Faulty 2nd hand car dealer refusing refund

Housethirty

hello,

apologies if this is the wrong forum. I have a mental disability and this incident has left me quite distraught. 

I bought a car for just under £5000 on the 25/10/24. This was from a AA registered dealer 3 hours away and I paid by bank transfer. By the 4/11/24 I had to top up the coolant for the second time so called the garage to ask advice. They suggested I book it into my local garage and let them know the outcome. The first available appointment at the garage was the 9/11/24. On the 6/11/24 the car was increasingly noisy (which I videoed) so I called the dealer again to update, as before they suggested waiting to see what my local garage said. On the 7/11/24 on the school run I noticed bubbling noises from the engine so turned it off immediately and called my garage. They advised me to drive it no further as they suspected the head gasket was damaged. I called the dealer immediately and relayed this and they agreed that it sounded like a head gasket problem and to let them know after the garage inspected. The garage carried out a combustion test which failed and they said the evidence points to a blown head gasket. Initially the garage offered to repair if I got it to them, I explained that it couldn’t be driven to which they asked if I had activated the AA road cover they offered, I explained that I didn’t know I had to activate it. They then said they would pick up the vehicle to repair it before calling back and asking me to arrange the work to be done at a garage near me. I called several garages but none would do the work so I called the dealer again who said they would arrange transport back to them but I would need to pick it up. In the meantime I went through the MOT’s online to see if I’d bought a car with lots of issues and discovered that the mileage on the MOT in September 2024 was more then the mileage the car was advertised with in October 2024 leading me to have concerns over the dealers integrity.

I decided then to call and ask for a refund exercising my 30 day right to reject. After trying to talk me out of it for some time and disparaging the local garages the dealer accepted this and told me I must bear the cost of the return. I used a proper transportation company who took it that night and delivered to the dealer at 9am the following morning (Tuesday), I called every day to ask for my refund and was told I’d receive it that day but had nothing. Then last night I had an email from the dealer to say they would not refund or repair as I had caused the fault by driving almost 800 miles and not topping up the coolant, had burst and subsequently replaced the water pump and had then blown the head gasket. they stated that I had knowingly caused this damage so they were not at fault.
The mileage I calculate I drove was 300 but I have no way of proving this. 

I have sent them an email explaining this and asking for a refund under the consumer rights act as the goods were not of satisfactory quality. 

On the one hand I think their claims are ridiculous but I am really worried how I can prove this wasn’t my fault?
 I have the call log of each call but obviously I didn’t record the content. My garage have written in their report my concerns (one of which was the car running out of coolant). I also have screenshots of the ad and the online MOT which shows the discrepancy in mileage. Do you think this will suffice if it goes to the small claims court? In addition I paid £99 “admin” fee, as I have been knowingly misled should I ask for this back? I’m already down the admin fee, a full tank of fuel (filled up just before it went back) and the transporter fee of £200 so anything I can do to mitagate that will help. I’ve also just remembered the bank transfer was in the name of a different company, they said that they had recently changed name but I’ve just looked on companies house and this other company has not traded since 2020. I’m so worried now  any advice would be welcome as I desperately need a vehicle (I live 20 mins from the nearest shop in rural mid wales) and can not afford one until I have a refund.

tacpot12

Do you have home insurance? If so, check to see if you have legal expenses cover as part of this insurance. If you do, you can call the legal helpline provided by your insurer for help to sort this out.

If you don't have this cover, you might have to go to Small Claims Court yourself. The issue with the company name could be critical. Did you get a receipt from them for the money, and how does the name of the company on the receipt compare to the current company and the previous name? If the company you paid hasn't traded since 2020, this raises the question as to why they even have a bank account. My suspicion is tax fraud. I wouldn't report your suspicion to HMRC until you have secured a payout for your loss. 

I would recommend printing off the details of the directors of the two companies from Companies. Hopefully, they will be identical as this will reduce the potential for them to suggest that they are unconnected businesses. You might need to name both companies as defendants in your claim, but you won't be able to do so if one of the companies was dissolved after it stopped trading (it no longer exists so it can't legally have a bank account nor can it be sued). 

Mildly_Miffed

Housethirty said:

...
In the meantime I went through the MOT’s online to see if I’d bought a car with lots of issues and discovered that the mileage on the MOT in September 2024 was more then the mileage the car was advertised with in October 2024
...
Then last night I had an email from the dealer to say they would not refund or repair as I had caused the fault by driving almost 800 miles and not topping up the coolant, had burst and subsequently replaced the water pump and had then blown the head gasket. they stated that I had knowingly caused this damage so they were not at fault.
The mileage I calculate I drove was 300 but I have no way of proving this.

Can we just clarify a bit, please?
What mileage is on the MOT?
What mileage was in the advert?
What was the actual mileage when you bought it, which is presumably on the purchase paperwork?
What's the actual mileage now?

If the coolant level was low, then continuing to drive the car would indeed overheat it and take the head gasket out. Head gaskets are usually blown by overheating, and don't just spontaneously fail.

A healthy car won't ever need the coolant topping up - but you had to top it up twice in the first couple of weeks. How did you know it needed topping up? A warning light came on?

Where was the coolant going to?
If, for example, the radiator was leaking because of stone damage, then it's very hard to prove that's the dealer's problem, because it could have happened post-purchase.

Housethirty

Sadly two different names as company directors 

Housethirty

Mildly_Miffed said:

Housethirty said:

...
In the meantime I went through the MOT’s online to see if I’d bought a car with lots of issues and discovered that the mileage on the MOT in September 2024 was more then the mileage the car was advertised with in October 2024
...
Then last night I had an email from the dealer to say they would not refund or repair as I had caused the fault by driving almost 800 miles and not topping up the coolant, had burst and subsequently replaced the water pump and had then blown the head gasket. they stated that I had knowingly caused this damage so they were not at fault.
The mileage I calculate I drove was 300 but I have no way of proving this.

Can we just clarify a bit, please?
What mileage is on the MOT?
What mileage was in the advert?
What was the actual mileage when you bought it, which is presumably on the purchase paperwork?
What's the actual mileage now?

If the coolant level was low, then continuing to drive the car would indeed overheat it and take the head gasket out. Head gaskets are usually blown by overheating, and don't just spontaneously fail.

A healthy car won't ever need the coolant topping up - but you had to top it up twice in the first couple of weeks. How did you know it needed topping up? A warning light came on?

Where was the coolant going to?
If, for example, the radiator was leaking because of stone damage, then it's very hard to prove that's the dealer's problem, because it could have happened post-purchase.

Mildly_Miffed said:

Housethirty said:

...
In the meantime I went through the MOT’s online to see if I’d bought a car with lots of issues and discovered that the mileage on the MOT in September 2024 was more then the mileage the car was advertised with in October 2024
...
Then last night I had an email from the dealer to say they would not refund or repair as I had caused the fault by driving almost 800 miles and not topping up the coolant, had burst and subsequently replaced the water pump and had then blown the head gasket. they stated that I had knowingly caused this damage so they were not at fault.
The mileage I calculate I drove was 300 but I have no way of proving this.

Can we just clarify a bit, please?
What mileage is on the MOT?
What mileage was in the advert?
What was the actual mileage when you bought it, which is presumably on the purchase paperwork?
What's the actual mileage now?

If the coolant level was low, then continuing to drive the car would indeed overheat it and take the head gasket out. Head gaskets are usually blown by overheating, and don't just spontaneously fail.

A healthy car won't ever need the coolant topping up - but you had to top it up twice in the first couple of weeks. How did you know it needed topping up? A warning light came on?

Where was the coolant going to?
If, for example, the radiator was leaking because of stone damage, then it's very hard to prove that's the dealer's problem, because it could have happened post-purchase.

The mileage on the not and that on the ad has a difference of 500 miles. I don’t have the mileage recorded when I bought it. Stupid I know. The warning light came on for the coolant to say it needed refilling which I did both times. My garage haven’t mentioned a leaking pipe just that the evidence points to the head gasket, we found no leak just an overheated engine, smell of burning and the fact that we had to top up the coolant twice. After the second time we realised it wasn’t an oversight but a fault and I called the garage.  The dealer confirmed that the head gasket has indeed blown. 

motorguy

Housethirty said:

The mileage on the not and that on the ad has a difference of 500 miles. I don’t have the mileage recorded when I bought it. Stupid I know. The warning light came on for the coolant to say it needed refilling which I did both times. My garage haven’t mentioned a leaking pipe just that the evidence points to the head gasket, we found no leak just an overheated engine, smell of burning and the fact that we had to top up the coolant twice. After the second time we realised it wasn’t an oversight but a fault and I called the garage.  The dealer confirmed that the head gasket has indeed blown. 

A blown head gasket is almost always a symptom, not a cause.

ie, the gasket blows when the engine overheats through lack of coolant.

Jono111

The gasket will also blow if you top up a hot engine with cold water