returning car to dealer after 2 faults

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2006
Posts
17,383
Location
Surrey
not me but a friend

bought a car from a dealer. within about 5 days it had an engine fault. dealer took it back, did minimal work as the error code was reset and didn't come back on, and now a week later the fault is back again.

now there's costs getting another car sorted again, still currently sat waiting for AA to come look at the car (3 hours this time).

the deal has said they will come collect tomorrow to look to fix, but really now the trust is gone and would rather a refund.

are we within our rights? it's less than 2 weeks since purchase. same fault again. in writing what they did last time to fix it.

if we are within out rights and they refuse, what can we do then?
 
So they are refusing. Saying they just want to fix the car.

Made it clear multiple times the only option wanted now is return and refund.

They have said they want to take it to their garage and fully inspect it before refund. Trouble is, it's obvious want they want to do. Say it had no oil, say it was run to the ground by us.

I assume it's not going to cause an issue by just saying the only option is they take the car back but refund in full needs to be done before they are given the keys? This won't look like rejecting them the chance to do whatever they want first.?
 
kindai said:
Also inform them if they dont comply with the consumer rights act you will involve trading standards and if necessary take them to court to recover your money.
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We have done that, on top of explaining its best to sort now and avoid costs for them. Will tell them tomorrow court costs appear to be £450, plus the vehicle will need temp insurance which we'd look to recover, and until we get money back to buy the next vehicle, we are stuck with old vehicle which costs £12.50 for ulez per day.

Will see what they say.

Unfortunately it was paid by cash deposit (small) and rest bank transfer
 
Semple said:
Do you still have to pay the ulez charge if it's only parked up? Ideally at this point you need to stop using the vehicle
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We aren't in ulez but work is. This new car is ulez free. Old car is not. Now back to old car and having to pay ulez until we can get the refund and buy another. Going to court could take months so that's months of ulez charges each day.
 
Update on this. The dealer is saying because we didn't return it directly to their garage they are rejecting the claim, along with blaming claimant for them being unable to fix due to rac resetting the fault codes, and when they bought the car, they bought it thinking it was good.

Curious on thoughts on the first issue, especially given the car in something like 4 uses broke down and became undrivable
 
Haggisman said:
Irrelevant - unless they can prove that the car was in full working condition before hand, and that the RAC broke it, they don't have a leg to stand on.

"when they bought the car, they bought it thinking it was good."

It doesn't work like that, any faults within the first 6 months are assumed to have been there at the point the car was purchased unless the dealer can prove otherwise - something like an intermittent fault code is an easy one for the dealer to reset to hide any issues and try to trick a naive buyer.

To cover yourself, make sure you have proof in writing that you have informed them you are rejecting the car under the consumer rights act 2015
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Thanks. We do all by WhatsApp, and then signed letter before action etc.

WhatsApp was also sent multiple times, as one time they replied saying "we will take the Car back but Admin fee of £250 applies" so we just resent the same thing and they ignored from that point onwards.
 
jpaul said:
I'd be contacting AA if they have genuinely reset codes & erased evidence without recording the codes and providing owner with details of their likely meaning.
if the codes meant the car couldn't/shouldn't be driven you'd expect the car to have a permanent record, garage could retrieve.

with details of what the codes were on the initial incident the court/ombudsman could determine if the garage had made the appropriate repair, or were negligent.
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The codes/report was all sent to the dealer after both visits from rac, so no excuse from them in that case. The codes were then reset to see if they came back. Standard practice I believe as when there's 25 codes showing, too many to determine the fault, so record them, reset and if it happens again, hopefully now you jsut have the code for the actual fault.

Either way, both times rac recorded this and gave the codes. The last time the rac reported it was the catalytic converter and the dealer has even acknowledged in their rejection of the claim that this was the fault they were told the second time.
 
just wanted to update on this.

small claims has been slow, and i mean slow. had to wait for until courts asked for evidence, the buyer sumibtted evidence by the date, seller/dealership did nothing.

date has come and gone, chased courts today, told have to wait another 16 more weeks until can chase courts again for an udpate.

will be a year since purchase by that point. with money tied up on this car, that's sat going mouldy on drive.

still no idea what the outcome will be, though expecting it to go the correct way, as time gets on you worry more and more.

old car is falling apart and needs fixing after fixing.

absolutely crazy.
 
EddScott said:
The dealer said they'd take the car back for £250?

Given the grief of small claims and time involved, think I'd have taken that option.

I know a couple of car dealers. One in particular will not back down irrespective of what is wrong with the car. He'll always try to front it out. Ridiculous really as the last big complaint ended up in court and in the local rag.
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Perhaps on reflection,but no way did we expect to be nearly a year later by the time the courts conclude this
 
What's peoples thoughts.

This is them

H A MOTORS LTD filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

H A MOTORS LTD - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

Notice the latest updates by companies house.

Court date is confirmed for 10/01 but a fee of over £300 is now payable to make that happen.
 
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