Car breakdown & rejection, but me, the car and the garage it came from are all miles apart!

gazzaman28

I live in Glasgow, I reserved a car online from a used car garage in Liverpool at the end of April with £100 credit card payment and then went down a week later (3rd May) to buy it (paid by debit card) and drove it home. It's a nearly 5 year old Hyundai Kona Electric.

I put nearly 1000 miles on it without any problems, but then at the end of May I drove down to see my family in Coventry, and on Bank Holiday Monday when we were due to drive home, the car (with a fully charged battery and all 12v systems working fine) gave an electric system fault and wouldn't go into Drive or Reverse, so I was stuck on my parents' driveway!
My recovery service would only take it to a nearby garage, so we got it taken to the Hyundai main dealer in Coventry, and then got a hire car to get me home.

The Hyundai dealer called me on Friday to say that the car isn't covered by manufacturers warranty (which should be in place until mid-July) because they've determined it has the wrong coolant in the battery system (assumed to have been done by a previous non-dealer when serviced). They produced a formal report which I forwarded on to the Liverpool garage, and I also told them that I was rejecting the car and wanted a full refund from them. They say that the sales director will come back to me in the next few days, so I'll let you know how this goes.

In the meantime I'm just wondering what I should do to prepare in case I get any pushback. I've told the Liverpool garage that the only circumstances in which I would accept the car back is if once fixed Hyundai honours the warranty (5 years for the car, 8 years for the battery). I'm pretty sure this will never happen but you never know, and I do like the car. But without the warranty it's hugely devalued.
But my main worry is that the car is now left at a Hyundai forecourt 100 miles from the seller, and whilst I would expect them to arrange and pay for the collection of the vehicle back to Liverpool (assuming they don't pay Hyundai to fix it there) if this doesn't happen is there a case where I will need to pay for this and then try to reclaim my costs from them?
I'm obviously also over 300 miles away from the car too, making this all the more difficult to arrange.

ontheroad1970

They aren't responsible for getting it back to them. In the case of rejecting the vehicle, legally, you are.  

Mildly_Miffed

Because it wasn't a completely distance sale, it's not their problem to return it to their premises. It's one of the things you need to consider when choosing to buy non-locally.

There's plenty of companies that'll transport cars for a relatively low price. I believe about a quid a mile is the going rate.

Given that there's only a month and a bit of manufacturer's warranty in discussion here, I'm not sure how the voiding of that "hugely devalues" the car.

Did the vendor assure you in writing presale that the car had a full main dealer service history? Because the lack thereof certainly risks affecting warranty coverage, moving the onus onto you to prove that all manufacturer servicing has been properly complied with, down to invoices for the correct spec parts and fluids etc.

gazzaman28

Mildly_Miffed said:

Given that there's only a month and a bit of manufacturer's warranty in discussion here, I'm not sure how the voiding of that "hugely devalues" the car.

Did the vendor assure you in writing presale that the car had a full main dealer service history? Because the lack thereof certainly risks affecting warranty coverage, moving the onus onto you to prove that all manufacturer servicing has been properly complied with, down to invoices for the correct spec parts and fluids etc.

There is 1 month of main car warranty left, but still over 3 years of battery warranty as well. Given that Hyundai have basically said that the wrong coolant has now damaged the battery (sorry I didn't state this in the OP) I'm assuming the 8 year 100k battery warranty is now invalid too. So even if the garage get the car up and running again, this is an ever present worry.

The garage in Liverpool confirmed that they didn't change the coolant, so it was clearly done in a previous service. Whilst this isn't the garage's fault, they've sold me a knackered car! (according to Hyundai anyway).

gazzaman28

Regarding the response of ontheroad1970 & mildly_miffed, this URL contradicts what you've both said:

https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/rejecting-a-car/

You are entitled to a full refund by the same method in which you paid for the car.  The dealer cannot charge for usage, wear and tear, collection of the vehicle or anything else.

It is the dealer’s obligation to collect the vehicle, unless your sales contract includes a clause obliging you to return the car. You only have to make sure the car is available to collect.

Be reasonable about this and work with the dealer if you want to get your money back with minimal fuss. Make their lives difficult and you can be sure they will return the favour…

forgotmyname

That may contradict what the other posters said but the website does not give legal advice, they offer impartial advice.

Legally they maybe wrong.

Any opinions or views expressed on this website are the views of the relevant author and should not be considered as professional legal opinion in any circumstances.

photome

gazzaman28 said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

Given that there's only a month and a bit of manufacturer's warranty in discussion here, I'm not sure how the voiding of that "hugely devalues" the car.

Did the vendor assure you in writing presale that the car had a full main dealer service history? Because the lack thereof certainly risks affecting warranty coverage, moving the onus onto you to prove that all manufacturer servicing has been properly complied with, down to invoices for the correct spec parts and fluids etc.

There is 1 month of main car warranty left, but still over 3 years of battery warranty as well. Given that Hyundai have basically said that the wrong coolant has now damaged the battery (sorry I didn't state this in the OP) I'm assuming the 8 year 100k battery warranty is now invalid too. So even if the garage get the car up and running again, this is an ever present worry.

The garage in Liverpool confirmed that they didn't change the coolant, so it was clearly done in a previous service. Whilst this isn't the garage's fault, they've sold me a knackered car! (according to Hyundai anyway).

Does it have a full Hyundai dealer service history?  Without it the warranty may be void anyway

gazzaman28

photome said:

Does it have a full Hyundai dealer service history?  Without it the warranty may be void anyway

No, but that in itself shouldn't be enough to void a warranty as long as servicing was carried out in the prescribed way. Clearly in this case, that didn't happen though.

Mildly_Miffed

gazzaman28 said:

photome said:

Does it have a full Hyundai dealer service history?  Without it the warranty may be void anyway

No, but that in itself shouldn't be enough to void a warranty as long as servicing was carried out in the prescribed way. Clearly in this case, that didn't happen though.

Indeed - but it's then up to you to PROVE it has been...

photome

gazzaman28 said:

photome said:

Does it have a full Hyundai dealer service history?  Without it the warranty may be void anyway

No, but that in itself shouldn't be enough to void a warranty as long as servicing was carried out in the prescribed way. Clearly in this case, that didn't happen though.

What your warranty doesn’t cover

The Hyundai 5 year warranty only covers defects in manufacture. Your warranty does not

cover damage or defects caused by factors outside Hyundai’s control or which are the result

of normal wear and tear. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

3) Incorrectly completed repairs or routine maintenance services

hyundai warranty terms suggest your warranty is void on the battery as at least one of the routine maintenance requirements wasn’t carried out properly

was it sold to you with a full manufacturers warranty, do you know which garage didn’t do it correctly

Okell

@gazzaman28 -  you haven't clearly said so, but I presume you are talking about the 30 day short-term right to reject under s22 Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)?

If that's correct then the 30 day period expired at the end of 02 June, two days ago.  Are you confident that you clearly told the Liverpool seller before then that you were rejecting the vehicle?  (I ask because it sounds like you only got the dealer's report on day 28...)

So long as you did then I would have thought that if you have a report from an official Hyundai dealer in Coventry stating that it hasn't been serviced correctly, then you have a reasonable Consumer Rights Act argument against the Liverpool garage that it wasn't of satisfactory quality when you bought it.  (But I'm not 100% sure of that.  Secondhand cars seem to be subject to all manner of exceptions.  See what others think.  If you are rejecting it you must cease using it - you can't anyway I don't think - and make it available for the dealer to collect.  See below).

If it hasn't been serviced in accordance with the strict terms of the warranty, I think the warranty is a dead duck.

ontheroad1970 said:

They aren't responsible for getting it back to them. In the case of rejecting the vehicle, legally, you are.  

Mildly_Miffed said:

Because it wasn't a completely distance sale, it's not their problem to return it to their premises...

Assuming the OP is exercising his short-term right to reject, why wouldn't s20(7) [Edit: and (8)] of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) apply?

That basically says that unless the consumer has agreed to return rejected goods, then all the consumer needs to do is to make the goods available for collection by the trader.  [Edit: And even if the consumer has agreed to return rejected goods themself, the trader is sttill responsible for covering the reasonable costs of that return.]

So assuming the OP (1) has validly rejected the car and (2) hasn't agreed to return it to Liverpool, I'm not entirely sure why you both think it's the OP's responsibility to return the car to the Liverpool seller.  Isn't all that the OP needs to do is to ensure it's made available for collection by the seller?

[Edit:  just realised s20(8) doesn't apply because the op collected the car in person, so the trader doesn't have to pay for the cost of the OP retruning it in person.  But I still think all OP needs to do is to make it avaialble for collection by the trader, nothing more]