing to accept my short term right to reject car.

It was purchased as a gift for my son's 21st birthday.

After buying car I had it inspected and found oil sump was damaged and the timing belt and alternator belt needed replacing. It cost £400 to replace these items and dealer refused to pay as they claimed they were general maintenance issues. I had the car for a week at this point and covered less than 60 miles- basically I drove it home after purchase and parked it up before taking it the garage for inspection.

After these items had been replaced at my expense I parked the car up again for a few days waiting for my Son's birthday. On his birthday I went to pick the car up and present it to him, however, on the way to deliver it the car broke down. As it was bank holiday Monday and a gift for my son I paid to have the car collected and repaired, costing a further £250. i emailed the dealership and they said to contact warranty company as the repairs would be  covered. The garage that repaired the car do not deal with warranty companies because, as we all know, they rarely pay out and if they do it takes weeks if not months before they do. That being said, when I bought the car I was told and it is stated on the invoice the car has to be returned to the dealership for all warranty work-as the dealership is over 50 miles away and the car would not start it would have cost more than the repairs.

fast forward 14 hours and after the second round of repairs the car yet again broke down. My son needed the car for work that evening so again I paid to have the car repaired as I wasn't able to find a garage near by that carry out warranty work and the car needed repairing ASAP.

6 days later and the clutch is slipping and the car unusable.

The garage want me to return the car to them at my expense they have offered a refund of original purchase price but refuse to pay for any of the repairs.

Their solicitor has stated I have no short term right to reject as they believe the car was not defective when it was sold. 

Don't know whether I should return the car for refund of purchase price and loose almost £800 in repair costs for what was 1 weeks worth of use or do I try mediation. I purchased the car for £3,300 so the repair costs is a substantial percentage of the purchase price. I paid £3,000 of this on virgin CC and £300 cash.

The garage have now agreed to take the car back and give you a full refund of the purchase price (£3.3k).  That means:

• You have a choice to accept that and it means you are down by the £800 of repairs you paid for.
• You have a choice to decide that with the £800 repairs, you now have a good car that cost £4.1k and keep it.

There are no other choices on the table.  Nor would it seem as though consumer rights give you any further choices.

For the future, the time to have a car inspected is before purchase and not after.

Do you have breakdown cover that would enable you to get the car returned to the supplying dealer, given you say the car is not driveable because of the slipping clutch?

goffie78

thanks for replies I decided to return the car for refund of purchase price. Assuming they now don't try to withhold money for mileage added for the 6-7 days my son was able to use the car my total loss is well over £1,000 considering had the car taxed and insured while unusable and costs to cancel, etc. This is why I, generally, don't buy used cars. A lot more expensive to buy new but so much easier dealing with a manufacturer's dealership rather than dodgy traders when things go wrong. When the trader replaces the clutch he will probably be selling the car that will run for years with no issues. That's what gets me more than anything, his reputation will be fine and improved when the new buyer purchases the car I spent hundreds of pounds repairing and credit the dodger dealer.

sheramber

There is the alternative of buying a used car from the manufacturer's dealer

Lavendyr

You should be able to claim a refund on the road tax. 

goffie78

Lavendyr said:

You should be able to claim a refund on the road tax. 

I have claimed for remaining road tax but have paid for 3 months tax which is annoying. It's done now anyway, thanks for replies and suggestions.