Rejecting a car

[pits]

Long story short, bought a 58 plate Fiat 500 for the misses (she wanted it) 5 months ago, on test drive there was a few things wrong with it that I highlighted, they would take care of it.
Knock from the rear end
New MOT
Service
New exhaust.

Picked car up a week or so later, asked how it got on with MOT etc, got the reply "yeah all passed, all done for you" except they hadn't MOT'd, serviced, fixed the knocking or exhaust, rang them up explained this and asked to bring it back, then the next day the power steering failed, 2 days later the climate control panel jammed solid and the key fell to bits.

Booked it back in, took 3 weeks to fix and cost them £1200 to do so.

In the past month the car has started to fail again, so I emailed them 3 weeks ago to explain the issues, get it in writing, no reply for well over a week, eventually got in to see the dealer we sat down, I explained the current problems.
41k miles on the clock
Boot randomly opens and does not set the alarm off it does
Mileage flashes when driving (canbus system failing)
Window rattles
EML on dash popped up engine temp too cold
Rattle from exhaust
Knock from front end.
Hard to start or refuses to start sometimes on first/second turn of key

Dealer was on about inspecting and fixing it, told him he was fine to inspect it, but we are not having the car fixed and just seek to reject, and in the meantime I will be getting an inspection done on the car.

Next day, got in the car to take it to garage for inspection.
Power steering failed again.

So had the car inspected to find the following
Exhaust blowing
Exhaust flexi gone
OSF shock corroded badly/possibly leaking
OSF strut top corroded
Aircon leaking
Radiator leaking
Discs badly scored on inside
Wheel arch liner covers missing for lights
Steering canbus module failure
New exhaust tip corroded badly (it's like it has been made from a Lancia, maybe I am being picky, but it's poor)


I've emailed the list of faults to them, and we have spoken to the finance company who actually seem to be on our side, said we seek to reject and they asked would we have it fixed? We said no, guy fully understood.

Tomorrow we are planning on taking the car to the dealer so they can inspect it. We are within 6 months of purchase so can reject under unsatisfactory quality, but is it worth putting a document together along the lines of

With regards to car
Fiat
500
Reg
Mileage
Vin
This car is in for inspection only and there is no authority given to carry out any repairs work on the car under any circumstances as it is being rejected

Signed
Dealer principle
XXXXX


I don't want to get a year down the line and have a money pit on my hands, and as an AUC from a main dealer it should have been checked over properly.
After inspection what is the best course of action for getting money back?

[pits]

An update to this.
They were sent a very stern email last week as they have been dragging their heels and not wanting to play ball, had fk all contact from them, told me it's their right to repair it all the time and I won't really be allowed rejection.
I sent this last week

"
Hi xxx

Thanks for the e-mail this morning.
We have struggled without a car for the past few weeks and we have had to make alternative arrangements, this has had a negative impact on our lives and please bear in mind we have not made any claim for this so far, as we would like to sort this out quickly and amicably.

I feel you have failed to make sufficient contact with me during this time despite my many attempts at a reasonable discussion. Your customer service is lacking which as a result, and that which you are aware, we formally rejected the vehicle on 12-08-16 with Clayton.
I now demand a full refund of the deposit paid in the sum of £3000, refund of two finance payments, for the 2 months we have paid for the car and not had use, this would be the initial three and a half weeks the car was originally in for repair work at time of purchase, and the 3 weeks the car has now been with yourself and the return in value of warranty and service pack. Please note upon formal rejection of the vehicle we are legally entitled to this sum. My calculation renders the sum due at xxx

I have taken legal advice on my position and should you choose to ignore this letter before action or fail to refund the money within the next 7 days I will issue proceedings against you without further notice."



And got reply back this morning

"

Good morning.



I have the final settlement figure from the finance company.



Due to the circumstances surrounding the vehicle we will purchase the vehicle back from xxxx and refund her the Deposit of £3,000.00 and the two £98.88 payments made.



This will mean that we will need to complete a Vehicle Purchase form stating that we have purchased the vehicle from xxx; which she will have to sign. We will also need to complete the relevant parts of the V5 and forward to the DVLA which can be done when signing the purchase invoice.



When would be a convenient time For xxx to complete this?"


She has been down today and handed it all back, finance company got paid off by garage, and a funds transfer was put through.



We bought the car because
Low mileage
FSH
Decent price
She wanted it.

I asked for all faults to be fixed, and they were. We were just not expecting the car tonbe such a huge failure, also found out that it has been hit and not recorded, it's had paint.

Time to put it behind us and move on, now I'm trying to get her to listen to me on what car to buy, but she isn't, but after driving a Cube yesterday, I think I'm in love and she basically needs one.


Thanks to all the helpful replies though, really appreciate it

[pits]

Bumper, wing, bonnet, door and rear quarter.
So either it had multiple minor crashes or a decent scuff down it.
Either way not my problem, though I feel I should have written in the service book that the car is a lemon.

Half tempted to send someone down to go look at it and see if they fix the faults, doubt they will, probably put it through the auction now as it's going to cost £1000-1800 to fix

[pits]

TooMany2cvs said:

pits said:

...told me it's their right to repair it...

It is.
You have a right to reject within 30 days of purchase. After that, they have the right to repair. If it can't be repaired within a reasonable time, then you can reject. Faults are presumed to have been present at the time of purchase if they're flagged within six months of purchase.
The condition of the goods have to be commensurate with the age, price relative to other similar goods, apparent condition and the vendor's description. Basically, if you'd had it from new, would the problems be realistic to expect? Wear and tear faults, like many of those you list, are to be expected on an 8yo car.

POORCARDEALER said:

About time the consumer laws were made clear regarding car purchases...

They're very clear. They're exactly the same as for any other goods. The only real difference is that relatively few people buy other consumer durables second-hand for anything like the same amount of money.

It was bought needing work.
They didn't fix the bits that needed to be done before pickup.
Agreed to do it.
The car then failed with more faults after purchase.

It was repaired.

It then failed again.

So whilst it is their right to fix, and I allowed them this, they did fix it....it then failed once more, at which point reject as within first 6 months, deemed at fault at time of purchase. It's why I'm sat here with £3200 back in the bank, as opposed to a broken car outside.

andymc said:

they'll retail out of it to avoid losing too much

Hmm thing is, using thought maths the car is now not a money maker for them.
Say they bought it at
£1000
I'd add prep, but they clearly didn't prep it.
£1250 worth of repairs
£100 on three and a bit tanks of fuel (two in Fiat, one and a half i n courtesy car, they mucked us around so I refused to fill it back up with fuel)

£1350
£3200 to buy car back
£1800 to fix car

Which works out at, let's call it £7000, as it's quibbling over a few hundred, then I don't know what they had to do on the finance side of things, but there would have been £2300 outstanding on my it.


Seems like a rather painful and expensive mistake for them, could have been avoided if they actually prepped it and looked at it.