Faulty Car 48 hours of ownership

n-1 wrote: »

've had my car less than a full 48 hours. I got it from a used car dealership and all seemed ok when I looked at the car before committing to buy it. I paid £2000 via debit card and financed the remaining approx 3k. The car was delivered to me because the garage is quite far away. The car is a 59 plate Nissan with 68K miles on the clock.


The garage website states every car gets a 60 point check and a service if required.

Also noteworthy; when the car was delivered the battery was dead but the driver explained it had the lights on before being loaded so that might of drained the battery and a few drives would charge it back up, something which I felt was plausible.

The car was also delivered in a very unclean state, despite being told it would be cleaned. I couldn't point this out when the car was being delivered as it was dark when it was delivered and the interior lights didn't work because the battery problem. Would it be reasonable to ask for a financial contribution towards a valet clean on the car?


So, my first drive I got an engine warning light and it felt like the car had misfired. I emailed the garage with a picture of a the warning light and asked if they would cover the cost of me getting the fault diagnosed and repaired at a local garage. They replied that the car was sold with an AA warranty which covered things like this and I needed to go via them. They went on to say that their aftersales person wasn't in until Monday so I'd need to wait until then to have the process explained to me.

I thought that was potentially unsafe to wait two days to talk to someone and then wait more days before someone comes and checks the cars condition so I booked it in for some free checks at a Halfords Autocentre. The findings were very worrying:



*All 4 tyres were at different pressures between 40PSI and 26PSI.

*Oil has been over filled

*The battery was barley holding 36% charge despite having driven 350 miles since getting the car, which should be enough to charge it back up if it was low?

*Timing belt has not been changed and needs replacing

*Pollen Filter badly blocked needed changing

*Diesel Particale filter needed cleaning and was contributing to the initial 'misfire' which triggered the engine warning light

*Fuel system cleaner needed adding for the same reason as above

*Air conditioning system is not holding gas due to a faulty compressor pump

Some of the problems above I've paid to be repaired at the cost of £320~ the repairs I have not paid for add up to around £850. Obviously as the garage is quite far from me and they missed basic things like tyre pressure I'd be very reluctant to let them work on the car again and I'd prefer to have a local garage do the work at the companies expense.

The cost of all this to repair in total is nearly £1200 and the faults were not identified by the garage, or at least I was not made aware of them by the garage. Would it be reasonable to call the above faulty "Unsatisfactory condition"? And therefore would I have a case to claim against the dealership if they are not willing to fix the faults?


I know I'm entitled to ask for a refund however I'd be left worse off. Firstly, I don't have access to another car and need my car for work. Also, I've already paid for some of the less costly repairs to keep the car usable. Not only that but I'd have the hassle of money being lost through car insurance and car tax as well as the problem that I would have no way to get home from the dealership.

Anyway, if someone could advise what my legal rights are in this case and if I have the right to go down the legal route if they fail to compensate me that'd be great.

I've listed 5 things in a draft letter

1. I wish to be fully compensated by the sum of £320.23 the amount which has been currently spent on repairing this car
2. I wish to have the outstanding repairs paid for in full, either at the price quoted by Halfords Autocentre PLACENAME or at the quoted cost of another reputable garage within a 5 mile radius of the postal area of my current residence XXXX.
3. In the case that further damage and/or need for repair or replacement of parts is discovered when repairing these faults I also request that these issues are repaired by a reputable local garage at no cost to myself. As before, within 5 miles of the XXXX postal area.
4. Due to the condition of the pollen filter, a part which is usually replaced on a service, I do not believe the car has been adequately serviced recently. I therefore request that the car is also given a full service at no cost to myself. Again, I request that this is done either at Halfords Autocentre PLACE which quote online £195 excluding replacement parts, or a local reputable garage within a 5 mile radius of the XXXX postal area.
5. I wish for the cost of a full valet clean of the car to be performed at no cost to myself. This is to rectify the dirty condition which the car arrived in.

n-1 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, it's a shame that I might not see the £320 again but I guess I'll live and learn. Is there no valid argument that if they offered a delivery service they should expect that not all customers are within a reasonable distance to revisit the garage to get the car repaired?

n-1 wrote: »

There is no paperwork stating the car has had a replacement one which it should of considering its age. A visual inspection was carried out and I was told it looked like it was showing signs of wear, and they said something about it making a sound. I can't recall word for word.