Can we get a refund for a car purchase

ollie88

Hi all, 

I'm asking this on behalf of my wife, it's a long story but I'll try to keep it as short as possible. 

My wife purchased a used car last Feb from a mainline dealership. As soon as she got the car there was a number of issues the main one being a collision detection error resulting in cruise control not working. 

She spoke to the dealership the next day and they booked it into a Peugeot repair center who spent so long trying to fix it after multiple attempts finally saying it needed a complete new radar system but it took them 5 months to get the part.

We moved county in that time and after the new radar system was put on the car the warning still came up. So we took it to a different Peugeot repair centre who told us the car had been in a major front impact so warranty would no longer apply and ideally needed to go to a body work specialist. 

We went back to the dealership with this information and requested to reject the car, they took the car and inspected it and said it didn't need bodywork, but did need other parts to be replaced and fixed. They dropped the car back to us a month ago with the collision detection system still faulty and said they wanted us to book it into another repair centre to get fresh eyes on the car.

We have had that done today and we have been told that the headlight unit is wonky, the radiator is wonky and the car should not have been sold as it fails MOT and is not roadworthy.

When we tried to reject the car the dealership wanted to knock off about 5k due to milage and we understood that they do have the right to deduct for milage but given the new information about it not being roadworthy and from what I've seen online this is a criminal offence do we have any right to push for a full refund?

We already went via motor ombudsman but the dealership isn't signed up with them (others are just not this franchise) and we spoke to citizens advice but they seem to know less about it than what we did in terms of the right to reject rules. 

At this stage it just seems so unfair to loose almost 1/3 of the value of the car that has been fault from day one and now turns out not roadworthy. 

Sorry for the massive story but i think the context was needed 

eskbanker

ollie88 said:

My wife purchased a used car last Feb from a mainline dealership. As soon as she got the car there was a number of issues the main one being a collision detection error resulting in cruise control not working. 

She spoke to the dealership the next day and they booked it into a Peugeot repair center who spent so long trying to fix it after multiple attempts finally saying it needed a complete new radar system but it took them 5 months to get the part.

[...]

When we tried to reject the car the dealership wanted to knock off about 5k due to milage and we understood that they do have the right to deduct for milage but given the new information about it not being roadworthy and from what I've seen online this is a criminal offence do we have any right to push for a full refund?

Just to clarify, when you say 'last Feb', do you mean February 2023 or 2024?  If it took five months to source a part then I'd assume the former, but it makes a difference to your consumer rights....

ollie88

Hey thanks for your reply,

Yeah Feb 2023 was when we purchased it. in terms of the consumer rights act we know we are outside of the period to reject with a full refund and we were outside 6 months so the onus was on us to prove the car was faulty.

The dealership did accept our rejection but they said the refund would be minus £5,500  or they can fix it but that still hasn't happened 

I guess my question is now we have found out they sold it in an unroadworthy condition does that change anything? Surely if it's a criminal offence to sell a car that's not roadworthy do they have a right to offer to refund at a reduced rate. 

400ixl

Was it MOT'd as part of the sale? If so then it was roadworthy on the day it was tested, which is all an MOT is. Assuming it was 3 years old at the point of sale.

The radiator and headlight being wonky is not unroadworthy unless it is at the point of falling off, and unless the headlight cannot create the correct beam pattern to pass the MOT then that does not make it unroadworthy either.

From what you have described it does not sound unroadworthy, and therefore throwing out accusations of criminal behaviour is something you need to be careful of and have someone within the trade and of sufficient permission willing to put that in writing and be willing to stand up in court if required to state.

Stick to the facts and not go down rabbit holes.

How many miles have you done in the vehicle since you have owned it?

ollie88

The car was under 3 years old so no mot but they have a duty to make sure the car is in a roadworthy state. We did get a prep report after we found this issues and it reported a radar issue but they didn't tell us or do anything about it and no mention of lights on the report.

The Peugeot repair centre told us yesterday that because of the headlamp the car will fail the MOT if they put it through. (MOT due in 3 weeks)

Given the headlight issue is due to the front end collision we were not told about then the car was unroadworthy at the time of selling it and 

I'm not a car expert but when I'm told the MOT will fail and it was an issue prior to us buying it then I then it must have been unroadworthy at the time. I've not mentioned the dealership we purchased the car from so no one's reputation is at risk. 

The car has done about 11,000 miles but a lot of that has been due to repair centres having the car and test driving it for weeks at a time. 

400ixl

Thanks, sounds like good additional cause to reject, although it sounds like they are not contesting that. So trying to claim unroadworthy is not really going to change the position, they have already accepted it is not fit for purpose.

As part of a rejection you should not be using the vehicle now, so the MOT status does not necessarily matter. I take it you are not driving it sinse you rejected it?

They are saying they want to charge you 50p per mile for usage during the time you have had it. This is where I would be contesting. Typically the charge is 40-45p per mile, so they are well over the top end.

If you can evidence that they have put on a good number of those miles, I would argue for something more in the 25p per mile. £2,750 would be a reasonable amount for the depreciation (which has been high in the last 18 months on most cars).

ollie88

We did mention the amount of milage for repair related test drives the dealership alone put 1k on it in 5 weeks just using it as a daily driver to see if the issue was fixed or not. They said they would drop 2k miles off the total usage but that would only take £500 off (we were confused by that math). 

Since we had the car back we have had to drive it a few times we live in the middle of nowhere and have a young child. 

Ultimately we can't afford to loose 5k off the car ideally we just want it fixed but it's been over a year and nothing seems to get fixed if anything new issues keep arising. 

The dealerships stance is we have to pay to put this right and we do appreciate that but given how long it's been so far what happens if no one can fix it, do they keep trying indefinitely? 

So far they have replaced the radar unit, windscreen, multiple recalibrations, fixed some bent parts under the car (housing units, cables etc) they are now complaining about the cost they are spending almost like we should feel bad for them. 

I guess I just wanted to see if we have any other options but it sounds like no other than maybe contest how much they are charging per mile

Thanks for the responses