Car Arrived, Paintwork Issues
Discussion
I bought a 7 month old car from a dealer 500 miles away. Everything was done via email and I didn’t actually see the car. During the process i enquired about the condition of the vehicle and was assured it was in perfect condition. I also received some photos, the car was filthy but the resent them after cleaning the car.
It arrived on Monday evening and was rather dirty having been driven 500 miles to me. I cleaned it up yesterday and was surprised to see many obvious areas of swirls and quite a lot of scratches, not to mention a couple of paint chips. All of which the sales guy “100% guaranteed the car was free from”. It’s a black car so fair enough that some blemishes may show up but as the car was an ex demo being driven by a manager I was expecting better. Am I being unreasonable to be considering a complaint to them? I know I’ve the distance selling regs to fall back on but I rather like the car otherwise.
Any advise on how to proceed other than paying to have the car professionally detailed to hopefully fix the issue?
It arrived on Monday evening and was rather dirty having been driven 500 miles to me. I cleaned it up yesterday and was surprised to see many obvious areas of swirls and quite a lot of scratches, not to mention a couple of paint chips. All of which the sales guy “100% guaranteed the car was free from”. It’s a black car so fair enough that some blemishes may show up but as the car was an ex demo being driven by a manager I was expecting better. Am I being unreasonable to be considering a complaint to them? I know I’ve the distance selling regs to fall back on but I rather like the car otherwise.
Any advise on how to proceed other than paying to have the car professionally detailed to hopefully fix the issue?
I would just be honest. If everything's been done over email, they sound like they're happy to communicate this way... so get some photos, send them over and see if they will pay for, or at least contribute towards getting it rectified. Ultimately, they won't want to lose the sale over something relatively minor.
If you have email proof from the salesperson saying "the car has no stone chips and has no swirls/scratches and the paint is in perfect condition" then you have evidence to push back to them.
Bear in mind that even brand new cars from the factory often have quite a few paint defects (orange peel etc) so if the salesperson promised the paintwork is in perfect condition, either they used a detailer to "correct" the defects in the factory paint, or the salesperson was lying.
It sounds like they were lying, in which case, you can say, here's how it was delivered vs how your described it prior to purchase, and I would hate to go through the hassle of rejecting the car for a refund under CRA 2015, but I would like to give you a chance to help rectify the situation (e.g. pay a detailer local to me to fix up the paint so it matches the description it was advertised in)
Bear in mind that even brand new cars from the factory often have quite a few paint defects (orange peel etc) so if the salesperson promised the paintwork is in perfect condition, either they used a detailer to "correct" the defects in the factory paint, or the salesperson was lying.
It sounds like they were lying, in which case, you can say, here's how it was delivered vs how your described it prior to purchase, and I would hate to go through the hassle of rejecting the car for a refund under CRA 2015, but I would like to give you a chance to help rectify the situation (e.g. pay a detailer local to me to fix up the paint so it matches the description it was advertised in)
Thanks guys, this is the reason I prefer to deal with car dealers via email and have sent them my concerns.
I’m not naive enough to expect a 7 month old car to be in factory condition but as it’s been described as “100% no scratches, marks or chips” then it’s an outright lie. I’d have negotiated a discount had they been upfront.
Thankfully I’ve only had the car 3 days so have the distance selling regs to fall back on rather than going via the rejection route.
Hopefully they will agree to get it sorted at their expense. The alternative is for them to collect the car from me 500 miles away which won’t be cheap!
I’m not naive enough to expect a 7 month old car to be in factory condition but as it’s been described as “100% no scratches, marks or chips” then it’s an outright lie. I’d have negotiated a discount had they been upfront.
Thankfully I’ve only had the car 3 days so have the distance selling regs to fall back on rather than going via the rejection route.
Hopefully they will agree to get it sorted at their expense. The alternative is for them to collect the car from me 500 miles away which won’t be cheap!
Greyhound21 said:
Thankfully I ve only had the car 3 days so have the distance selling regs to fall back on rather than going via the rejection route.
Hopefully they will agree to get it sorted at their expense. The alternative is for them to collect the car from me 500 miles away which won t be cheap!
If it were a rejection under Distance Selling Regs (ie no reason needed, you don't need to contest and win the case that its not as described) you would be liable for the return costs.Hopefully they will agree to get it sorted at their expense. The alternative is for them to collect the car from me 500 miles away which won t be cheap!
If its a potential rejection under CRA2015 then they would be liable.
paul_c123 said:
If it were a rejection under Distance Selling Regs (ie no reason needed, you don't need to contest and win the case that its not as described) you would be liable for the return costs.
If its a potential rejection under CRA2015 then they would be liable.
Ah of course, very good point. Thanks.If its a potential rejection under CRA2015 then they would be liable.
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