Legal advise for 2nd hand car purchase.
Discussion
After some advise for a recently purchased car. My parents have bought a 2nd hand corsa from a garage on October 5th. It has 3 months warranty and the end of last week it broke down. It got recovered to workshop that the selling garage told them to go to. The communication has been non existent with no returned calls from the workshop or the seller and they've been without the car for a week now. I've just managed to phone the workshop who did the work and they said it's getting transported to the seller tomorrow for my parents to collect. Hes told me they've replaced the gearbox. When I said is that new or exchanged he said its out of another car that has 20k miles on it. I'm not to pleased with this and after my dad has spent a fair wack of his redundancy money on it I've advised him to try and get his money back and give them the car back. This maybe my cautious side because I'm a technician and don't see a gearbox failure at 49k as acceptable and as the new/old one already has 20k it doesn't leave me much faith. Obviously with no communication, the work wasn't authorised by my dad or mum and I'm just after a quick bit of advise regarding their buyers rights to get a refund to go and purchase a different car or maybe just test drive it and try to blag a years warranty to restore a bit of faith. The reason it's a tough choice is that I've also just found that an old work colleague used to work with the owner of the garage and sells he's actually a decent guy and not some dodgy set up. I'm mainly after understanding their buyers rights but any advise is appreciated. Many thanks
I'm asking if they have any rights to a refund in the fact it's failed 7 weeks since purchased and only done an extra 300 miles. They use the car to get the grandchildren around and have lost faith in the car they purchased with my dad now worrying about it breaking down with his wife and grandchildren in the car. The garage has fixed it by fitting a used component (of which we don't know how this has been driven in 20k) not an exchanged or reconditioned part but used and I presume that won't have any warranty with that. I'm not sure about consumer rights so thought I'd ask here for some advise.
See page 28 here
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140402...
i would say after nearly 2 months you were well outside the period that is reasonable for examination of the vehicle so there is no grounds to reject the car, and they seem to have acted reasonably in repairing the car by taking a week or 2 to replace a gearbox and using a low mileage 2nd hand replacement to go in a 2nd hand vehicle. Provided the work is done to a satisfactory standard (to a reasonable person) you should be happy, perhaps maybe should have been given a courtesy car, any real out of pocket expenses for being without the car would be potentially reclaimable, but it's probably more effort than it's worth
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140402...
i would say after nearly 2 months you were well outside the period that is reasonable for examination of the vehicle so there is no grounds to reject the car, and they seem to have acted reasonably in repairing the car by taking a week or 2 to replace a gearbox and using a low mileage 2nd hand replacement to go in a 2nd hand vehicle. Provided the work is done to a satisfactory standard (to a reasonable person) you should be happy, perhaps maybe should have been given a courtesy car, any real out of pocket expenses for being without the car would be potentially reclaimable, but it's probably more effort than it's worth
The original had 40k on it and you now have one with 20k on it? In essence, the vehicle has been improved.
No, I can not see sufficient grounds to reject the car. If loads more parts fall of her then perhaps. BUT at the moment they have a car which has been fixed with a "newer" gearbox.
You don't know how the gearbox was driven, yet you don't know how the original (now failed and replaced) gearbox had been driven, yet purchased the car. It is a risk of buying a car.
Frankly, the garage has done everything they were required to do as I read it.
No, I can not see sufficient grounds to reject the car. If loads more parts fall of her then perhaps. BUT at the moment they have a car which has been fixed with a "newer" gearbox.
You don't know how the gearbox was driven, yet you don't know how the original (now failed and replaced) gearbox had been driven, yet purchased the car. It is a risk of buying a car.
Frankly, the garage has done everything they were required to do as I read it.
Fair point jasandjules. I suppose I'm trying to make sure my parents haven't bought a dud and look at a way for them to get a bit of trust in the car they just bought. I'm not looking for a reason to get them a refund but was looking to see if the garage was allowed to fit a used part and that they don't have to fit exchanged/new components. If I can try to get their warranty extended it might help but will just have to see.
Exactly that. I've tried to explain to them that sometimes, it happens. I've said to them that usually a gearbox wouldn't fail at 49k and that the ratio of manufactured cars to failure rates of components is probably a very low percentage. The trouble being their not mechanically minded and are just worried that they've wasted a portion of redundancy money with a garage they've never used before and know nothing about (we've all seen watchdog and how 2nd garages can pop up anywhere). Hopefully they can collect it tomorrow with no probs and a bit of reassurance.
There is the option of taking out a car warranty. Much depends on the age of the car but a year's insurance might be enough to make them feel more confident should they be concerned. That said, the cost of said insurance will go a long way to, for instance, repairing a gearbox.
I've had a few warranties, four if memory serves. I've only claimed once, and then I was paid promptly, i.e. directly to the garage once the repair was completed. There was a small consideration as I did not take up the option of a courtesy car.
Others, though, have had bad experiences and have posted them on PH.
I've had a few warranties, four if memory serves. I've only claimed once, and then I was paid promptly, i.e. directly to the garage once the repair was completed. There was a small consideration as I did not take up the option of a courtesy car.
Others, though, have had bad experiences and have posted them on PH.
Edited by Derek Smith on Friday 5th December 20:49
Thankyou Derek. I think that's what we're going to try and do, but it depends how much the warranty costs as I know a lot of them will only cover £50 labour or £300 maximum claim etc. if it's not worth the paper it's written on ill just fix it myself although I'd rather they had the guarantee.
Magic919 said:
Why? Not usual if the customer doesn't contribute.
In fact it is totally normal because that is what the law says. Now, whether or not a car dealer will know or care about that is a different matter. Frankly, this dealer seems to have taken advice or is a bit like the chap on here (I think Deamon or similar, sorry, grey matter works seldom these days) who is a car dealer who also knows the law and follows it.dingg said:
I really don't see that your parents have any grounds for any complaint tbh
- in a nutshell the gearbox failed , they have a newer gearbox installed whats the problem??
I have reasonable grounds for complaint, the lack of paragraphs makes the OP a f- in a nutshell the gearbox failed , they have a newer gearbox installed whats the problem??
king headache to read.That aside:
If the supplying garage have fixed the fault, or the warranty company have, within the time period agreed, you don't really have a complaint worth the post.
To summarise - stop moaning and move on.
This isn't legal advice, so common sense may be wrong
JimmyConwayNW said:
AA cover that covers you for up to 500 repairs isn't bad value for money at a guess 200quid on a Corsa
I would be concerned if I had to make full use of that cover. Of course it also raises the question of whether the car was of merchantable quality in the first place.Oh wait. You said a Corsa...
Jasandjules said:
The newly fitted part will have a new warranty.
The customer has not paid for the part or the labour to replace it, which would lead me to think that the part is only warranted as part of the car and the warranty will expire when the car warranty does.
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