Potential issue with car trader/dealer - advice welcomed
Discussion
Right, an update - bit long-winded but sometimes life sucks.
Having decided there was no way I was paying up to £3k to fix the car, and not being prepared to wait & see what may happen in a court, I've sold the car. I took it to a main dealer that had a car I liked, they checked my car out & offered me £5200 for it. A bit of wriggling got it up to £5500, a bit of cash from me and I'm a very happy owner of a new car (not a BMW) with a proper 2-year warranty.
Which basically made my original letter redundant as in it I had offered them 3 choices - repair the car, take the car back for a refund, or give me the difference between what I paid and what the car was worth. This was the letter that prompted the angry "take me to court then" phone call.
So I wrote them another letter this week, picking holes in a lot of things that had been claimed & telling them I wanted £2,250 which was the difference between what I paid for the car, and what I'd sold it for. I have given them 14 days before I begin court proceedings. I also said I didn't want to talk to anyone over the phone & to put everything in writing.
Fast forward to today, and I receive a letter...
It's pretty much a load of b
ks but with an interesting end.
First of all he's admitted the car was advertised for £7,750 with 12 months warranty. He's confirmed I traded my car in & that he offered me £3,800 for it & he agreed to getting a new MOT and replacing the rear brake pads on the new car.
Then he gets all odd. He says I left £200 deposit (I didn't - I left £100), and paid him £3,300 into his bank (I didn't - I paid him £3,500 cash when I collected the new car), and that he gave me £3,600 for my car (so I'm guessing he's fiddling the books). He also says these conditions were "clearly stated without warranty as you didn't pay the full amount my car" (sic).
He also claims he has a copy of the receipt that was given to me stating "no warranty given or implied in any way as in total you paid the sum of £7,100". Interesting that, as I was never given a receipt - the car dealer I've bought a replacement from I got a receipt which both me & the dealer signed twice...
He then says Gold warranty costs £250 so under no circumstances was he ever going to give a warranty with the amount I paid.
Next, he claims he asked me several times to return the car to him once I told him about the fault. He's effectively saying the garage I took it to could have tampered with it causing the fault. He seems to be overlooking the reason I took it to a garage in the first place was because it had a fault.
To sum up, he's said "as you can appreciate we feel as a company we are no longer liable as somebody else has tampered with it, however as a good will gesture we will give £500 to close this matter".
The letter is unsigned, but in his partners name (she's the director).
I have all the copies of texts where he claims (twice) to have spoken to the warranty company, I also have the text where he told me to take it to a specialist. I can get something from the engine place confirming the engine needs a rebuild.
My initial thoughts are to tell them to FRO for the £500. If they weren't in the wrong and were confident they weren't, then why would they offer me £500?
Thoughts, advice, dirty jokes welcome.
Having decided there was no way I was paying up to £3k to fix the car, and not being prepared to wait & see what may happen in a court, I've sold the car. I took it to a main dealer that had a car I liked, they checked my car out & offered me £5200 for it. A bit of wriggling got it up to £5500, a bit of cash from me and I'm a very happy owner of a new car (not a BMW) with a proper 2-year warranty.
Which basically made my original letter redundant as in it I had offered them 3 choices - repair the car, take the car back for a refund, or give me the difference between what I paid and what the car was worth. This was the letter that prompted the angry "take me to court then" phone call.
So I wrote them another letter this week, picking holes in a lot of things that had been claimed & telling them I wanted £2,250 which was the difference between what I paid for the car, and what I'd sold it for. I have given them 14 days before I begin court proceedings. I also said I didn't want to talk to anyone over the phone & to put everything in writing.
Fast forward to today, and I receive a letter...
It's pretty much a load of b
ks but with an interesting end. First of all he's admitted the car was advertised for £7,750 with 12 months warranty. He's confirmed I traded my car in & that he offered me £3,800 for it & he agreed to getting a new MOT and replacing the rear brake pads on the new car.
Then he gets all odd. He says I left £200 deposit (I didn't - I left £100), and paid him £3,300 into his bank (I didn't - I paid him £3,500 cash when I collected the new car), and that he gave me £3,600 for my car (so I'm guessing he's fiddling the books). He also says these conditions were "clearly stated without warranty as you didn't pay the full amount my car" (sic).
He also claims he has a copy of the receipt that was given to me stating "no warranty given or implied in any way as in total you paid the sum of £7,100". Interesting that, as I was never given a receipt - the car dealer I've bought a replacement from I got a receipt which both me & the dealer signed twice...
He then says Gold warranty costs £250 so under no circumstances was he ever going to give a warranty with the amount I paid.
Next, he claims he asked me several times to return the car to him once I told him about the fault. He's effectively saying the garage I took it to could have tampered with it causing the fault. He seems to be overlooking the reason I took it to a garage in the first place was because it had a fault.
To sum up, he's said "as you can appreciate we feel as a company we are no longer liable as somebody else has tampered with it, however as a good will gesture we will give £500 to close this matter".
The letter is unsigned, but in his partners name (she's the director).
I have all the copies of texts where he claims (twice) to have spoken to the warranty company, I also have the text where he told me to take it to a specialist. I can get something from the engine place confirming the engine needs a rebuild.
My initial thoughts are to tell them to FRO for the £500. If they weren't in the wrong and were confident they weren't, then why would they offer me £500?
Thoughts, advice, dirty jokes welcome.
TankRizzo said:
Pretty poor form to kick it on without saying anything, tbh.
Selling to a trader/dealer? Really? They are deemed the expert. I'm sure all PHers point out every fault with a car they are part ex-ing..I wouldn't hide anything, but nor would I point it out. In the same way the car I am buying - they allow any inspection, but they won't point out anything they might have found pre-sale.
Vaud said:
TankRizzo said:
Pretty poor form to kick it on without saying anything, tbh.
Selling to a trader/dealer? Really? They are deemed the expert. I'm sure all PHers point out every fault with a car they are part ex-ing..I wouldn't hide anything, but nor would I point it out. In the same way the car I am buying - they allow any inspection, but they won't point out anything they might have found pre-sale.
POORCARDEALER said:
Im going out to buy popcorn....
Pfft. Personally, I prefer Maltesers - popcorn is very overrated.As soon as the car was started, you could hear the noise - not just that, you could feel it through the accelerator pedal - I didn't need to hide anything!
They did mention it made a noise, but as it was going to go to auction (they don't retail anything over 100k) they weren't overly interested. The condition of the car other than the engine was excellent.
A s
t trick would have been to sell it privately for more money (probably would have got well over £7k) but there's no way I'd do that.northwest monkey said:
TankRizzo said:
Pretty poor form to kick it on without saying anything, tbh.
Maybe, maybe not, but answer me this.What would you have done?
He knew the car had an issue and so passed it on to unsuspecting sucker to have to deal with (in this case: You), and now you're doing the exact same thing to some other poor sucker (albeit via a dealer PX/auction).
You felt aggrieved at what the dealer had done to you, feeling shat upon, and were happy to take the sympathy and support against the dealer from everyone on PH, so now you have to accept the same condemnation that was expressed on here towards the dealer because basically, there's no real difference between what he did and what you've chosen to do.
By the sounds of it, you won't give a rats rectum that some other unsuspecting innocent buyer is going to fall foul of this poor condition car, or the fact that the dodgy dealer that you were supposedly so determined to make a stand against, is now free to con other unsuspecting buyers with dodgy motors - that's your choice, but it sucks basically!
Here's a thought: Perhaps you could go and work for the dealer you bought the car from? - It sounds as though you'd fit right in!
4rephill said:
northwest monkey said:
TankRizzo said:
Pretty poor form to kick it on without saying anything, tbh.
Maybe, maybe not, but answer me this.What would you have done?
He knew the car had an issue and so passed it on to unsuspecting sucker to have to deal with (in this case: You), and now you're doing the exact same thing to some other poor sucker (albeit via a dealer PX/auction).
You felt aggrieved at what the dealer had done to you, feeling shat upon, and were happy to take the sympathy and support against the dealer from everyone on PH, so now you have to accept the same condemnation that was expressed on here towards the dealer because basically, there's no real difference between what he did and what you've chosen to do.
By the sounds of it, you won't give a rats rectum that some other unsuspecting innocent buyer is going to fall foul of this poor condition car, or the fact that the dodgy dealer that you were supposedly so determined to make a stand against, is now free to con other unsuspecting buyers with dodgy motors - that's your choice, but it sucks basically!
Here's a thought: Perhaps you could go and work for the dealer you bought the car from? - It sounds as though you'd fit right in!
The other difference is I'm not a mechanic & I bought a car (a) in good faith with regards to it being ok, (b) with 12 months warranty, and (c) from a dealer so I am supposed to have some protection. As it stands, none of those 3 things were correct.
Retail for the car on a forecourt would be anywhere from £7500 to £9000. I'm pretty sure a trader wouldn't pay anything like the price I'd pay for a rebuild (or engine swap) so that leaves plenty of room for margin.
With regards to the bloke I bought the car off - I haven't let that drop in the slightest so I don't know where you get the idea from I'm not bothering with him any more. Not for one second do I think he should just be allowed to get away with what he's done/doing. Hence me asking the question about telling him to FRO.
I like the way you avoided my question though. So I'll ask again - bearing in mind you have no idea when the engine was going to let go completely, what would you have done?
The sympathy is all very nice & gives me a fuzzy feeling, but doesn't have much practical use. If I want sympathy, I'd talk to my elderly Aunt. I'd still have a car with a terminal engine. I didn't start the thread for sympathy, I started it for advice.
Here's a thought though: Perhaps you could actually read the thread before chiming in with your condescending remarks.
I'm not sure to be honest. He asked me to take it to a specialist which I did and I asked him to come - he said he was busy. While I was at the place, I rang him so he could speak to the bloke who was looking at my car & he wouldn't speak to him. It was after I came out of the place he text me to say he'd spoke to the warranty company & they said they wouldn't fix it & I was on my own as it wasn't his responsibility. He did say he hoped I understood his position though which was nice...
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