Broken Car advice

TrixiBuG

TrixiBuG

TrixiBuG

Associate
Joined
24 Aug 2011
Posts
1,994
Location
Manchester UK
**Please don't move this to motors, I am not after advice on the mechanics of the car but where I stand as a consumer**

Bought a car from a dealer in St Helens on 4th June this year:

  • 2003 Ka, 65,000, £850 inc 12 month MOT and 4 month warranty.

Has been back to the dealer on 3 different occasions with problems to be fixed under warranty:

  1. Side light out - fixed
  2. Drivers side speaker w/no output then no sterio at all
  3. Interior light not working
    [*]Aerial broken - fixed
    [*]Wing mirrors changing back to stock - fixed
  4. Wiring to radiator fan cut/disconnected
  5. Faulty engine thermostat
  6. Leaking coolant pipes
  7. Disconnected horn
    [*]Engine warning light for Lamba sensor - fixed but still a warning light

It has overheated on the way to work one morning - which uncovered the issues with the radiator fan and the thermostat - and then last night, whilst driving home on the M60 ring road the engine stopped working and I ended up on the hard shoulder waiting 3.5 hrs for the RAC to recover me and take me home

The boyfriend is suggesting to do the following:

  • Ring the RAC this weekend and get them to do a home start to work out whats up with the car (they never tried to fix at the roadside last night)
  • Depending on what the RAC find, then return the car to the dealer and demand a refund as the car was sold not fit for the road

I would be speaking to the dealer right now, but he is 'On Holiday' until the 10th September and the garage it totally closed

TL;DR Bought a cheap car, turns out not fit for purpose, dealer messing around with not fixing it properly, ended up broken down on the motorway, want to return the car for a full refund.

What to do now and where do I stand?

Edit: there is a much MUCH bigger story to all this but I didnt want to go too much into it and boil every ones heads :p
 
Last edited:
With these kinds of issue I have no idea as never had to deal with anything like this before however I would like to ask did you buy it with a credit card? Just one avenue to look at if you did. Take a look at the paper work and see what the warranty covers?
 
What do you expect for a 13 year old car you bought for £850?

Seriously? You were lucky they did all of the above for you as I am sure a lot of that would not be classed as warranty items from most dealers.

If you don't want a car to go wrong, don't buy a 13 year old Ka?
 
Doogles said:
With these kinds of issue I have no idea as never had to deal with anything like this before however I would like to ask did you buy it with a credit card? Just one avenue to look at if you did. Take a look at the paper work and see what the warranty covers?
Click to expand...

No cash sale

BDEE said:
What do you expect for a 13 year old car you bought for £850?

Seriously? You were lucky they did all of the above for you as I am sure a lot of that would not be classed as warranty items from most dealers.

If you don't want a car to go wrong, don't buy a 13 year old Ka?
Click to expand...

I would expect the car to be road worthy and fit for purpose regardless of its age tbh. A few small issues yes, but not this much. I have had old cars in the past (several in fact) but never had these issues. Also, wouldn't expect this from a dealer who markets himself as a 'Ka Specialist' and the car was priced at £1100. AND that was as much as I can afford for a car.
 
Nodiggidy123 said:
Surprised there was a warranty on a 850 quid car at all tbh.

You can try but I wouldn't expect to get much success with a refund imo
Click to expand...

We were considering Trading Standards - there has been a lot more going on with this car than the above, I just wanted to keep the OP short
 
BDEE said:
What do you expect for a 13 year old car you bought for £850?

Seriously? You were lucky they did all of the above for you as I am sure a lot of that would not be classed as warranty items from most dealers.

If you don't want a car to go wrong, don't buy a 13 year old Ka?
Click to expand...

Not the point. It should still be fit for purpose. It isn't.
 
I would sell it for scrap if you can afford it and put the money toward a newer car because to get it fixed is not going to be cheap.
 
To be honest, you'll probably get more useful advice in motors.

Cars need to be fit for purpose (sale of goods act). Even old ones.
 
Was it warranty supplied by a 3rd party with a proper policy with details whats covered and what isnt? Or was it a word of mouth type arrangement because aerials and changing wing mirrors from one to stock would not be covered under a decent warranty policy.
 
Yeah, that's not even cheap for that car.

I hope you get your money back but I'm not convinced you will unless you can prove it should have failed an MOT prior to sale.
 
Did you have the wiring to the thermostat and the thermostat fixed or did you carry on driving it? If you did does the dealer know about this?
 
Jesus you got ripped off!

Anyway, as long as the engine dieing was something simple, its a ford Ka, you can fix all that stuff with about 46P.

Speak to the dealer and get them to sort the wiring, replace a couple of hoses and a thermostat, job done. All very very cheap. If they don't do it, I'd be tempted to just do it myself rather than deal with any further bother.

If you kept on driving it with a faulty cooling system you could have killed it completely though. Head gasket etc.
 
jimjamuk said:
Was it warranty supplied by a 3rd party with a proper policy with details whats covered and what isnt? Or was it a word of mouth type arrangement because aerials and changing wing mirrors from one to stock would not be covered under a decent warranty policy.
Click to expand...

Just his offered warranty. As long as we take it back to him to complete the work

Iamzod said:
£850 for a MK1 KA? :eek:

I had to get to page 51 on the AutoTrader to find one so expensive!
Click to expand...

We went there as they boast re-doing Ka bodywork to remove rusty panels and re-spays. Plus the we checked the car's history and it was great considering others we were looking at
 
Lol oh deary me... Just realised this is another Trixibug thread. You should get advice before buying cars, and listen to it. You're worse than I am... :p
 
TrixiBuG said:
Just his offered warranty. As long as we take it back to him to complete the work



We went there as they boast re-doing Ka bodywork to remove rusty panels and re-spays. Plus the we checked the car's history and it was great considering others we were looking at
Click to expand...

Ok well changing an aerial and mirrors if he had them is bobbins - dead engine and you will soon find out what his warranty is worth and I'm guessing that car isnt going to get fixed - whether you get your money back or not is another matter
 
Maccapacca said:
Did you have the wiring to the thermostat and the thermostat fixed or did you carry on driving it? If you did does the dealer know about this?
Click to expand...

The car overheated on the way to work a few weeks back, so we took it to a mechanic we trust (been using him for years) and he found the issues with the thermostat and radiator fan. We then took it back to the dealer and he fixed them

Although fixing the disconnected fan meant that he wired it to the live, so the car sounded like it was about to take off as soon as the ignition started :eek:

We are in the process of getting that arranged to be changed, but then that happened last night and I am done tbh
 
Its very unlikely you even need a radiator fan in a Ka. I ran my Polo without one, even in the heat of summer. Never went over temp even when stuck in traffic for ages.
 
TrixiBuG said:
We went there as they boast re-doing Ka bodywork to remove rusty panels and re-spays. Plus the we checked the car's history and it was great considering others we were looking at
Click to expand...

That would have had me suspicious straight away as due to the value of these things and the sheer amount of them out there it really isn't worth the cost to repair one, it is a bin it and buy another for £200 sort of car.

I'd suspect a bunch of cowboys have sold you a car here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom