Help, advice needed!
Discussion
I bought a Cerbera S6 from a dealer (not TVR affiliated anyway) in April this year. At the time it was chucking out a bit of smoke, but I (naively) put this down to the fact it had been standing for a while. It also had an MOT at 29,335 miles, and when I bought it, there were 30,000 on the clock.
Now,(the mileage is approx. 33,500) the MOT is just about the expire so I put it in for a test and unsuprisingly it failed. I then took it to a specialist and they say the valve guides are heavily worn and that there is a lot of movement, the head gasket has a leak (and possible further faults that they need to strip the engine to find). The quote for this is thousands!
Question(s): Would you agree that this sounds like I've been sold a dodgy car? Even though it has been 7 months since I bought it, is this enough time/mileage for these sort of faults to develop? If I can prove the car was in need of repair when I bought it, would I have any comeback? And finally, if the MOT was carried out only 700 miles before I bought it, and it was smoking significantly, could the MOT be dodgy as well?
Bit of an essay, but any help appreciated!
David
Now,(the mileage is approx. 33,500) the MOT is just about the expire so I put it in for a test and unsuprisingly it failed. I then took it to a specialist and they say the valve guides are heavily worn and that there is a lot of movement, the head gasket has a leak (and possible further faults that they need to strip the engine to find). The quote for this is thousands!
Question(s): Would you agree that this sounds like I've been sold a dodgy car? Even though it has been 7 months since I bought it, is this enough time/mileage for these sort of faults to develop? If I can prove the car was in need of repair when I bought it, would I have any comeback? And finally, if the MOT was carried out only 700 miles before I bought it, and it was smoking significantly, could the MOT be dodgy as well?
Bit of an essay, but any help appreciated!
David
hi i would suggest you get it cross checked by another tvr specialist just for a second opinion and get written reports on whats wrong with the car , i doubt you ll get anything back from the dealer you bought the car from but as suggested it is worth talking to them after you ve obtained the reports.
I think in all honesty, you're too late.
7 months is a long time to wait before complaining to the selling dealer. The bottom line is that you've covered c4,ooo miles since buying it.
It's as hard for you to prove it was f
ked when you bought it as it is easy for them to suggest you've not looked after it for the last 4,ooo miles/7 months.
However, I'd still get in touch with the dealer to see what they say about it. You may be pleasantly surprised but I reckon your more likely to be fobbed off.
Sorry to hear of your misfortune and I hope it gets sorted.
7 months is a long time to wait before complaining to the selling dealer. The bottom line is that you've covered c4,ooo miles since buying it.
It's as hard for you to prove it was f
ked when you bought it as it is easy for them to suggest you've not looked after it for the last 4,ooo miles/7 months.However, I'd still get in touch with the dealer to see what they say about it. You may be pleasantly surprised but I reckon your more likely to be fobbed off.
Sorry to hear of your misfortune and I hope it gets sorted.
If you bought a speed-6 engined cerbera with nearly 30K miles on the clock with slight exhaust smoke and you had done your home work you would never had bought it.
If it has not had any engine work done before you bought it then it was most certainly due within the next several thousand miles.
If the dealer knows his TVR Cerbera speed-6's then he'd know there was trouble ahead. If they are a dealer in TVR's then I would say you'd got a case for some re-call! If they are a dealer of all kinds of car and this happened to be traded in then they probably hadn't a clue it was on it's way out.
I would not say the MOT is dodgy, just bad timing on your part and good timing on the previous owner but you never can tell, can you!?
Good luck, I think you are going to need it.
If it has not had any engine work done before you bought it then it was most certainly due within the next several thousand miles.
If the dealer knows his TVR Cerbera speed-6's then he'd know there was trouble ahead. If they are a dealer in TVR's then I would say you'd got a case for some re-call! If they are a dealer of all kinds of car and this happened to be traded in then they probably hadn't a clue it was on it's way out.
I would not say the MOT is dodgy, just bad timing on your part and good timing on the previous owner but you never can tell, can you!?
Good luck, I think you are going to need it.
sorry to be a pessimist,unless you have a warranty from a legal view point and given the timescales you have no right to recourse with the dealer, there is a given period of time for you to notify the seller of the faults which is quite short,certainly less than seven months, you should contact them however but if they decide not to take any action to remedy any faults it ends there. sorry you have problems i have been there before,i just would not want you wasting time and money or getting your hopes up and what is without question a lost cause, trading standards cannot help, a straight talking solicitor will tell you the same. its a bitter pill and i feel for you, the caveat as always buyer beware.
Daveyee said:
Apparently the first test failed and when they tried it again after 'high revs' they abandoned it because they thought it was a fire hazard. Their diagnosis (and it was a peugeot garage) was oil leaking onto the manifold.
Hi Mate, Sorry to hear about your problems. Just want to comment on the oil leaking onto the manifold. I had this on my Tamora when it was new, all it was was that they had not tightened one of the hex bolts that holds the cam cover on and oil was working its way past the bolt and dripping onto the manifold, so I would give them a check if I were you.I think you need to accept that you have bought a lemon. It's not worth pointing out what you should have done before you bought the car suffice to say that with TVR you should not buy the first one you see and it should be fully checked over if not coming from a reputed TVR dealer.
The thing you need to focus on is where you go from here? You can't sell the car in its condition unless the buyer knows what the problem is and the price you sell the car reflects that. If you want to keep the car - then you'll need to spend on getting it fixed properly afterwhich you'll want to keep it as it will be a great car to have which is why you bought it in the first place...
I would give the dealer a call just to make him aware but you will get nothing from him unless he has a sudden rush of guilt and wants to help you out.
Get a 2nd opinion on the engine issues, I mean waht does a Peugot delaer know about a Cerb - probably what he's picked up in the pub I guess....
The thing you need to focus on is where you go from here? You can't sell the car in its condition unless the buyer knows what the problem is and the price you sell the car reflects that. If you want to keep the car - then you'll need to spend on getting it fixed properly afterwhich you'll want to keep it as it will be a great car to have which is why you bought it in the first place...
I would give the dealer a call just to make him aware but you will get nothing from him unless he has a sudden rush of guilt and wants to help you out.
Get a 2nd opinion on the engine issues, I mean waht does a Peugot delaer know about a Cerb - probably what he's picked up in the pub I guess....
Taylor TVR ( www.taylortvr.com) have got to be close-ish to you if you're in SE London, might be worth taking the car down to them one morning to get a second opinion and diagnostics of the problems.
Edited by jammy_basturd on Tuesday 18th November 10:45
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