Is this right?

graemer · 3 Jun 2012 at 11:29

Long story short.
Bought second hand car from a well known dealership (first mistake). Wanted the car and there were no others in the area at the time. Approached by a high pressure sales manager. I managed to stand my ground and managed to get what I thought was a good deal. His attitude was shocking throughout the negotiations.

Here the story starts I was clear I did not want to pay £400 for a years warranty. Picked the car up a week later and was told it came with a standard 3 months warranty however looks lick I have been charged £100 for it. Have looked at sale of goods act and can't seem to find anything that may be of use with a complaint. All I can see is if there is a fault in the first 6 months the garage need to prove it wasn't there prior to selling the car. I guess why selling warranties is important to them

In the end I was happy to pay what I did for the car however it's the principle of the matter.

semi-pro waster · 3 Jun 2012 at 11:35

Just to check if I'm understanding you - you agreed a price of £XXXX and that is what you've paid but on the invoice it has been labelled as £XXXX with £100 of that total sum for the warranty? You haven't actually paid £XXXX (the agreed price) plus £100?

If it's the former then while I'd agree it is annoying it doesn't sound like the end of the world because you've paid what you wanted to pay but they've labelled it as including a three month warranty (probably not worth a damn but that's another matter). If the latter and you've paid an extra £100 beyond what you wanted to then that's more of a problem although I would struggle to think you wouldn't notice an extra £100 being added on there.

BluSky · 3 Jun 2012 at 11:35

Whenever I have bought cars in the past, some of which have come with the aforementionsed 3 months warranty or similar, I have never been charged any extra for it. It has always been included as standard where applicable. On the other hand it is not at all unusual for them to try and hard sell an extended warranty at point of sale.

At the end of the day as long as you are satisfied with what you paid then that is OK in my opinion. Doesnt mean you shouldn't chase the £100 up though if you think it is a mistake.

graemer · 3 Jun 2012 at 11:46

Yes I was happy with the price just when I explained I did not want a 1 year warranty and was told the car came with a standard 3 month warranty I didn't expect it to be included in the price. It's not a great issue tbh more of an annoyance. Creative accountancy by the garage.

I wasn't charged £100 more than the price we agreed.

semi-pro waster · 3 Jun 2012 at 11:52

From that then I wouldn't be surprised if the salesman gets commission on the warranty and simply discounted the car further so they could claim to have sold the warranty to you. It's not all that helpful for the garage but at least partly their fault if their rewards structure leads to non-goal congruent decisions and their sales staff prioritising personal gain.

By all means ask them to remove it as you do not want any form of warranty from them (beyond the standard protections from the SoGA) but if you don't get very far I personally wouldn't spend a lot of time on the matter given you're basically happy with the price.

graemer · 3 Jun 2012 at 12:05

Cheers for that. A simple letter and then leave it at that I think.

jellybeard999 · 3 Jun 2012 at 12:37

Though I'd like someone else to confirm this, I'm pretty sure they legally have to give a years warranty, even on a used car.

graemer · 3 Jun 2012 at 12:47

from what I have read it loos like they have to give a minimum of 3 months however they still have an obligation for up to 6 months. If there is a fault they have to prove it wasnt there before I bought the car. Hence the reason for seling the waranty to customers in the first place to prevent high loses on after sale repairs.

If any one has knowledge to the contrary lt me know as it may help in my letter to the garage.

Maz · 3 Jun 2012 at 13:06

jellybeard999 said:
Though I'd like someone else to confirm this, I'm pretty sure they legally have to give a years warranty, even on a used car.

Not true, no dealer is obliged to give a warranty.

It could be a £190k Ferrari and they don't legally need to provide a warranty, however the car must be fit for purpose and if the car breaks down within the first 6 months it's down to the dealer to prove that he fault didn't exist when the car was sold.