Returning a faulty second hand car, what can I claim back?

[Enut]

I recently bought a second hand car for my daughter without seeing it as the dealer was 150 miles away. The car was sold with a new, clean MOT and freshly serviced. delivery (cost £200) was delayed as apparently the dealer was sorting out an issue with the engine running poorly. After delivery this problem returned almost immediately and we then spent £90 getting it diagnosed (probably injector issues but the couldn't be certain), we also decided to have the car inspected (£100) and that resulted in recommended repairs totalling £5,000 (on an £8,000 car!) I had a second opinion done (£60) which also resulted in an estimated £5,000 of work needing to be done. None of this work could be carried out under the warranty the dealer had provided. This was after we had already spent £100 on new tyres, £240 on a Haldex service and £150 on a new battery. We then rejected the car and spent a whole day delivering the car back to the dealer (9 hours to travel 300 miles in total, what fun!) Cost of petrol/diesel for returning the vehicle was about £100.

My question is I am expecting a refund of the purchase price (£8,000) but can I also claim any of the other costs involved as the car cost us a total of £940 for about 6 weeks of ownership, much of which was spent in or between garages?

[Trevor555]

Did the dealer authorise any of the work you had done?

[Enut]

Trevor555 said:

Did the dealer authorise any of the work you had done?

I think he authorised changing the tyres (in the hope that it would fix the engine problem?!) and the additional investigation into the poor running, so £190. Didn't even think of getting approval for the battery and my daughter paid for the Haldex service as soon as she got the car as there was no evidence of it being done, both of these were paid before the all the other problems came to light.

[v8notbrave]

Unless they've authorised it then it feels a bit entitled. They can deduct reasonable mileage cost for your usage

What car, what age, what miles? I don't know any mechanics who'd give a reliable opinion for £60.

[Mike Legerwood]

Enut said:

I recently bought a second hand car for my daughter without seeing it as the dealer was 150 miles away. The car was sold with a new, clean MOT and freshly serviced. delivery (cost £200) was delayed as apparently the dealer was sorting out an issue with the engine running poorly. After delivery this problem returned almost immediately and we then spent £90 getting it diagnosed (probably injector issues but the couldn't be certain), we also decided to have the car inspected (£100) and that resulted in recommended repairs totalling £5,000 (on an £8,000 car!) I had a second opinion done (£60) which also resulted in an estimated £5,000 of work needing to be done. None of this work could be carried out under the warranty the dealer had provided. This was after we had already spent £100 on new tyres, £240 on a Haldex service and £150 on a new battery. We then rejected the car and spent a whole day delivering the car back to the dealer (9 hours to travel 300 miles in total, what fun!) Cost of petrol/diesel for returning the vehicle was about £100.

My question is I am expecting a refund of the purchase price (£8,000) but can I also claim any of the other costs involved as the car cost us a total of £940 for about 6 weeks of ownership, much of which was spent in or between garages?

Have they confirmed that you will get the full £8000 with no deductions?

Edited by Mike Legerwood on Wednesday 28th October 11:32

[Trevor555]

Enut said:

Trevor555 said:

Did the dealer authorise any of the work you had done?

I think he authorised changing the tyres (in the hope that it would fix the engine problem?!) and the additional investigation into the poor running, so £190. Didn't even think of getting approval for the battery and my daughter paid for the Haldex service as soon as she got the car as there was no evidence of it being done, both of these were paid before the all the other problems came to light.

How long has she owned this car? Battery must have been a fault surely? But if not authorised I'm sure they won't pay.

No harm in asking the dealer to reimburse what they authorised in them trying to fix faults.

Delivery back to them, did they offer to cover that?

[Enut]

v8notbrave said:

Unless they've authorised it then it feels a bit entitled. They can deduct reasonable mileage cost for your usage

What car, what age, what miles? I don't know any mechanics who'd give a reliable opinion for £60.

To be fair I certainly don't feel entitled, we are rejecting a car that had an existing problem that hadn't been fixed when we had been assured that it had together with a long list of other issues, some of which SHOULD have shown up on the very recently issued MOT, which didn't even have an advisory noted.

The car was a Land Rover Freelander 2013 plate, 99,700 miles when delivered, she did about 1,500 miles in 6 weeks including all the trips to garages and returning the car, so pretty average usage and certainly I wouldn't expect 99,700 to 101,200 to have a massive impact on the value.

The £60 inspection, by a Land Rover specialist, was actually very thorough and picked up all the issues noted in the first inspection and some additional ones, it was certainly very good value.

[Enut]

Mike Legerwood said:

Have they confirmed that you will get the full £8000 with no deductions?

Edited by Mike Legerwood on Wednesday 28th October 11:32

I emailed to confirm I would be returning the car for a full refund, this wasn't disputed.

[Enut]

Trevor555 said:

How long has she owned this car? Battery must have been a fault surely? But if not authorised I'm sure they won't pay.

No harm in asking the dealer to reimburse what they authorised in them trying to fix faults.

Delivery back to them, did they offer to cover that?

Deposit was paid 12/8, car finally delivered and paid for on 7/9 so she actually had it for 7 weeks.
Ironically she just paid for the battery as it failed after a couple of weeks and isn't a warranty item.
I think we are prepared that we have lost a bit owning this car for 7 weeks, live and learn, but certainly we are being much more careful about buying its replacement.
He didn't offer to cover the cost of returning it.

[Trevor555]

Enut said:

Trevor555 said:

How long has she owned this car? Battery must have been a fault surely? But if not authorised I'm sure they won't pay.

No harm in asking the dealer to reimburse what they authorised in them trying to fix faults.

Delivery back to them, did they offer to cover that?

Deposit was paid 12/8, car finally delivered and paid for on 7/9 so she actually had it for 7 weeks.
Ironically she just paid for the battery as it failed after a couple of weeks and isn't a warranty item.
I think we are prepared that we have lost a bit owning this car for 7 weeks, live and learn, but certainly we are being much more careful about buying its replacement.
He didn't offer to cover the cost of returning it.

Overall I'd just feel lucky that the dealer has agreed to refund you.

Many dealers refuse, and long battles resume.

Is her heart set on a Landrover?

I'd be looking at Vitaras, CRVs, at that budget.

[Enut]

Trevor555 said:

Enut said:

Trevor555 said:

How long has she owned this car? Battery must have been a fault surely? But if not authorised I'm sure they won't pay.

No harm in asking the dealer to reimburse what they authorised in them trying to fix faults.

Delivery back to them, did they offer to cover that?

Deposit was paid 12/8, car finally delivered and paid for on 7/9 so she actually had it for 7 weeks.
Ironically she just paid for the battery as it failed after a couple of weeks and isn't a warranty item.
I think we are prepared that we have lost a bit owning this car for 7 weeks, live and learn, but certainly we are being much more careful about buying its replacement.
He didn't offer to cover the cost of returning it.

Overall I'd just feel lucky that the dealer has agreed to refund you.

Many dealers refuse, and long battles resume.

Is her heart set on a Landrover?

I'd be looking at Vitaras, CRVs, at that budget.

We have Whatsapp messages between him and her confirming that she could reject it because of the engine fault if she wanted and also that we wouldn't be out of pocket for any work that was done related to the engine issue. His mechanic also accepted it back. He hasn't paid the refund yet, despite saying it would be paid the next day (yesterday), I chased him today and haven't transferred the ownership back yet. We are prepared for only getting the £8,000 back but it's been such a pain I wanted to have an idea of where we stood.

She has her heart set on a Landrover although we are looking at a VW Toureg this afternoon as well as a couple of Landrovers. It has to be capable of towing a horse trailer and horse so that eliminates some of the smaller, more sensible options. Budget is £12,000 max really so we're limited to higher mileage cars it seems.

Thanks for your input Trevor, it's appreciated.

[Trevor555]

Enut said:

She has her heart set on a Landrover although we are looking at a VW Toureg this afternoon as well as a couple of Landrovers. It has to be capable of towing a horse trailer and horse so that eliminates some of the smaller, more sensible options. Budget is £12,000 max really so we're limited to higher mileage cars it seems.

Thanks for your input Trevor, it's appreciated.

You're welcome.

At least the dealer looks like they'll refund you. I certainly wouldn't muddy the water with extra demands until you've got that refund in the bank.

Horseboxes are what Landrovers do best.

There will be better one's out there.

As for your next purchase, try to buy from a long established dealer, and try to suss out how they'll react if similar happens again.

I say this as so many crook/dealers out there sell rubbish, and then refuse anything post sale.

The real crook dealers change their trading name every six months.

Edited by Trevor555 on Wednesday 28th October 12:08

[_Hoppers]

Enut said:

She has her heart set on a Landrover

I'd avoid anything JLR

[georgeyboy12345]

To be honest you were asking for this to happen

A £8000 Land Rover
Sight unseen
Dealer 150 miles away
Engine running poorly before you have taken deliver of it!! - that alone would make me walk away

You should be thankful you are getting the full £8000 back and are not charging you for any mileage accrued over the 6 weeks you’ve had it. Luckily I think distance selling regs will be on your side here.

Next time, buy something like a Hyundai/Kia/Lexus/Toyota/Honda at that kind of budget from a dealer within 30 miles of you and go to actually look at the thing and test drive it first!

[BertBert]

I did the 12k VW touareg thing with great success. Over the years the water pump failed as did the cntre prop bearing as they all do. But went from 40k miles to 190k very happily.

You probably won't get a 40k miler today, but I'd still have a go. Landrover at 100k miles is nuts. Buying one sight unseen 150 miles away is bonkers. I really hope the money comes back easily. But I'm fearful. If you get it, then ask for more for some other authorised bits, but don't hold your hopes up.

[Enut]

georgeyboy12345 said:

To be honest you were asking for this to happen

A £8000 Land Rover
Sight unseen
Dealer 150 miles away
Engine running poorly before you have taken deliver of it!! - that alone would make me walk away

You should be thankful you are getting the full £8000 back and are not charging you for any mileage accrued over the 6 weeks you ve had it. Luckily I think distance selling regs will be on your side here.

Next time, buy something like a Hyundai/Kia/Lexus/Toyota/Honda at that kind of budget from a dealer within 30 miles of you and go to actually look at the thing and test drive it first!

Yep, agreed, lesson learnt, trusted someone saying that the problem would be fixed before he allowed it to come out to us (it apparently only came to light once I had paid the deposit). Also trusted the new MOT, wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

[Enut]

BertBert said:

I did the 12k VW touareg thing with great success. Over the years the water pump failed as did the cntre prop bearing as they all do. But went from 40k miles to 190k very happily.

You probably won't get a 40k miler today, but I'd still have a go. Landrover at 100k miles is nuts. Buying one sight unseen 150 miles away is bonkers. I really hope the money comes back easily. But I'm fearful. If you get it, then ask for more for some other authorised bits, but don't hold your hopes up.

Thanks BertBert. the Touareg we are looking at today has 96K miles but one owner from new and FSH, it's £10K.
He's asked for my bank details (which I left with his mechanic) and also a photocopy of the V5 so he can transfer it back to his dealership. I've given him the bank details and said the V5 will follow once I have payment in my bank.

[ZX10R NIN]

Enut said:

I recently bought a second hand car for my daughter without seeing it as the dealer was 150 miles away. The car was sold with a new, clean MOT and freshly serviced. delivery (cost £200) was delayed as apparently the dealer was sorting out an issue with the engine running poorly. After delivery this problem returned almost immediately and we then spent £90 getting it diagnosed (probably injector issues but the couldn't be certain), we also decided to have the car inspected (£100) and that resulted in recommended repairs totalling £5,000 (on an £8,000 car!) I had a second opinion done (£60) which also resulted in an estimated £5,000 of work needing to be done. None of this work could be carried out under the warranty the dealer had provided. This was after we had already spent £100 on new tyres, £240 on a Haldex service and £150 on a new battery. We then rejected the car and spent a whole day delivering the car back to the dealer (9 hours to travel 300 miles in total, what fun!) Cost of petrol/diesel for returning the vehicle was about £100.

My question is I am expecting a refund of the purchase price (£8,000) but can I also claim any of the other costs involved as the car cost us a total of £940 for about 6 weeks of ownership, much of which was spent in or between garages?

Anything authorised by the dealer you can expect to get bacl, with your budget in mind I'm going to suggest having a look at these:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609015...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603271...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609186...

Or it's smaller version:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202607164...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603090...

The Grand Cherokee is a robust SUV & you can get a nice one with sensible miles for your budget:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202609035...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202610187...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202610096...

[Enut]

As an update he has replied to say that the £8,000 refund will be full and final settlement and he won't pay anything on top of that.
I have spoken to my daughter and she is OK with losing the money she paid for the battery and Haldex. I'm inclined to also accept this as it gets the money in my bank account rather than fighting over anything else. Anyone think it's worth fighting for more?

[Trevor555]

Enut said:

As an update he has replied to say that the £8,000 refund will be full and final settlement and he won't pay anything on top of that.
I have spoken to my daughter and she is OK with losing the money she paid for the battery and Haldex. I'm inclined to also accept this as it gets the money in my bank account rather than fighting over anything else. Anyone think it's worth fighting for more?

Get the £8,000 back in your account.

Go after the bits they authorised afterwards if you really want to.