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Car bought from garage - problems arisen - NOW RESOLVED


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Posted

Just had a phone call from a mate, basic scenario....

 

He buys a car from a local garage, advertised £1595 agreed at £1300, left £100 deposit. This was today, he went back this afternoon and settled the balance and took the car away. Test drove the car before buying and he said it was lovely.

 

Anyway he gets this car home, with a receipt stating 'Sold as seen no warranty'.

 

He owned the car for 2 hours / 30 miles and it developed a fault, engines shaking about in the engine bay and significantly down on power. I get the call to go investigate.

 

I've driven it and it's definitely got a fault, I've run some checks on the car and 2 injectors are definitely knackered. I sent him away in the Passat and loaded his 'new' motor onto the truck, advising him we would take it back in the morning and get a refund. Seems when engine totally cold it's spot on but when it's warmed up it runs a bag of shit.

 

He's a bit hung up on this (biro written) disclaimer on the invoice 'sold as seen no warranties' to which I've said it's bollocks, not worth the paper it's written on and we will be returning the car at 9am on the dot, hopefully to an amicable resolution or if not, the threat of a small claims court.

 

Anybody any similar experience / advice they can share? I will be taking a back seat as more to support my mate as I have a tendency to go in all guns blazing and threaten to use the car to block access to the car pitch or other such shizz if it doesn't go the way he wants and my mates a bit of a soft bastard to be fair, so it would be good for him to go in armed with facts.

Posted

All cars sold by a dealer are covered by the SOGA and have to be fit for purpose or similar phrase. I can't recall the amount of time it covers but it is a reasonable amount of time. Shouldn't be a problem taking it back. Sold as seen no warranty is meaningless nowadays IIRC.

Guest Lord Sward
Posted

Anyway he gets this car home, with a receipt stating 'Sold as seen no warranty'.

 

 

 

 

Thats illegal.  Its got a 6 month warranty.

Posted

Thats illegal.  Its got a 6 month warranty.

be quick to return it, this is EU law, won't apply after June 23.

Posted

It sounds like it had a fault present at the time of sale, so I believe he is entitled to either a free repair or his money back.

Posted

Whilst it's legal to make a statement like 'sold as seen', it has no validity in law and thus does not affect your statutory rights.

 

People, businesses and organisations make these blanket statements to discourage reasonable people from claiming.

 

Those signs that you see in car parks and the like, absolving the owners of any responsibility for injury or death, they're completely legal to post but are complete bollocks.

 

Take the car back and ask for the money.

 

No money after a week, go to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome and follow the instructions.

  • Like 4
Posted

Can we name and shame the local garage in question? Seems like a right dodgy bu66er. I'm thinking 'Mike Brewer Motors'?

Posted

Why do people bother flogging cars like that, especially garages.   They must know within 24 hours there is going to be comeback and potential aggravation?

 

Drop the garage details on the bbc Watchdog site too for good measure, you (your mate) might not be the only one whose been ripped off.

 

What car is it, purely out of interest?

Posted

Thats illegal.  Its got a 6 month warranty.

 

No it hasn't, there is no requirement for a dealer to provide a warranty, they do have to conform to sales legislation and consumer law and any warranty provided is in addition to these.

 

What is illegal, is for the dealer to attempt to restrict the consumer rights by writing things like 'sold as seen' on the paperwork.

 

It sounds as though the problem may well cost a fair proportion of the price paid for the car to fix, which means that the dealer (if he can be persuaded to have it back and fix it) will try to get it done on the cheap which won't last.

 

Recent consumer legislation allows for rejection within the first 30 days that'll be the route to take with this.

  • Like 2
Posted

I can't be the only one thinking....

post-4559-0-62321000-1466106208_thumb.jpg

Surely?

  • Like 7
Posted

Why do people bother flogging cars like that, especially garages.   They must know within 24 hours there is going to be comeback and potential aggravation?

 

 

 

 

Because they're unscrupulous and because they rely on people accepting their word, and thus hope they won't come back if (when) they find any problems.

Posted

As the aim is to reach an amicable solution in the first instance, I won't name garage details or car details at this point (there's some local shiters who may identify the garage name from the car details and price as mentioned above), although i likely will depending on the outcome.

 

Car drives ace when engine is totally cold but a pig when it's not, so I think this 30 day rejection stuff could be the way to go. We will see!

Posted

It's to do with it being fit for purpose more than anything.  Clearly, the car is not fit for purpose and therefore you should be able to take it back and either get them to agree to fix it (I'm not sure if this is at their, or your, expense.  Common sense would dictate their cost, but that rarely means anything) or get a refund in full including the deposit.  It could be the garage pulling a fast one, it could be really bad luck, that's the problem with used cars.

Posted

Even Cavcraft gives a "within line of sight" warranty....

  • Like 5
Posted

That is quoted just as he puts on his 'very' dark glasses that cut out light totally.

Posted

FFS it's a £1300 car what does he expect?

 

Something that runs reasonably well I guess.

Posted

Who is Judge Rinder? He appears to be made out of plastic.

I believe he played Eddie Murphys dopey but nice fellow police officer in the popular Beverly Hills Cop trilogy

Posted

FFS it's a £1300 car what does he expect?

 

Unless there is irony present that my radar is spectacularly missing, it's entirely reasonable to expect a £1300 car to run near enough spot on. Maybe 25 years ago a £1300 car was good if it went forwards and backwards to a useful extent. 

 

£1300 is a fair wodge of cash to most people who are browsing that end of the market, which unfortunately is the worse end to be in. The £1500 - £4000 bracket is littered with dodgy dealers who help continue the used-car-dealer stereotype.

 

My fluffy pink kitten world view is hoping for an amicable and positive outcome in this instance, however. :)

  • Like 5
Posted

FFS it's a £1300 car what does he expect?

 

Thing is, would you put that in an advert or write it on a windscreen above the price?

 

  • Like 2
Posted

I think Kiltox was suggesting that on a £1300 car you shoudn't expect Laguna II levels of reliability.

 

(This works whichever way around you like)

Posted

I believe under case law there is 3 months that a garage/dealer/car seller/etc doing it as a business needs to provide. Edit: It appears more recent legalisation has superseded this. See other people's threads below.

 

They can sell it as sold as seen, etc but that has no legal standing. Things can be sold as spares and repairs but even there is limitations to that. Really the only way a dealer can safeguard themselves on comeback is either selling it as an auction (I.e. car auction or even eBay) or be a right bastard on comeback.

 

So if you have a car that was faulty from a dealer, you can get your money back right? Well yes in theory, but in practice it can be harder.

 

Speaking from a direct friends experience on taking a garage to a small claims court, if they want to drag their heels they can and will. It took 3 appearances. Every time they didn't turn up, so it became a default judgement that they had to pay. However they wrote a letter saying that they never received the court notice. After the third time my mate was able to get a court appointed recovery to get his money back.

 

All on, given the time he had off work to attend court and the hassle involved, he still was worse off. He only persisted purely out of principle.

 

After the court appointed recovery agents turned up, they finally paid up.

 

He actually won not on the basis that it was faulty, but on that their auto trader advert miss sold the vehicle. It stated it had electric windows and abs - which it didn't have (would have been obvious to me, but for him, he didn't even know until I pointed it out). But then his fault showed up a couple weeks later, not day after.

 

So yes, you can ultimately go to small claims court - which isn't that difficult nor is it very expensive. Just be aware it is hassle and time.

 

Often coming back with a reasonable solution between parties before hand is much better.

 

I'd go down the route that it was obviously faulty before sale, as it happened so soon and that you want your money back. Makes it clear exactly what you want to resolve it and easy for them to do (I.e. car is back there) if they want to.

 

Or repair it if not a complex/expensive problem.

Posted

As stated, "sold as seen" is meaningless in law and the new 30 day rejection clause applies.

 

Source: my friendly used car dealer.

 

It is a little frustrating though, to see 20 different answers!

  • Like 2
Posted

The Sale of Goods Act and friends have been replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which is nice and clear and easily Googled at legislation.gov.uk. Your mate has a short term right to repair or replacement, and the scribbled note is utterly meaningless (and doubly so if it was on the receipt *after* he'd taken delivery, in which case it can't have been a contractual term - quote Lord Denning in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking if you want to sound worryingly like a lawyer).

 

be quick to return it, this is EU law, won't apply after June 23.

No it isn't. I'm for staying in anyway, though.

  • Like 4
Posted

Speaking from a direct friends experience on taking a garage to a small claims court, if they want to drag their heels they can and will. It took 3 appearances. Every time they didn't turn up, so it became a default judgement that they had to pay. However they wrote a letter saying that they never received the court notice. After the third time my mate was able to get a court appointed recovery to get his money back.

 

All on, given the time he had off work to attend court and the hassle involved, he still was worse off. He only persisted purely out of principle.

 

 

 

SiC, I can only assume that this was either a long time ago or your mate is being economical with the truth.

I've used the online MCOL service quite a few times and judgement is final.

Once I have had judgement, I immediately pay the extra £60 to send in the Baillifs. (The cost gets added to the debt)

I've never lost.

It's about making it easier for your target to do the right thing than the wrong thing.

 

I've never bothered with any of this 'letter before action' nonsense either, just go full nuclear on the bastards.

Posted

I thought it might have been changed but had no energy to Google :)

Posted

I would advise turning up in the morning and stating " sorry bud it's a bag of shite, can we get this sorted without fuss" It can't have done many miles since pick up anyway.

 

Failing that .... get all neanderthal on the mother fucker :-D

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