Rejecting a car on finance, that dealer modified (infotainment unit), will this cause problem?

[Deleted User]

Hi there!

I'll do my best to keep this short. I bought a car on hire purchase 2 weeks ago and the next day complained to the dealer that it wasn't as described due to missing bluetooth. I found a few other issues and asked him to take the car back. I wasn't completely sure of my rights at this point and he talked me out of it. He said he could fit a Car Play system in the car for a fee to solve the issue and so I said yes.

Fast forward a week and the Car Play system is fitted and as soon as I leave the dealership the system is lagging, audio is stuttering, its clearly a third-party unit that has been ordered from China and even the english is off due ot translations. I assumed he would have fitted a genuine VW system as he said he'd fix another issue (broken shift plate) by ordering directly off of VW and going on about how its not about the money for him and he wants the car to be ok and all of that other dealer rubbish they talk.

Fast forward another week and a variety of issues are identified. In particular, a faulty drive shaft causing a metallic knocking noise while driving and causing the car to judder. I got an inspection report along with photos and have now reported it to my finance company who are going to assign a case handler and help come to a resolution (my desired outcome being a refund and taking the car back).

I'm worried that where he modified the car with that infotainment system, the finance company will come back and say that I have voided my contract or that they can't take it back or something. I don't know if they are going to ask the dealer to take it back as he sold it faulty, or if they will have to. If they do then I'm concerned they are going to make this difficult for me. At the time I was an idiot that should have gone through the terms properly but it didn't even occur to me and I assumed the dealer had my best interest as it was family run and he had hundreds of 5 star reviews.

Does anybody know what some of the likely outcomes are for this and if I will still be able to return the car? I'm so stressed out about this its unbelievable. I asked the dealer to take the car back 3 times before going to the finance company because I was unaware my rights were with them. He won't exercise my right to reject until the finance company speak to him.

Alderbank

[Deleted User] said:

Hi there!

I'll do my best to keep this short. I bought a car on hire purchase 2 weeks ago and the next day complained to the dealer that it wasn't as described due to missing bluetooth. I found a few other issues and asked him to take the car back. I wasn't completely sure of my rights at this point and he talked me out of it. He said he could fit a Car Play system in the car for a fee to solve the issue and so I said yes.

Fast forward a week and the Car Play system is fitted and as soon as I leave the dealership the system is lagging, audio is stuttering, its clearly a third-party unit that has been ordered from China and even the english is off due ot translations. I assumed he would have fitted a genuine VW system as he said he'd fix another issue (broken shift plate) by ordering directly off of VW and going on about how its not about the money for him and he wants the car to be ok and all of that other dealer rubbish they talk.

Fast forward another week and a variety of issues are identified. In particular, a faulty drive shaft causing a metallic knocking noise while driving and causing the car to judder. I got an inspection report along with photos and have now reported it to my finance company who are going to assign a case handler and help come to a resolution (my desired outcome being a refund and taking the car back).

I'm worried that where he modified the car with that infotainment system, the finance company will come back and say that I have voided my contract or that they can't take it back or something. I don't know if they are going to ask the dealer to take it back as he sold it faulty, or if they will have to. If they do then I'm concerned they are going to make this difficult for me. At the time I was an idiot that should have gone through the terms properly but it didn't even occur to me and I assumed the dealer had my best interest as it was family run and he had hundreds of 5 star reviews.

Does anybody know what some of the likely outcomes are for this and if I will still be able to return the car? I'm so stressed out about this its unbelievable. I asked the dealer to take the car back 3 times before going to the finance company because I was unaware my rights were with them. He won't exercise my right to reject until the finance company speak to him.

Welcome to the forum.

Just to answer a few of the points you have raised...

You don't reject a car 'on finance'.

You reject it. Normally it is the trader who refunds you and takes the car back. However if you bought using finance, as you have, the finance house is equally liable. The finance house has power behind the scenes. They will be watching progress over the trader's shoulder and if they feel that the trader's delay or incompetence is increasing the risk that the finance house might lose money they will intervene to get a resolution.

Your grounds for a successful rejection are that the vehicle has significant fault(s) at the time when you bought it, therefore breaching explicit or implied terms of the contract of sale. 'Significant' depends on how serious the faults are in relation to the car's age and mileage. 

The faulty driveshaft is very likely to be a significant fault.  Bluetooth, maybe. What is the model, age and mileage?

Modern cars are very complex systems and in practice no trader can check everything under the bonnet for every possible sign of inherent failure. Strictly speaking the contract is breached and you are entitled to reject by the mere presence of a significant fault. However custom and practice in the motor trade is that if the trader can fix a fault quickly and satisfactorily that rejection on that ground isn't justified. That might well be the case with a driveshaft if the trader can fit a new one in a couple of hours. The finance house would accept that because they know that a court would too.

Fitting an aftermarket head unit should not affect the validity of rejecting a car because of a mechanical failure intrinsically present when you bought the vehicle. However the trader might be entitled to deduct the cost of it if he accepts the car back, arguing that he fitted a third party improvement to the vehicle at your request.

[Deleted User]

Alderbank said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hi there!

I'll do my best to keep this short. I bought a car on hire purchase 2 weeks ago and the next day complained to the dealer that it wasn't as described due to missing bluetooth. I found a few other issues and asked him to take the car back. I wasn't completely sure of my rights at this point and he talked me out of it. He said he could fit a Car Play system in the car for a fee to solve the issue and so I said yes.

Fast forward a week and the Car Play system is fitted and as soon as I leave the dealership the system is lagging, audio is stuttering, its clearly a third-party unit that has been ordered from China and even the english is off due ot translations. I assumed he would have fitted a genuine VW system as he said he'd fix another issue (broken shift plate) by ordering directly off of VW and going on about how its not about the money for him and he wants the car to be ok and all of that other dealer rubbish they talk.

Fast forward another week and a variety of issues are identified. In particular, a faulty drive shaft causing a metallic knocking noise while driving and causing the car to judder. I got an inspection report along with photos and have now reported it to my finance company who are going to assign a case handler and help come to a resolution (my desired outcome being a refund and taking the car back).

I'm worried that where he modified the car with that infotainment system, the finance company will come back and say that I have voided my contract or that they can't take it back or something. I don't know if they are going to ask the dealer to take it back as he sold it faulty, or if they will have to. If they do then I'm concerned they are going to make this difficult for me. At the time I was an idiot that should have gone through the terms properly but it didn't even occur to me and I assumed the dealer had my best interest as it was family run and he had hundreds of 5 star reviews.

Does anybody know what some of the likely outcomes are for this and if I will still be able to return the car? I'm so stressed out about this its unbelievable. I asked the dealer to take the car back 3 times before going to the finance company because I was unaware my rights were with them. He won't exercise my right to reject until the finance company speak to him.

Welcome to the forum.

Just to answer a few of the points you have raised...

You don't reject a car 'on finance'.

You reject it. Normally it is the trader who refunds you and takes the car back. However if you bought using finance, as you have, the finance house is equally liable. The finance house has power behind the scenes. They will be watching progress over the trader's shoulder and if they feel that the trader's delay or incompetence is increasing the risk that the finance house might lose money they will intervene to get a resolution.

Your grounds for a successful rejection are that the vehicle has significant fault(s) at the time when you bought it, therefore breaching explicit or implied terms of the contract of sale. 'Significant' depends on how serious the faults are in relation to the car's age and mileage. 

The faulty driveshaft is very likely to be a significant fault.  Bluetooth, maybe. What is the model, age and mileage?

Modern cars are very complex systems and in practice no trader can check everything under the bonnet for every possible sign of inherent failure. Strictly speaking the contract is breached and you are entitled to reject by the mere presence of a significant fault. However custom and practice in the motor trade is that if the trader can fix a fault quickly and satisfactorily that rejection on that ground isn't justified. That might well be the case with a driveshaft if the trader can fit a new one in a couple of hours. The finance house would accept that because they know that a court would too.

Fitting an aftermarket head unit should not affect the validity of rejecting a car because of a mechanical failure intrinsically present when you bought the vehicle. However the trader might be entitled to deduct the cost of it if he accepts the car back, arguing that he fitted a third party improvement to the vehicle at your request.

Thanks very much!

So I started with the trader who was incredibly difficult and ignored pretty much all of my letter/email where I stated my rights and wish to reject and said he'd rather wait to deal with the finance company when they come to him.

The car is a VW Polo, 9 years old and around 73k miles. It came with a fresh MOT and a full service as well as the dealer's continued assurance that 'any faults would have been picked up', clearly not this one!

Is the case that they'd rather accept a fix even upheld if I've declared the fault within 30 days?

Thanks, I really appreciate your advice here!