My Rights on a faulty used car??? HELP

GullTQY

I am after some advice please.

I bought a used car in August 2025. Ive had nothing but issues with it since and various repairs done under warranty or paid for by the dealer.

It yesterday suffered another issue, catastrophic engine failure and needs an engine rebuild or new engine. 

I've spoken to the dealer, and they basically have said they wont give me a refund as all used cars have faults at some point, plus its over 30 days since I bought it. Ive researched this and understand I have to let them fix it or replace it. However they are 75 miles away from me. All previous repairs have been completed by a garage nearby to me who were the only ones who would deal with the warranty. The dealer has known about the issues and as I said agreed to pay for some of them. One of them was a missing wheel nut, an instant MOT failure, the car was not safe from the start! 

My questions are..

1. Should I pay to get the car towed to them? Or they should they be arranging this at no cost to me? He seems to think i should be and his words were 'we might be able to help a bit' 

2. In the instance of my consumer rights being they should have 1 opportunity to repair,  or I can ask for a refund minus a charge for milage, do the previous faults that were covered by warranty or repaired by my garage and paid for by the dealer, be classed as their 1 opportunity to repair?! Or do they physically need to repair themselves (a dealer who uses another independent garage to fix and mot cars)

I want to be firm and refuse to pay anything for the car to go back to him but I don't kmow where I stand on this. Or whether he's already used his rights at 1 repair with the 5 or 6 faults thay occurred before this catastrophic engine failure!

Please help, I am a single mum with a loan of 5K for a car that has never been right.  😪

GullTQY

Please note the warranty will only cover a max 1K per claim. Ive been told by the garage I use it will cost 5K. The amount the car cost me!

caprikid1

Age Model and Mileage on the car ? When did you buy it ?

Grumpy_chap

GullTQY said:

I am after some advice please.

I bought a used car in August 2025. Ive had nothing but issues with it since and various repairs done under warranty or paid for by the dealer.

It yesterday suffered another issue, catastrophic engine failure and needs an engine rebuild or new engine. 

I've spoken to the dealer, and they basically have said they wont give me a refund as all used cars have faults at some point, plus its over 30 days since I bought it. Ive researched this and understand I have to let them fix it or replace it. However they are 75 miles away from me. All previous repairs have been completed by a garage nearby to me who were the only ones who would deal with the warranty. The dealer has known about the issues and as I said agreed to pay for some of them. One of them was a missing wheel nut, an instant MOT failure, the car was not safe from the start! 

My questions are..

1. Should I pay to get the car towed to them? Or they should they be arranging this at no cost to me? He seems to think i should be and his words were 'we might be able to help a bit' 

2. In the instance of my consumer rights being they should have 1 opportunity to repair,  or I can ask for a refund minus a charge for milage, do the previous faults that were covered by warranty or repaired by my garage and paid for by the dealer, be classed as their 1 opportunity to repair?! Or do they physically need to repair themselves (a dealer who uses another independent garage to fix and mot cars)

I want to be firm and refuse to pay anything for the car to go back to him but I don't kmow where I stand on this. Or whether he's already used his rights at 1 repair with the 5 or 6 faults thay occurred before this catastrophic engine failure!

Please help, I am a single mum with a loan of 5K for a car that has never been right.  😪

How did you buy the car?
How did you pay for the car?
What due diligence did you do prior to purchase? 
Did you view the car? 
A missing wheel nut would have been visible to anyone who looked at the car at purchase.  If the wheel nut was present at purchase, then the car was not necessarily unsafe from the start as you state.  Wheel nuts can become loose and should be checked for torque periodically, especially a few miles after a wheel / tyre change.

Has the car had all necessary maintenance and servicing carried out since purchase?

What were the other faults?

How old was the car when purchased?
How many miles when purchased?
What general condition?
Consumer rights on a used car have to be tempered to the general expectations for a car of that age, condition, mileage.
Not all faults would be right to reject the car.

Now, the engine failure.  What is the root cause of the catastrophic engine failure?

dnpark38

As regards the getting car back to the suppling dealer would your breakdown company recovery get it back to the dealer?

Alderbank

GullTQY said:

1. Should I pay to get the car towed to them? Or they should they be arranging this at no cost to me? He seems to think i should be and his words were 'we might be able to help a bit' 

You just say the seller is 75 miles away from you.

Did you pick it up from their premises or did they deliver it to your home?

The Consumer Rights Act says the seller bears the cost of collecting the car from the place where you took possession of it.

The detail is in section 20(8) of the Act:
Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

This means that if it was delivered to you the seller must arrange to collect it from your house at his expense. If you travelled and took possession at his premises then it's your job to deliver it back there, but of course there is nothing to stop him 'helping a bit'.
That 'bit of help' could be something like sending his recovery truck to collect it, or sharing the recovery costs.

caprikid1

"A missing wheel nut would have been visible to anyone who looked at the car at purchase."

Wheel trim ?