Contemplating rejecting an older used car - do I have a case?

typefish

Hi all

I've very recently purchased a used "fun" car, which is approximately 15 years old.

The vehicle was sold to me with a few known faults, that I felt comfortable sorting out myself. This was stuff like scuffs to the paintwork, brake rotors needing replacing, etc.

However, when I got back home after picking the car up from the dealership, the engine bay appeared to have a smell. I'm unsure if it's oil or coolant, but I suspect it was oil.

I've since found out that the vehicle is running a bit low on coolant (this should not be the case) but there appears to not be any overheating, and I've noticed that there appears to be small oil leaks from parts of the rocker cover gasket.

According to the service history, both the rocker cover gasket and thermostat were replaced within the last calendar year.

I've additionally plugged car scanner that I had lying around and there were some errors that had come up, relating to stuff such as camshaft sensors.

I am very aware that this is an old car, and that these things do and will happen but to see engine issues like this on a car that was apparently "recently serviced" is not something I'm happy with.

I'd therefore like to reject the car.

I haven't yet got a professional opinion on the rocker cover gasket seals but that's something I will soon be looking at.

Thoughts, folks?

Mildly_Miffed

Reject a decade-and-a-half-old car known to be in need of work... on the basis of a funny smell, coolant needing a top-up, a very minor oil leak, and a fault code that's probably historic.

Yeh, good luck... I'd say you'd done well if that's all you've found that wasn't expected. The joys of older cars... 

(BTW, we only deal with UK consumer legislation here - if your car has brake "rotors", rather than discs, bear in mind US legislation is very different and you'll be far better placed asking locally.)

photome

What is the car and how much did you pay, given that you know it needed work, I assume it was a good price

typefish

Mildly_Miffed said:

Reject a decade-and-a-half-old car known to be in need of work... on the basis of a funny smell, coolant needing a top-up, a very minor oil leak, and a fault code that's probably historic.

Yeh, good luck... I'd say you'd done well if that's all you've found that wasn't expected. The joys of older cars... 

(BTW, we only deal with UK consumer legislation here - if your car has brake "rotors", rather than discs, bear in mind US legislation is very different and you'll be far better placed asking locally.)

The fault codes are not historic, it is being flagged as being detected upon current scan.

I'm a Brit BTW. I've always known rotors as rotors, apologies!

photome said:

What is the car and how much did you pay, given that you know it needed work, I assume it was a good price

It's a BMW Z4, I paid a decent amount for it, it was a good price because I knew that I had to put a good deal of effort into fixing a lot of cosmetic issues to bring it up to standard. The previous owner had the car pretty much all of the car's life so far and no expense was spared in keeping the vehicle maintained hence why I'm disappointed in seeing the oil leak so shortly (relatively) after a repair

jimjames

typefish said:

photome said:

What is the car and how much did you pay, given that you know it needed work, I assume it was a good price

It's a BMW Z4, I paid a decent amount for it, it was a good price because I knew that I had to put a good deal of effort into fixing a lot of cosmetic issues to bring it up to standard. The previous owner had the car pretty much all of the car's life so far and no expense was spared in keeping the vehicle maintained hence why I'm disappointed in seeing the oil leak so shortly (relatively) after a repair

You mention previous owner, was this a private sale? Or did the dealer try to sell with any caveats?

typefish

jimjames said:

You mention previous owner, was this a private sale? Or did the dealer try to sell with any caveats?

It was purchase from a trader, not a private sale. The car was supplied with a full service history, which included work to replace the rocker cover gasket, and I had purchased the vehicle believing that would mean I wouldn't need to do any engine work (other than consumables) for at least a good couple of years.

Mildly_Miffed

typefish said:

jimjames said:

You mention previous owner, was this a private sale? Or did the dealer try to sell with any caveats?

It was purchase from a trader, not a private sale. The car was supplied with a full service history, which included work to replace the rocker cover gasket, and I had purchased the vehicle believing that would mean I wouldn't need to do any engine work (other than consumables) for at least a good couple of years.

That's quite the belief... and certainly not one that consumer rights are there to support.

Your consumer rights cover reasonable expectations for used goods of that age, relative price, and apparent condition. You bought a decade-and-a-half old car at a relatively low price reflecting work needed.

It probably just needs the rocker cover gasket resealing - it may have been a faulty one, the mating faces may not have been properly cleaned, it may have been nipped on refitting, a fastener might not have been torqued down correctly.

paul_c123

You have a right to short-term reject a car (30 days) if it has even minor faults.

However, there is no black and white definition of what a minor fault is. For good reason - it varies according to the age/mileage of car. For example, if a 30 year old car has a minor oil leak, it would not necessarily be considered a fault. If it were a significant oil leak, or a much younger car, it WOULD be considered a fault. So its not well defined.

Regarding scanning for engine fault codes. Is the engine management light on; and is the car in limp mode or not? If both are no, then I'd say the codes relate to a minor issue, which has no effect on the operation of the car, and for a 15 year old car it would be deemed "normal" not a fault which would be grounds for rejection. If it lit the EML (thus, would be an MoT failure) or put the car in limp mode, its a different matter.

So with that being said, you have no consumer rights but of course you could still approach the dealer and ask for redress (or a refund). At least you know you're in a weak position legally and you can tailor your approach as relevant then. Like say, ask for £50 or £100 off or something, or ask for a 2nd opinion or some optional piece of work to be done on the car.