Got sold a faulty car, garage refusing to refund.

[zepoe]

I was sold a car 14 days ago. On the 1st day the passengers door wouldn't open. It appeared to be something to do with the electrics. On the 11th day, the car broke down on an A road while I was camping. I got the AA to recover it and they said it could be the fuel pump but also couldn't believe the car had passed an MOT a month before. (The garage I bought the car from did the MOT.) The AA advised me to get my money back.

The garage has refused to refund me although according to trading standards I'm entitled to reject the car in the first 30 days. The garage said they'll repair it which is fair enough but I don't exactly trust them now and would prefer the refund as it had been 11 days. I called today (2 days later) and asked what was up with the car and he listed off a fair few issues and said it would take a week to repair the car which is useless as I have to drive the car back home to another city for work on Monday. I found it hard to believe that a car that passed it's MOT in July can have so much work to do on it and would rather have my money back than trust this garage. Does anybody know my rights? Any advice would be appreciated.

For the record this is a 1.4 litre VW POLO 03 plate. and the cars is valued at 900/1000 pounds.

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

Waits for first dealer / random to say at that price “what do you expect “ “just chuck it” etc etc lol.

[zepoe]

Iwantafusca said:

Waits for first dealer / random to say at that price “what do you expect “ “just chuck it” etc etc lol.

That's what I am waiting for tbh, but at the end of the day I expected longer than 11 days

[Mexman]

Reject it.
Any dealer who is getting involved in 900 pound cars is asking for trouble, imagine what he must have paid for it.
Pointless, at this price point, privately all the way.
Good luck.

[300bhp/ton]

zepoe said:

I was sold a car 14 days ago. On the 1st day the passengers door wouldn't open. It appeared to be something to do with the electrics. On the 11th day, the car broke down on an A road while I was camping. I got the AA to recover it and they said it could be the fuel pump but also couldn't believe the car had passed an MOT a month before. (The garage I bought the car from did the MOT.) The AA advised me to get my money back.

The garage has refused to refund me although according to trading standards I'm entitled to reject the car in the first 30 days. The garage said they'll repair it which is fair enough but I don't exactly trust them now and would prefer the refund as it had been 11 days. I called today (2 days later) and asked what was up with the car and he listed off a fair few issues and said it would take a week to repair the car which is useless as I have to drive the car back home to another city for work on Monday. I found it hard to believe that a car that passed it's MOT in July can have so much work to do on it and would rather have my money back than trust this garage. Does anybody know my rights? Any advice would be appreciated.

For the record this is a 1.4 litre VW POLO 03 plate. and the cars is valued at 900/1000 pounds.

Thanks

There really is nothing like checking a car over and being happy with it before handing your money over....

[romeogolf]

300bhp/ton said:

There really is nothing like checking a car over and being happy with it before handing your money over....

Most people have a very limited knowledge of what to look for, don't have a trusted friend who knows any more than them to bring with, and doesn't want to spend half the car's purchase cost again on an inspection. That's why they buy from a (supposedly trustworthy) dealership rather than off someone's driveway.

[OddCat]

zepoe said:

I was sold a car 14 days ago.

I hate this. What's wrong with "I bought a car 14 days ago". The emphasis on "I was sold" is straight down the "I was mis-sold" route

zepoe said:

I got the AA to recover it and they said it could be the fuel pump but also couldn't believe the car had passed an MOT a month before

Why couldn't they believe that?

zepoe said:

For the record this is a 1.4 litre VW POLO 03 plate. and the cars is valued at 900/1000 pounds .

eh ? Are we now going to find out that the OP actually paid £700

[300bhp/ton]

romeogolf said:

Most people have a very limited knowledge of what to look for, don't have a trusted friend who knows any more than them to bring with, and doesn't want to spend half the car's purchase cost again on an inspection. That's why they buy from a (supposedly trustworthy) dealership rather than off someone's driveway.

Then that is a foolish reason and self delusional. Anyone over 18 is responsible for their own actions...

[romeogolf]

300bhp/ton said:

Then that is a foolish reason and self delusional. Anyone over 18 is responsible for their own actions...

If you're not mechanically minded and have a limited budget, I think it's entirely sensible to buy a car from a fixed dealership rather than privately precisely because it offers more protection. You may still have a fight on your hands from a particularly scrupulous dealer, but for the most part smaller/independent dealerships operate on reputation and wouldn't want to be known as selling duds.

[ExPat2B]

romeogolf said:

If you're not mechanically minded and have a limited budget, I think it's entirely sensible to buy a car from a fixed dealership rather than privately precisely because it offers more protection. You may still have a fight on your hands from a particularly scrupulous dealer, but for the most part smaller/independent dealerships operate on reputation and wouldn't want to be known as selling duds.

This has to be one of the cluelessly naive things I have read on this site. Are you trolling ?

[Jamescrs]

Whilst within the letter of the law you do appear to have grounds to reject it as the garage are standing on expect it not to be a quick process and you will be without a car or the money for the time it takes to go through.

You should weigh up your options whether you can be without the car and your money for that time or whether it's better to let them sort it and take it back again. There is no guarantee you will get your refund either at the end.

[ChunkyloverSV]

with such a low value car really all you can do is let them fix it. It could just be something simple that gets the car back up and running

[LimSlip]

romeogolf said:

If you're not mechanically minded and have a limited budget, I think it's entirely sensible to buy a car from a fixed dealership rather than privately precisely because it offers more protection.

Not at this end of the market.

[Dave.]

300bhp/ton said:

There really is nothing like checking a car over and being happy with it before handing your money over....

Why bother, when you can just treat it as a free 30 day rental?

[Dr Interceptor]

romeogolf said:

300bhp/ton said:

Then that is a foolish reason and self delusional. Anyone over 18 is responsible for their own actions...

If you're not mechanically minded and have a limited budget, I think it's entirely sensible to buy a car from a fixed dealership rather than privately precisely because it offers more protection. You may still have a fight on your hands from a particularly scrupulous dealer, but for the most part smaller/independent dealerships operate on reputation and wouldn't want to be known as selling duds.

It's why a lot of people 'take a friend' when they go to a look at a car. You know, one that can do a bit more than give the tyres a kick.

[deadslow]

chap has just paid £900 for a car picked up at auction for £120. You gotta feel for him.

[ghost83]

You can’t just hang off the words of an AA guy they see allsorts

A car can pass its mot and then literally fail it a day later and can have problems!

As picked my shed up 2 weeks ago who reeled off what in his expert opinion was wrong with my shed car and he was wrong (he diagnosed a faulty alternator as to why it cut out and wouldn’t start turns out the aux belt had shredded got caught in the timing chain and caused the fuel pump to shat itself!

I believe you have to give them chance to fix it although I suspect if the cars only worth 900-1000 he isn’t going to want to put much into it, and could source very cheap second rate parts, again I know of a garage that does this and buys a lot of parts on eBay some second hand and pass them off as new parts

[CS Garth]

Try and work with the dealer constructively to have the issues fixed.

It’s not trendy in these parts but I find that having a civil mind and tongue tend to get you a lot further in life

[Camelot1971]

zepoe said:

I was sold a car 14 days ago. On the 1st day the passengers door wouldn't open. It appeared to be something to do with the electrics. On the 11th day, the car broke down on an A road while I was camping. I got the AA to recover it and they said it could be the fuel pump but also couldn't believe the car had passed an MOT a month before. (The garage I bought the car from did the MOT.) The AA advised me to get my money back.

The garage has refused to refund me although according to trading standards I'm entitled to reject the car in the first 30 days. The garage said they'll repair it which is fair enough but I don't exactly trust them now and would prefer the refund as it had been 11 days. I called today (2 days later) and asked what was up with the car and he listed off a fair few issues and said it would take a week to repair the car which is useless as I have to drive the car back home to another city for work on Monday. I found it hard to believe that a car that passed it's MOT in July can have so much work to do on it and would rather have my money back than trust this garage. Does anybody know my rights? Any advice would be appreciated.

For the record this is a 1.4 litre VW POLO 03 plate. and the cars is valued at 900/1000 pounds.

Thanks

You did actually look at the car before you bought it? How much did you actually pay and most importantly, where has your £ key gone?

[romeogolf]

Dr Interceptor said:

It's why a lot of people 'take a friend' when they go to a look at a car. You know, one that can do a bit more than give the tyres a kick.

Precisely why I mentioned in my first reply about people who don't know anyone mechanically minded.