Death of my Car, story and spec me!

torN

torN

torN

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Joined
18 Nov 2005
Posts
561
So I finally got round to getting a job, therefore needed a car to get from A to B, nothing amazing just something o...k, 1st of March 2012 i bought a S reg 1.4 Astra ( I had a similar one 4 years earlier, sold it when I left for uni). £950, not bad, looked in ok condition and I bought it from a second hand car dealer. Now present day the car was making a rattling noise from under the car or the engine, I took it down to my local garage that I used to work at, I know the staff very well and I can trust their judgement, however the verdict was not good, big end bearing is on its way out, will be £££££ to fix, far more than the car is worth. As you can understand I was very annoyed and abit upset but I also understood at the time of purchase that it was a gamble, however if this car had developed this fault say a year later then I would have be fine with it. ( Should I ring the dealer I got it from? tell him the situation?)

See my current fianctual situation isnt great, I graduated from uni last year and have a student overdraft of 2k, im current paying that back and just when I thought Id finaly get myself back to £0 the car dies/dying on me.

So this is my situation,

Job is 10miles there and back,
I like the size of the astra, dont mind corsa sized but nothing too small,
Finance options is a must (any tips and advice on this would be great, would I even get finance on a second hand car?)
Im 25 but due to being at uni never built up a NCB (currently doing that now)
Any tips on scrapping my car?
Nothing over a 1.6


Spec me please
 
Fight your case, yes.

As for cheap replacement for uber cheap.

Fez 1.25 or 106 1.1

The latter wont rust. Find example with most service history.
 
As a rule aren't dealerships meant to give 6 months warranty regardless?

I would give them a call as it is just over 2 months ago you purchased the car.
 
GinG said:
As a rule aren't dealerships meant to give 6 months warranty regardless?

I would give them a call as it is just over 2 months ago you purchased the car.
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You could go and buy a car for £10k and the dealer ISN't obliged to provide you with a warranty.

However if the car does have a fault that it's down to the dealer to prove that it wasn't present at time of sale.

This car being an old car and driven for 2 months before it started rattling it could be argued that the fault wasn't present at time of sale and has just developed.

Also was the oil level checked regularly? As it's common for these engines bearing to go pop when low on oil.
 
Maz said:
You could go and buy a car for £10k and the dealer ISN't obliged to provide you with a warranty.

However if the car does have a fault that it's down to the dealer to prove that it wasn't present at time of sale.

This car being an old car and driven for 2 months before it started rattling it could be argued that the fault wasn't present at time of sale and has just developed.

Also was the oil level checked regularly? As it's common for these engines bearing to go pop when low on oil.
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This.

I would go and speak to the dealer and explain the situation, I doubt they will accept responsibility because as you mentioned the cost is not worth it and who knows if you kept an eye on oil levels during your 2 months of ownership etc...


They may give some money back on the car do ask you never know :)

Edit: you will probably get £200-250 for weighing your car in at a scrap yard, just drive to a scrap yard with your V5C and they will sort the rest :)
 
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Maz said:
You could go and buy a car for £10k and the dealer ISN't obliged to provide you with a warranty.

However if the car does have a fault that it's down to the dealer to prove that it wasn't present at time of sale.

This car being an old car and driven for 2 months before it started rattling it could be argued that the fault wasn't present at time of sale and has just developed.

Also was the oil level checked regularly? As it's common for these engines bearing to go pop when low on oil.
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Interesting, thanks for this. Misconseption on my part, always assumed there was a minimum they had to offer.
 
Oil levels were always fine and topped up, water levels were also fine, its just a shame this happend now. I also forgot to mention 2 weeks ago the car was happly sat on my drive and started leaking fuel (after filling it up) turned out it was the original hose that was old and cracked but that was £361 aswell. the dealer did not give me a warranty because of the price and age of the car, he also did not give me a gaurantee in writing. TBH id rather send back the road tax, get abit of cash back from that, inform my insurance and send this car off to the big scrap yard in the sky. Mistakes were made.

Now, I have just accepted a new job (yay me!) so ££ income is alittle more, but I cannot afford to wait for my financial situation to improve and I need a car quick ( not biking 20miles a day :P). I dont want to spend my overdraft again after taking the time of getting out of it (plus i have to be at a certain limit by august otherwise the bank starts taking interest).

So something on finance is the only way!
 
torN said:
Oil levels were always fine and topped up, water levels were also fine, its just a shame this happend now. I also forgot to mention 2 weeks ago the car was happly sat on my drive and started leaking fuel (after filling it up) turned out it was the original hose that was old and cracked but that was £361 aswell. the dealer did not give me a warranty because of the price and age of the car, he also did not give me a gaurantee in writing. TBH id rather send back the road tax, get abit of cash back from that, inform my insurance and send this car off to the big scrap yard in the sky. Mistakes were made.

Now, I have just accepted a new job (yay me!) so ££ income is alittle more, but I cannot afford to wait for my financial situation to improve and I need a car quick ( not biking 20miles a day :P). I dont want to spend my overdraft again after taking the time of getting out of it (plus i have to be at a certain limit by august otherwise the bank starts taking interest).

So something on finance is the only way!
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£361 for a fuel hose!?

You've been had good and proper there......
 
You have 6 months under SOGA whereby the dealer has to prove the fault did not exist at point of purchase. If he cannot prove it then it is deemed to have existed and is his responsibility. It does not matter on age of the car or price. Go back to them and advise them under SOGA you want them to repair the vehicle to an acceptable standard. If they refuse you can start the process of forcing them through legal action or rejecting the car entirely. You must be reasonable with them and allow them every opportunity to fix it but as you have only had it 2 months they wont have much chance of not having to fix it.

You have consumer rights, use them and get it sorted or get your money back.

If you want to go this route there are plenty of people here and on other consumer forums who can help. It is not reasonable for a £950 car to only last 2 months under any circumstances. A dealer cannot remove your statutory rights through notices such as "sold as seen" or "no warranty". These are not enforceable against a consumer and both trading standards and the UK courts would ignore them.
 
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Your good mate charged you 361 smackers to fix it?

As for finance, avoid. For a cheap car get a short term loan from a bank, seek the best deal from moneysupermarket or something.
 
torN said:
My good mate was the one who fixed it, he said this "its in the worst place, Im gunna have to drop the whole tank, oh and thanks for filling it up :rolleyes:"
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£361 though? Fuel hose costs about £1.12 a metre I think.....

That's a whole lot of labour to remove a fuel tank!
 
torN said:
. the dealer did not give me a warranty because of the price and age of the car, he also did not give me a gaurantee in writing.
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A warranty and your statutory rights are two different things. You payed plenty of money for an old S reg Astra (probably double what it would fetch privately) so I would be going straight back to the dealer and explaining the situation.
 
Ok just phoned the dealer, hes asked if he could see the car and also offered me another car in exchange, he'll knock money off etc etc. Told him I will think about it.
 
torN said:
Ok just phoned the dealer, hes asked if he could see the car and also offered me another car in exchange, he'll knock money off etc etc. Told him I will think about it.
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RESULT!

This is your cheapest option, the car broke down and not neccesarily the dealers fault, however they are happy to help you so I'd take him up on his offer.
 
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