Car not as described - right to reject

freddiecider

Please help.

i have recently purchased a car from an approved dealership of a well known German brand. A ‘21 plate at £26,000.
i found the car on the internet and paid a deposit online. 

I initially asked to view the car a few days after the deposit went down but was told I couldn’t as it was in prep . Due to timings and the distance involved I was then encouraged to purchase on the day of the viewing.cto save additional journey.  With this in mind I kept in touch with the garage prior to collection day and requested a walk around video of it prior to collection. I specifically asked what had been done in prep as it did seem like this was taking a while.  I was told about some cosmetic jobs with the bumpers and alloys which had been done. There was some talk of long prep time due to needing to get everything done well and some talk of how the car had had its bumpers removed and  redone due to some scuffs. The salesman made a comment about problematic paint matching at this point.  It was also explained that they had added a complimentary polish treatment meaning I would never need to polish the car. .

Two weeks later , we have come to wash the car and have discovered that a door panel is a different colour to the rest of the car. This is very noticeable although not until we had washed it. 

Now , on reflection  following the conversations, I believe this door was also part of the task being done but it was not shared with me that it was. Furthermore, I now believe that the reason the paint treatment was given complimentary was so that it would firstly disguise the difference and then  discourage us from polishing it. 

The difference in panel colour is very noticeable . If it had been explained to me that this has been done , I would have not purchased the car.  I believe I have been deliberately deceived. 

I am not happy to accept this car as I believe this is a significant defect which they knew about at the point of sale. 

km1500

can't really offer any advice other than to say what struck me was maybe you could find out why the door had to be resprayed anyway - was there some significance accident damage that necessitated this?

I personally would never buy a car without seeing it and test driving it

born_again

Timeline of purchase?

Seems a bit odd that colour of door was not noticed at time of purchase.

Aylesbury_Duck

Surely the first step here is to reject the car.  Take it back to the seller and explain the problem.

Spending £21000 on a car you hadn't seen, let alone driven, sounds crazy.

TonyMMM

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Spending £21000 on a car you hadn't seen, let alone driven, sounds crazy.

£26k ! .......I can't comprehend it either, but people do it these days.

I would be driving straight back there with all keys & paperwork and rejecting it ..... but be prepared for a fight.

Grumpy_chap

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Surely the first step here is to reject the car.  Take it back to the seller and explain the problem.

Spending £21000 on a car you hadn't seen, let alone driven, sounds crazy.

AIUI the OP, this was not a distance sale and the car was viewed before / at the same time as purchase.  It is hidden in the block of text:

freddiecider said:

i found the car on the internet and paid a deposit online. 

I initially asked to view the car a few days after the deposit went down but was told I couldn’t as it was in prep . Due to timings and the distance involved I was then encouraged to purchase on the day of the viewing.cto save additional journey.  

My understanding is that the OP went to see the car, inspect it and then concluded an "on premises sale" and, if the OP had not liked the car at inspection would have been able to walk away and, in all likelihood, received the deposit refund.

It is unclear how the very noticeable mismatched door colour was not noticed at this viewing but only became apparent two weeks later after the car was washed.

km1500

I read that as the op went to view the car but were denied access and therefore didn't see it

Grumpy_chap

km1500 said:

I read that as the op went to view the car but were denied access and therefore didn't see it

Hmm, we have different readings.

I see what you have read. 

I read that the OP paid the deposit on day 1 and planned to do a viewing visit, conclude the purchase and then a second visit to collect the car.  But the car was "in prep" so the viewing visit did not happen, but the OP then did just the one visit to view the car, conclude the purchase, and then drive away the same day.

Perhaps the OP will clarify.

Voyager2002

km1500 said:

I read that as the op went to view the car but were denied access and therefore didn't see it

Either way, they paid on-site and so it was not a distance sale.

Okell

Grumpy_chap said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Surely the first step here is to reject the car.  Take it back to the seller and explain the problem.

Spending £21000 on a car you hadn't seen, let alone driven, sounds crazy.

AIUI the OP, this was not a distance sale and the car was viewed before / at the same time as purchase.  It is hidden in the block of text:

freddiecider said:

i found the car on the internet and paid a deposit online. 

I initially asked to view the car a few days after the deposit went down but was told I couldn’t as it was in prep . Due to timings and the distance involved I was then encouraged to purchase on the day of the viewing.cto save additional journey.  

My understanding is that the OP went to see the car, inspect it and then concluded an "on premises sale" and, if the OP had not liked the car at inspection would have been able to walk away and, in all likelihood, received the deposit refund.

It is unclear how the very noticeable mismatched door colour was not noticed at this viewing but only became apparent two weeks later after the car was washed.

I don't think the OP or anyone else is claiming it was a distance contract.

I think they are claiming that it is a significant enough defect to exercise the short term right to reject.  Hence the advice to the OP to return the car (or make it available for collection) immediately.

The OP has said "Two weeks later, we have come to wash the car...".  I take their use of the present tense to mean that they bought the car two weeks ago and that they are still within the 30 day short term window.

[Edit:  And if they notify the seller of the problem now, the 30 day clock stops ticking.  Of course the OP needs to stop using the car if they are rejecting it]


(I make no comment as to whether a paint mis-match on a door is actually sufficiently significant to reject the car.  Nor as to how it only became apparent after the car was washed...)

Aylesbury_Duck

Yes, apologies all, I skim-read it.  As others have pointed out, it seems odd that the colour difference wasn't picked up when the car was collected or at any point in the two weeks since.

OP suggests that some sort of concealing polish has been applied, to hide the colour mismatch.

Whatever the situation, there doesn't appear to be any indication that OP has tried to reject the car, or even raise the matter with the seller.  That would be the obvious first step.