We bought a second hand car that broke down- now garage is ignoring us

mycarisbroke

Hello please help if you can.

We needed to upgrade our car due to me being pregnant (now heavily).
We purchased an older car- we got a loan out to pay for this.

We specifically asked the garage to double check for any faults- they took this to a garage they work with and a price was agreed at trade level for any faults found. 

We drove the vehicle for just over a month when it broke down, the garage we have taken it to have estimated the fault to cost roughly £3k to fix. They said the issue is intermittent- it wouldn’t always show up as a fault. The vehicle just cuts out. 

We tried to return the vehicle but the seller is ignoring all contact- calls and emails. 

My questions are: 

do we have a case here for a refund? 

How long will this take (we need a car and our money is now tied up)? 

Have you been in a similar situation- how cut and dry is this? 

Aylesbury_Duck

mycarisbroke said:

Hello please help if you can.

We needed to upgrade our car due to me being pregnant (now heavily).
We purchased an older car- we got a loan out to pay for this.

We specifically asked the garage to double check for any faults- they took this to a garage they work with and a price was agreed at trade level for any faults found. 

We drove the vehicle for just over a month when it broke down, the garage we have taken it to have estimated the fault to cost roughly £3k to fix. They said the issue is intermittent- it wouldn’t always show up as a fault. The vehicle just cuts out. 

We tried to return the vehicle but the seller is ignoring all contact- calls and emails. 

My questions are: 

do we have a case here for a refund? 

How long will this take (we need a car and our money is now tied up)? 

Have you been in a similar situation- how cut and dry is this? 

We'll need to know exactly when you purchased it, the status of the seller (dealer, garage, private seller), exactly what date it broke down, how and when you reported it to the seller and how you paid.  It's also helpful to know the age and mileage of the car, the price you paid and what sort of loan you took out, i.e. was it a private loan or a finance loan linked to the purchase?

To answer your questions:

You may have a case for a refund.
It might take a long time if you're unable to reach the seller - you could be looking at court action which will take many months.  
I can't tell how cut and dried it is without the information requested above.

ButterCheese

How much was the car?

What was written in your paperwork regarding warranty (i.e. how long was it, what it covers and what it excludes)?

tacpot12

Do you have home insurance, and if so, do you have legal expenses cover? If you do, you can call the Legal Helpline provide by your insurer for help and advice. The dealer might respond to a firm of Solicitors. 

Grumpy_chap

mycarisbroke said:

We specifically asked the garage to double check for any faults

We drove the vehicle for just over a month when it broke down, the garage we have taken it to have estimated the fault to cost roughly £3k to fix. They said the issue is intermittent- it wouldn’t always show up as a fault. The vehicle just cuts out. 

It does seem quite plausible then that the selling Dealer did get the car checked over and no faults were identified.  An intermittent fault may simply have not been present at the time of sale / pre-sale checks.

You say the vehicle just cuts out and the fault will cost £3k to fix.  What actually is the fault?  The actual fault, what is actually wrong, not the symptom (vehicle just cuts out is a symptom).