SCC - Costs Incurred Through Purchasing a Faulty Vehicle

Good afternoon all,

Unfortunately, after reading about so many other people's issues and how they were resolved, I must ask for help by creating my own thread.

I'm toying with the prospect of taking a second hand car dealer to the small claims court after a purchase/rejection of purchase scenario that took place in August.

Everyone I speak to asks why I haven't sued them yet, and how the odds are hugely in my favour. I've been in court before so I'm not exactly going to jump at the chance to head back, I'm also slightly worried about expenses. I'll refer to the other party as 'Dealer A'.

The Scenario

I purchased a used car from Dealer A in Edinburgh on 05/08/17. It was 9 years old and had just over 70,000 miles on the clock with the MOT record to back up the mileage. It was well presented, clean, nice bodywork and looked like it had been taken care of. The advert stated that it was an 'Excellent low mileage example', which it appeared to be.
A deal was struck and I took it home, only to find the engine warning light on by the time I completed the 45 mile journey. I had the car inspected by a specialist in Glasgow on 10/08/17. This is routine in my car purchasing to-do list.

That Thursday the specialist found over £2,000 (almost 50% of the purchase price) worth of damage to the engine, with a few MOT failure worthy articles to boot. I took the car straight back to Edinburgh and was assured that they would inspect and fix everything they could. Dealer A had the car for three days and made zero progress. They claimed that their mechanics found no fault with the car and advised me to take it back to the specialist in Glasgow. Dealer A kept assuring me that it would be covered under warranty and they would of course cover anything that wasn't under the warranty's remit.

The car returned to the Specialist in Glasgow on 14/08/17 on the back of a recovery vehicle because by the time I got it home from Dealer A on 13/08/17, it had mysteriously developed a flat tyre. I had to take a day off work, I work 13 miles from home and the quickest route would have been 3 hours on a bus each way. The Specialist repaired the tyre, my cost, fine. They then started to dismantle the vehicle in preparation for taking pictures for the warranty company. In the process, the power steering pump pipe had corroded so badly that it actually broke off and required replacing.

The warranty company refused liability. They said that they believed the problems existed at the time of purchase and so were taking nothing to do with it, which to be fair, is what I would have said.

Now that the warranty company were out of the picture, Dealer A weren't too friendly and decided that they weren't going to pay for anything. I decided to reject the vehicle under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

At this point, I have a car at the garage sitting in pieces because work was halted when warranty company pulled out. According to them it's going to cost £900 to put back together. Dealer A says I'm obliged to get the car ready for collection but they're not paying to have it put back together. I eventually have to pay the Specialist under protest on my credit card. The vehicle is collected and I'm refunded the purchase price but am still £900 out of pocket.

I feel, and everyone else seems to agree, that that £900 cost is the responsibility of Dealer A. They broke our contract of sale by selling me a faulty car, and then got the car back in a better condition than what they sold to me. I have copies of everything- the initial advert, emails, inspection report, MOT, sales invoice all with mileages present and it is clear that I was sold a dressed up dud.

I don't think I've missed anything out, I would just like some guidance before I proceed.

Thank you

Comments

  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    DooverHam wrote: »
    Good afternoon all,

    Unfortunately, after reading about so many other people's issues and how they were resolved, I must ask for help by creating my own thread.

    I'm toying with the prospect of taking a second hand car dealer to the small claims court after a purchase/rejection of purchase scenario that took place in August.

    Everyone I speak to asks why I haven't sued them yet, and how the odds are hugely in my favour. I've been in court before so I'm not exactly going to jump at the chance to head back, I'm also slightly worried about expenses. I'll refer to the other party as 'Dealer A'.

    The Scenario

    I purchased a used car from Dealer A in Edinburgh on 05/08/17. It was 9 years old and had just over 70,000 miles on the clock with the MOT record to back up the mileage. It was well presented, clean, nice bodywork and looked like it had been taken care of. The advert stated that it was an 'Excellent low mileage example', which it appeared to be.
    A deal was struck and I took it home, only to find the engine warning light on by the time I completed the 45 mile journey. I had the car inspected by a specialist in Glasgow on 10/08/17. This is routine in my car purchasing to-do list.

    That Thursday the specialist found over £2,000 (almost 50% of the purchase price) worth of damage to the engine, with a few MOT failure worthy articles to boot. I took the car straight back to Edinburgh and was assured that they would inspect and fix everything they could. Dealer A had the car for three days and made zero progress. They claimed that their mechanics found no fault with the car and advised me to take it back to the specialist in Glasgow. Dealer A kept assuring me that it would be covered under warranty and they would of course cover anything that wasn't under the warranty's remit.

    The car returned to the Specialist in Glasgow on 14/08/17 on the back of a recovery vehicle because by the time I got it home from Dealer A on 13/08/17, it had mysteriously developed a flat tyre. I had to take a day off work, I work 13 miles from home and the quickest route would have been 3 hours on a bus each way. The Specialist repaired the tyre, my cost, fine. They then started to dismantle the vehicle in preparation for taking pictures for the warranty company. In the process, the power steering pump pipe had corroded so badly that it actually broke off and required replacing.

    The warranty company refused liability. They said that they believed the problems existed at the time of purchase and so were taking nothing to do with it, which to be fair, is what I would have said.

    Now that the warranty company were out of the picture, Dealer A weren't too friendly and decided that they weren't going to pay for anything. I decided to reject the vehicle under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

    At this point, I have a car at the garage sitting in pieces because work was halted when warranty company pulled out. According to them it's going to cost £900 to put back together. Dealer A says I'm obliged to get the car ready for collection but they're not paying to have it put back together. I eventually have to pay the Specialist under protest on my credit card. The vehicle is collected and I'm refunded the purchase price but am still £900 out of pocket.

    I feel, and everyone else seems to agree, that that £900 cost is the responsibility of Dealer A. They broke our contract of sale by selling me a faulty car, and then got the car back in a better condition than what they sold to me. I have copies of everything- the initial advert, emails, inspection report, MOT, sales invoice all with mileages present and it is clear that I was sold a dressed up dud.

    I don't think I've missed anything out, I would just like some guidance before I proceed.

    Thank you

    What was this £2k in engine damage?
  • stugib
    stugib Posts: 2,602 Forumite
    DooverHam wrote: »
    A deal was struck and I took it home, only to find the engine warning light on by the time I completed the 45 mile journey. I had the car inspected by a specialist in Glasgow on 10/08/17. This is routine in my car purchasing to-do list.
    Shouldn't 'inspect the car' come before 'buy the car' on your to-do list?
  • custardy wrote: »
    What was this £2k in engine damage?

    Damage to inlet manifold
    DPF completely disconnected and completely clogged up
    EGR Valve broken
  • DooverHam
    DooverHam Posts: 3 Newbie
    edited 6 October 2017 at 1:57PM
    stugib wrote: »
    Shouldn't 'inspect the car' come before 'buy the car' on your to-do list?

    It should and does come before the 'buy the car' part, but it also comes after. Looking round the car yourself or with a friend/family member to try and spot potential damage before you buy is completely different to paying a specialist to strip the vehicle down and inspect it fully for you.

    The car was advertised as an "excellent example", "excellent examples" don't have hidden faults, it was not brought to my attention by the salesman and I'm not a mechanic so couldn't (and probably wouldn't be allowed to) strip anything down before purchase to fully inspect it.
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