Troublesome car dealers breaking consumer rights act
Discussion
Hey everyone,
Finally stepping out of the shadows and into the light here. So, picture this: I'm cruising along, minding my own business, when I stumble upon a deal that seems too good to be true – a car that's practically begging me to take it home. Little did I know, it was a lemon in disguise!
Now, I'm not one to exaggerate, but I know a thing or two about cars. So, armed with confidence and a sprinkle of naivety, I seal the deal. Fast forward a bit, and surprise! The car's got more issues than a math textbook.
Cutting the long story short, I had to surrender the problematic car to my garage and exchange it for a less valuable but functional one. While I'm relieved to have a reliable means of commuting to work now, the trade-off has left me with a significant financial setback.
Throughout the ordeal of addressing the car issues with the dealer, their behavior escalated to hostility, including shouting and swearing over the phone. Despite presenting two independent reports highlighting major issues with the car, they adamantly refused to acknowledge their obligations under the Consumer Rights Act and denied me a refund. Attempting to resolve the matter amicably proved futile, and the stress prompted me to accept an offer from a mechanic to offload the car.
My question is, can I still pursue legal action against the dealer in small claims court to recoup the losses I incurred, even though I've already sold the car? Ideally, holding them accountable for violating consumer protection laws would be satisfying. I simply aim to recover the difference between the purchase price and the selling price, which amounted to a loss of £3,000 plus the equity from my trade-in vehicle.
Finally stepping out of the shadows and into the light here. So, picture this: I'm cruising along, minding my own business, when I stumble upon a deal that seems too good to be true – a car that's practically begging me to take it home. Little did I know, it was a lemon in disguise!
Now, I'm not one to exaggerate, but I know a thing or two about cars. So, armed with confidence and a sprinkle of naivety, I seal the deal. Fast forward a bit, and surprise! The car's got more issues than a math textbook.
Cutting the long story short, I had to surrender the problematic car to my garage and exchange it for a less valuable but functional one. While I'm relieved to have a reliable means of commuting to work now, the trade-off has left me with a significant financial setback.
Throughout the ordeal of addressing the car issues with the dealer, their behavior escalated to hostility, including shouting and swearing over the phone. Despite presenting two independent reports highlighting major issues with the car, they adamantly refused to acknowledge their obligations under the Consumer Rights Act and denied me a refund. Attempting to resolve the matter amicably proved futile, and the stress prompted me to accept an offer from a mechanic to offload the car.
My question is, can I still pursue legal action against the dealer in small claims court to recoup the losses I incurred, even though I've already sold the car? Ideally, holding them accountable for violating consumer protection laws would be satisfying. I simply aim to recover the difference between the purchase price and the selling price, which amounted to a loss of £3,000 plus the equity from my trade-in vehicle.
They attempted a repair in-between me getting my two independent reports. I collected the car after their repair and immediately reported the issue hadn't been fixed. This is when the dealer started to get more and more aggressive and this is when I got the second inspection and switched over to sending recorded letters.
What also stank was that after I got the second inspection on the car, the mechanic recons the car may have been involved in an accident causing the rear subframe issues so their fore I also think i may have been miss-sold as at the time of sale the salesman was "1 million percent sure" the car hadnt been involved in an accident. I suspect they did as they covered up mastic in between panels with boot polish.
I feel so stupid for getting this car
What also stank was that after I got the second inspection on the car, the mechanic recons the car may have been involved in an accident causing the rear subframe issues so their fore I also think i may have been miss-sold as at the time of sale the salesman was "1 million percent sure" the car hadnt been involved in an accident. I suspect they did as they covered up mastic in between panels with boot polish.
I feel so stupid for getting this car
Trevor555 said:
AtillaVHung said:
They attempted a repair in-between me getting my two independent reports. I collected the car after their repair and immediately reported the issue hadn't been fixed. This is when the dealer started to get more and more aggressive and this is when I got the second inspection and switched over to sending recorded letters.
What also stank was that after I got the second inspection on the car, the mechanic recons the car may have been involved in an accident causing the rear subframe issues so their fore I also think i may have been miss-sold as at the time of sale the salesman was "1 million percent sure" the car hadnt been involved in an accident. I suspect they did as they covered up mastic in between panels with boot polish.
I feel so stupid for getting this car
What were the timescales?What also stank was that after I got the second inspection on the car, the mechanic recons the car may have been involved in an accident causing the rear subframe issues so their fore I also think i may have been miss-sold as at the time of sale the salesman was "1 million percent sure" the car hadnt been involved in an accident. I suspect they did as they covered up mastic in between panels with boot polish.
I feel so stupid for getting this car
When did you initially report the issue for the fault?
Under 30 days? Under six months? Then you'd probably be successful.
If you're going for the "miss sold" because they said it hadn't been in an accident, then timescales very different. But in that case you'd need a very convincing report about the accident damage. And dealer may be able to make deduction for usage.
So you have two reasons there you wanted a refund.
I'd go with the fault reason if under the 30 days, or six months. (Under 30 days, dealer can't make reduction for usage).
The "miss sold" might get tricky if you no longer have the car, and judge thinks report may not be credible enough. (you won't be able to get another report)
Edited by Trevor555 on Sunday 28th April 23:46
As I have already sold the car now, does the process of taking the dealer to court change ? Do I need to send a before action letter etc ? Im not sure on the process. I have done so far, tried to sort it out amicably, offered to use a mediation service and sent a formal letter of complaint.
Sorry I've been on a night shift so apologies if this reads like columbo.
Just to clarify the car was sold stating the faults. I lost a lot of money and was a hard decision between selling it, fixing it or the costly pursuit of retrieving 20k back through the courts.
Either way I looked at it, I was losing money for a really bad decision I made and all I wanted to know is if it was possible to attempt to retrieve my loss through the court. In before people say why didn't you go to court to get the full refund back. It's far cheaper to lodge a claim below 10k. It's that much cheaper now it's worth the money just to see the dealer squirm a bit, even if I dont recover the money.
Thank you for the advise guys. I'll update you as go on.
Just to clarify the car was sold stating the faults. I lost a lot of money and was a hard decision between selling it, fixing it or the costly pursuit of retrieving 20k back through the courts.
Either way I looked at it, I was losing money for a really bad decision I made and all I wanted to know is if it was possible to attempt to retrieve my loss through the court. In before people say why didn't you go to court to get the full refund back. It's far cheaper to lodge a claim below 10k. It's that much cheaper now it's worth the money just to see the dealer squirm a bit, even if I dont recover the money.
Thank you for the advise guys. I'll update you as go on.
The car was a 2019 plate seat bought for 18k. Advertised didn't state anything about the condition, only listed the spec and trim. Typical auto trader advert. I inspected and took the car on a test drive that was shortened due to the salesman. The body work all checked out, nothing my amateur eye could see was untoward. Paid for one of those history checks and all came back good.
Agreed the purchase price and bought the car outright, and collected the car several days later.
I have got all the dates and issues time lined for my case but all of this happened at the end of February/beginning of march.
After driving the car for 5 days, i felt that the car had a slight pull to the left so went to a local tyre shop and got them to look at the tracking. They tracked the front two wheels and off i went. Drove the car to work that night and it was still pulling so the next day went back and they put the car on the 4 wheel alignment machine and said that the back axle was out of adjustment and couldn't be adjusted due to the whole rear axle being fixed. Advised me to seek a mechanic to get them to check it out as it was above their remit as a tyre shop. At this point notified to dealer that their was an issue. They where getting me to try changing the front wheels for the back and check the tyre pressure which i did but still didn't fix the problem.
Went to my trusted mechanic who i have used for years so trust their opinion and got them to look at it. They took the car for the day, test drove it and put the car on their machine and confirmed that there was an issue with the rear axle or sub frame. They compiled a report and noted that the car wasn't handling correctly and that the issue could be one of the for mentioned issues and that further diagnostics would be needed. I notified the dealer again at this point and sent them a copy of the report. The mechanic told me in person that the car has probably been involved in an accident and to seek a refund as I had only own the car at this point for around 14 days.
The dealer tried at this point to wash their hands of it stating its a tracking issue and that's a serviceable job like tyres wearing out etc. I told them they needed to look at it as the car was tracked a couple of days ago. The agreed a date to take the car in and have their dealership mechanic look at the issue.
Around day 20 of owning the car, the car was taken in to them and left with them for 48 hours for their mechanic to have a look at it. When dropping the car off i told them i intend to have a refund as im under 30days of ownership and im not satisfied with the quality with the issues it had. I thought happy days, their mechanic is going to do the same thing, see the issue and report back and ill get a refund.
When collecting the car I was told all sorted, car is driving straight. I was told that the mechanic had undone 2 bolts on the near side, and tightened two bolts on the offside sub frame to bring the rear sub frame back into spec. Also told that using a tape measure the dealer measured the axle and sub frame and all was good. Nievely i took the car as I was happy with this outcome as it was "fixed" so it was said.
Later that day, drove the car to pick up a friend and noticed that now the pull was in both directions, there was no way for me to steer the car straight and when driving at speed the car felt like it was wobbling minor side to side. Not massively but enough to make the car uncomfortable to drive.
The afternoon of collecting the car back from the dealer i phoned them to say the problem hadn't been fixed and this is when the hostilities from the dealer began. Basically in a nut shell told me to f
k off and go find the fault. Stated that he couldn't do anything about it unless there was a diagnosed fault then he could go back to his supplier. At this point i knew i wasn't going to get any where so I did what he said and sought an independent garage.
on day 28 of owning the car the car was taken to a German car specialist who also test drove the car and compiled a report with the same findings as my mechanic. In conversation told me that the car drove like st. On the report it states that the car's handling isn't correct and that this issue may be caused by sub frame, suspension, axle, chassis damage or bushings. It also stated that a alignment was needed but this had already been done.
At this point, i contacted the dealer who had become very hostile to me, claimed all sorts that they where on holiday or at an auction and that they would deal with me. By day 30 i knew this was going to be an issue so wrote a formal letter of complaint, outlined my wish for a refund and them breaking the consumer rights act etc. Sent it recorded delivery with a copy of the second report.
I got a response several days later in writing stating that all communications should be via writing and that they don't have any responsibility for this issue as its the "Tracking" issue therefore a serviceable job. Funny thing is the car has been tracked 4 times at this point. Once by the main SEAT dealer at huge cost.
At this point i wasn't getting any where and was getting stressed out and losing sleep so decided to take a back seat, and consider my options through.
Sorry for the long read, there could be more detail but i tried to keep it as brief as possible. In conclusion, the car all within 30 days of ownership was taken to my mechanic, an independent mechanic who reported that the car had a steering issue potentially caused by an issue in the rear end. The dealer has tried to wash their hands of it. To avoid a hefty repair bill, solicitor bill i decided the best course of action was to trade in the car and get a working one as its critical to my work.
Agreed the purchase price and bought the car outright, and collected the car several days later.
I have got all the dates and issues time lined for my case but all of this happened at the end of February/beginning of march.
After driving the car for 5 days, i felt that the car had a slight pull to the left so went to a local tyre shop and got them to look at the tracking. They tracked the front two wheels and off i went. Drove the car to work that night and it was still pulling so the next day went back and they put the car on the 4 wheel alignment machine and said that the back axle was out of adjustment and couldn't be adjusted due to the whole rear axle being fixed. Advised me to seek a mechanic to get them to check it out as it was above their remit as a tyre shop. At this point notified to dealer that their was an issue. They where getting me to try changing the front wheels for the back and check the tyre pressure which i did but still didn't fix the problem.
Went to my trusted mechanic who i have used for years so trust their opinion and got them to look at it. They took the car for the day, test drove it and put the car on their machine and confirmed that there was an issue with the rear axle or sub frame. They compiled a report and noted that the car wasn't handling correctly and that the issue could be one of the for mentioned issues and that further diagnostics would be needed. I notified the dealer again at this point and sent them a copy of the report. The mechanic told me in person that the car has probably been involved in an accident and to seek a refund as I had only own the car at this point for around 14 days.
The dealer tried at this point to wash their hands of it stating its a tracking issue and that's a serviceable job like tyres wearing out etc. I told them they needed to look at it as the car was tracked a couple of days ago. The agreed a date to take the car in and have their dealership mechanic look at the issue.
Around day 20 of owning the car, the car was taken in to them and left with them for 48 hours for their mechanic to have a look at it. When dropping the car off i told them i intend to have a refund as im under 30days of ownership and im not satisfied with the quality with the issues it had. I thought happy days, their mechanic is going to do the same thing, see the issue and report back and ill get a refund.
When collecting the car I was told all sorted, car is driving straight. I was told that the mechanic had undone 2 bolts on the near side, and tightened two bolts on the offside sub frame to bring the rear sub frame back into spec. Also told that using a tape measure the dealer measured the axle and sub frame and all was good. Nievely i took the car as I was happy with this outcome as it was "fixed" so it was said.
Later that day, drove the car to pick up a friend and noticed that now the pull was in both directions, there was no way for me to steer the car straight and when driving at speed the car felt like it was wobbling minor side to side. Not massively but enough to make the car uncomfortable to drive.
The afternoon of collecting the car back from the dealer i phoned them to say the problem hadn't been fixed and this is when the hostilities from the dealer began. Basically in a nut shell told me to f
k off and go find the fault. Stated that he couldn't do anything about it unless there was a diagnosed fault then he could go back to his supplier. At this point i knew i wasn't going to get any where so I did what he said and sought an independent garage. on day 28 of owning the car the car was taken to a German car specialist who also test drove the car and compiled a report with the same findings as my mechanic. In conversation told me that the car drove like s
t. On the report it states that the car's handling isn't correct and that this issue may be caused by sub frame, suspension, axle, chassis damage or bushings. It also stated that a alignment was needed but this had already been done. At this point, i contacted the dealer who had become very hostile to me, claimed all sorts that they where on holiday or at an auction and that they would deal with me. By day 30 i knew this was going to be an issue so wrote a formal letter of complaint, outlined my wish for a refund and them breaking the consumer rights act etc. Sent it recorded delivery with a copy of the second report.
I got a response several days later in writing stating that all communications should be via writing and that they don't have any responsibility for this issue as its the "Tracking" issue therefore a serviceable job. Funny thing is the car has been tracked 4 times at this point. Once by the main SEAT dealer at huge cost.
At this point i wasn't getting any where and was getting stressed out and losing sleep so decided to take a back seat, and consider my options through.
Sorry for the long read, there could be more detail but i tried to keep it as brief as possible. In conclusion, the car all within 30 days of ownership was taken to my mechanic, an independent mechanic who reported that the car had a steering issue potentially caused by an issue in the rear end. The dealer has tried to wash their hands of it. To avoid a hefty repair bill, solicitor bill i decided the best course of action was to trade in the car and get a working one as its critical to my work.
To fix the fault i was told that the whole rear sub frame would have to be changed and even then it might not have cured it as the fault could have been one of the other suspension components. I had warranty purchased separate which was meant to be quite good as they pretty much covered everything but of course when speaking to them you need to have a diagnosed component failure for them to get involved.
I think the best thing was unloading the car, if i had gone down the litigation route then this could have cost thousands upon thousands to try and recover my money.
I'm going to think about small claims court as the cost to recover what i feel lost isn't a great deal and worth a punt. Reading through the comments i guess i have a 50/50 chance.
I think the best thing was unloading the car, if i had gone down the litigation route then this could have cost thousands upon thousands to try and recover my money.
I'm going to think about small claims court as the cost to recover what i feel lost isn't a great deal and worth a punt. Reading through the comments i guess i have a 50/50 chance.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff