Problems with car after purchase from dealer, what to do?

[Alfa GTV]

Hi all, Mrs Alfa GTV has bought a second hand car from a used car dealership yesterday (28/7) a Ford Focus Titanium 2009, she P/X'd her old car and got a good price.

Collected the new car and after bringing it home noticed what looked like a sticker mark on the passenger side front window, upon closer inspection the front passenger window is heavily scratched/etched as if some kind of sticker was there and had been removed with a knife or similar, this is right in the middle of the window aswell.

Secondly she said whie driving home on the motorway the steering wheel shook a little bit, I have visually checked the brakes and tyres and they all look okay, at slower speeds the car is fine, could the tracking be out?

The question is where do I stand on getting these problems fixed? I plan on taking the car back to the garage today, but is there anything legal I can say to get these problems fixed without too much hassle should the garage be not to helpful?

Thanks.

[N Dentressangle]

Alfa GTV said:

Hi all, Mrs Alfa GTV has bought a second hand car from a used car dealership yesterday (28/7) a Ford Focus Titanium 2009, she P/X'd her old car and got a good price.

Collected the new car and after bringing it home noticed what looked like a sticker mark on the passenger side front window, upon closer inspection the front passenger window is heavily scratched/etched as if some kind of sticker was there and had been removed with a knife or similar, this is right in the middle of the window aswell.

Secondly she said whie driving home on the motorway the steering wheel shook a little bit, I have visually checked the brakes and tyres and they all look okay, at slower speeds the car is fine, could the tracking be out?

The question is where do I stand on getting these problems fixed? I plan on taking the car back to the garage today, but is there anything legal I can say to get these problems fixed without too much hassle?

Thanks.

Just ask them in a friendly, reasonable way if they could sort the problems out.

Acting like you 'know your rights' right from the start might be antagonistic. There's plenty of advice here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandr...

if it comes to that.

IMO, the scratched glass you'll have to live with - it's why the car was the price it is. The wheel wobble I'd expect the garage to sort out for you.

[Crusoe]

Sounds just like a wheel out of balance for the wheel wobble, should be an easy fix. See if the wobble goes away if you go faster, should only be at a certain speed if it is a balance issue and then smooth out again past that speed. Probably put a new tyre on it and not balanced it right or it lost a wheel weight.

[Ozzie Osmond]

N Dentressangle said:

Just ask them in a friendly, reasonable way if they could sort the problems out.

^^^^^ This. Definitely this.

[jvl]

I take it you didn't get it from a ford dealership? They usually give you a 2 year warranty on approved used cars.

[Alfa GTV]

jvl said:

I take it you didn't get it from a ford dealership? They usually give you a 2 year warranty on approved used cars.

Bought from a used car dealership, however stil has 1 year remaining on Ford warranty.

[MK4 Slowride]

You'll need to live with a scratched side window. If it was the front screen in the swept area then there'd be MOT issues.

Juddering could be it's thrown a balance if your driving. If your braking and it judders the discs could be warped. Cheap to fix either way.

Alfa GTV said:

jvl said:

I take it you didn't get it from a ford dealership? They usually give you a 2 year warranty on approved used cars.

Bought from a used car dealership, however stil has 1 year remaining on Ford warranty.

Neither of the issues you've raised would be covered under a manufacturers warranty. You need to take the car back to the supplying dealer.

[hadenough!]

Did she not test drive / look at the car? Sorry if this sounds harsh but when buying a used car I go over it thoroughly. If I missed something I'd be blaming myself.

[Alfa GTV]

hadenough! said:

Did she not test drive / look at the car? Sorry if this sounds harsh but when buying a used car I go over it thoroughly. If I missed something I'd be blaming myself.

The car was fully inspected before sale the day before, but has some promotion/information stickers on the windows, so any damage to the window could not be seen.

As for the test drive, yes she went on one but didn't report any faults.

The car is going back to the garage this afternoon, will report back later.

[Alfa GTV]

Update, took the car back to the dealer this afternoon, they have re-balanced the front wheels and the problem has gone

And as for the scratched front passenger glass window they are having it replaced

Cant ask any fairer than that, really happy with the outcome and so is the missus.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Ozzie Osmond said:

N Dentressangle said:

Just ask them in a friendly, reasonable way if they could sort the problems out.

^^^^^ This. Definitely this.

Glad the magic formula worked for you!