Car advert missrepresentation....consumer rights
Discussion
Any opinions on this....
Bought a car for the wife today from a dealer (working out of his house...no "proper" garage or anything.
Anyway - saw the ad in the Autotrader which described the model (for example, Mondeo Ghia X 2.0 ....its not a Ford but you get the idea) So we go look at it, its only a few years old...looks mint so we hand over £4,500 and drive off.
Get home and wife says "wheres the air con button"....spent ages looking for it then realise the spec of the car is NOT what the autotrader ad said - in other words...its a Ghia NOT a Ghia X and the only real difference in the two specs is air con is on one but not the other!
So phone dealer back (about 50mins after collecting the car) and tell him....he says "oh, thats the autotrader's mistake....but i push the issue and he says "you cant have your money back as i have posted the log book off now so it will show 2 owners"
So where do i stand? I was daft not to check for aircon but didnt even think to....i didnt check to see if it had a spare wheel either but assume it has!
As the car was NOT as desciribed in the ad (which i have a copy of) is that enough to force a refund as the contract, which was based on that ad in part, is not correct....his point is the ad didnt say "Aircon".....my point is it didnt say "engine" either.....both are assumed to be on the item! (i have checked and AC is 100% a STANDARD fit on the model described and not the one it is.
Does it matter that the model name is "nearly" right? ie. ghia or ghia X?
I know if i dont pursue this now i will kick myself come summer when the wife and kids are boiling!
Tiggs
Bought a car for the wife today from a dealer (working out of his house...no "proper" garage or anything.
Anyway - saw the ad in the Autotrader which described the model (for example, Mondeo Ghia X 2.0 ....its not a Ford but you get the idea) So we go look at it, its only a few years old...looks mint so we hand over £4,500 and drive off.
Get home and wife says "wheres the air con button"....spent ages looking for it then realise the spec of the car is NOT what the autotrader ad said - in other words...its a Ghia NOT a Ghia X and the only real difference in the two specs is air con is on one but not the other!
So phone dealer back (about 50mins after collecting the car) and tell him....he says "oh, thats the autotrader's mistake....but i push the issue and he says "you cant have your money back as i have posted the log book off now so it will show 2 owners"
So where do i stand? I was daft not to check for aircon but didnt even think to....i didnt check to see if it had a spare wheel either but assume it has!
As the car was NOT as desciribed in the ad (which i have a copy of) is that enough to force a refund as the contract, which was based on that ad in part, is not correct....his point is the ad didnt say "Aircon".....my point is it didnt say "engine" either.....both are assumed to be on the item! (i have checked and AC is 100% a STANDARD fit on the model described and not the one it is.
Does it matter that the model name is "nearly" right? ie. ghia or ghia X?
I know if i dont pursue this now i will kick myself come summer when the wife and kids are boiling!
Tiggs
Did the 'dealer' give you a receipt? If so, does it mention the model?
You could ask for a small 'consideration' before taking it to Trading Standards (not that you'd get far with that though as it's his word against your's and it's up to you to check what you're buying.
However if you knew it came with aircon, why did you not see it was missing - surely you would have checked the aircon to make sure it was working as part of your inspection of the vehicle. Always assume something is not working, unless you've checked it yourself - or by someone who has the knowledge/experiece to check it.
You could ask for a small 'consideration' before taking it to Trading Standards (not that you'd get far with that though as it's his word against your's and it's up to you to check what you're buying.
However if you knew it came with aircon, why did you not see it was missing - surely you would have checked the aircon to make sure it was working as part of your inspection of the vehicle. Always assume something is not working, unless you've checked it yourself - or by someone who has the knowledge/experiece to check it.
Tiggsy said:
but is this not a missrepresentation issue under the sale of goods act?
the ad says its an X but its a Y.
the ad says its an X but its a Y.
The ad says it's a Ghia X - but you didn't buy the ad!
Did you specifically ask the seller if it was a Ghia X? If not, he has not misrepresented it - after all, he is claiming there was an error in the advert and most adverts are not an offer of sale, that happens when you discuss the money (hence why all the big electrical/motor/computer stores can get away with offering lots of products cheaply, only to have none in stock at that) - and most ads have a disclaimer stating 'errors & ommissions excluded' or 'e&oe', which basically means don't take the ad at face value!
Did you bother to do a HPI check to see if it was stolen, has outstanding finance, etc - it would have only cost £20 or so and could have saved you this hassle, and you could have saved more money by negotiating it down due to the fact it was not a Ghia X.
How much extra is the Ghia X worth over the Ghia - did you get this Ghia for a Ghia price, or did you get a 'bargain' and pay Ghia money for what you thought was a Ghia X?
Have you spoken to the dealer to see if he will make any good faith payment to you (without accepting blame of course)?
Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 13th December 10:14
i think this is simpler than all this....the advert is part of the contract of sale, if its inaccurate the contract is void. it doesnt matter if i asked what the spec was, he had already told me via the advert.
for example, if the ad said "no accidents" and it turned out it HAD had one then he's in the pooh....doesnt matter if i asked him about accidents or not.
for example, if the ad said "no accidents" and it turned out it HAD had one then he's in the pooh....doesnt matter if i asked him about accidents or not.
I'm not trying to stick up for the trader, but Autotrader trade adverts use the registration number of the vehicle to put the details on for you.
If you try the following link and put your own details in (don't worry, there's no charge to see the example).
http://sell.autotrader.co.uk/uk-ola/t
He could be telling the truth
If you try the following link and put your own details in (don't worry, there's no charge to see the example).
http://sell.autotrader.co.uk/uk-ola/t
He could be telling the truth
oh i dont doubt he's telling the truth...but its HIS advert not the autotrader's so HIS look out to make sure its correct. If he loses out because THEY make a mistake thats his problem with them...nothing to do with me.
trading standards now involved and looks like its going to work out fine
trading standards now involved and looks like its going to work out fine
Tiggsy said:
Any opinions on this....
Bought a car for the wife today from a dealer (working out of his house...no "proper" garage or anything.)
Anyway - saw the ad in the Autotrader which described the model (for example, Mondeo Ghia X 2.0 ....its not a Ford but you get the idea) So we go look at it, its only a few years old...looks mint so we hand over £4,500 and drive off.
Get home and wife says "wheres the air con button"....spent ages looking for it then realise the spec of the car is NOT what the autotrader ad said - in other words...its a Ghia NOT a Ghia X and the only real difference in the two specs is air con is on one but not the other!
So phone dealer back (about 50mins after collecting the car) and tell him....he says "oh, thats the autotrader's mistake....but i push the issue and he says "you cant have your money back as i have posted the log book off now so it will show 2 owners"
So where do i stand? I was daft not to check for aircon but didnt even think to....i didnt check to see if it had a spare wheel either but assume it has!
As the car was NOT as desciribed in the ad (which i have a copy of) is that enough to force a refund as the contract, which was based on that ad in part, is not correct....his point is the ad didnt say "Aircon".....my point is it didnt say "engine" either.....both are assumed to be on the item! (i have checked and AC is 100% a STANDARD fit on the model described and not the one it is.
Does it matter that the model name is "nearly" right? ie. ghia or ghia X?
I know if i dont pursue this now i will kick myself come summer when the wife and kids are boiling!
Tiggs
Bought a car for the wife today from a dealer (working out of his house...no "proper" garage or anything.)
Anyway - saw the ad in the Autotrader which described the model (for example, Mondeo Ghia X 2.0 ....its not a Ford but you get the idea) So we go look at it, its only a few years old...looks mint so we hand over £4,500 and drive off.
Get home and wife says "wheres the air con button"....spent ages looking for it then realise the spec of the car is NOT what the autotrader ad said - in other words...its a Ghia NOT a Ghia X and the only real difference in the two specs is air con is on one but not the other!
So phone dealer back (about 50mins after collecting the car) and tell him....he says "oh, thats the autotrader's mistake....but i push the issue and he says "you cant have your money back as i have posted the log book off now so it will show 2 owners"
So where do i stand? I was daft not to check for aircon but didnt even think to....i didnt check to see if it had a spare wheel either but assume it has!
As the car was NOT as desciribed in the ad (which i have a copy of) is that enough to force a refund as the contract, which was based on that ad in part, is not correct....his point is the ad didnt say "Aircon".....my point is it didnt say "engine" either.....both are assumed to be on the item! (i have checked and AC is 100% a STANDARD fit on the model described and not the one it is.
Does it matter that the model name is "nearly" right? ie. ghia or ghia X?
I know if i dont pursue this now i will kick myself come summer when the wife and kids are boiling!
Tiggs
In my opinion you are bonkers mate, or you've got so much money you don't have to care. You're buying a car for four and a half grand, not a corkscrew!! Did you inspect it? HPI it? Your wife and kids are going to be tooling around in this thing and you didn't even look closely enough to see whether it had aircon or not!!
Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Wednesday 13th December 17:37
Vesuvius 996 said:
you didn't even look closely enough to see whether it had aircon or not!!
...or a spare wheel apparently.
Tiggsy, you must be a sellers dream. You seem pretty sure of your position re the ad though, so good luck. Are you sure the guy actually lived at the house you went to, and wasn't just lurking outside?
ETA: Of course, the car could be an import, and the spec might be different in whatever country it was imported from.
Edited by deva link on Wednesday 13th December 18:44
deva link said:
Vesuvius 996 said:
you didn't even look closely enough to see whether it had aircon or not!!
...or a spare wheel apparently.
Tiggsy, you must be a sellers dream. You seem pretty sure of your position re the ad though, so good luck. Are you sure the guy actually lived at the house you went to, and wasn't just lurking outside?
ETA: Of course, the car could be an import, and the spec might be different in whatever country it was imported from.
Edited by deva link on Wednesday 13th December 18:44
A good point. It could be a german spec car, which might not have aircon.
Didn't mean to be harsh Tiggs, but FFS!
Testing my memory here but an advert is not legally binding in this respect.
had you bought via ebay, then you would have every right to reject the car before you bought it.
(those are just ebay rules, not necessarilly the law or trading standards)
however in this case, the advert was there to get you to come and look at the car.
from the time you get to the dealers, it's up to you to do all the checks you need prior to handing over the cash
the old legal term Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) applies in this case.
if you didnt check the car properly then frankly that's not the dealers problem.
whether or not the advert misrepresented the car or not, whether it was deliberate or not is now irrelevent.
you had the opportunity to give the car a thorough check over but you didnt.
looking at it from the dealers point of view.
he has advertised a car.
someone came to look at it.
they liked it and bought it.
50 mins later they call back saying they dont want it because it doesnt have air con.
it didnt have air con when he looked at it, so why should that be a good reason to take it back?
had you bought via ebay, then you would have every right to reject the car before you bought it.
(those are just ebay rules, not necessarilly the law or trading standards)
however in this case, the advert was there to get you to come and look at the car.
from the time you get to the dealers, it's up to you to do all the checks you need prior to handing over the cash
the old legal term Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) applies in this case.
if you didnt check the car properly then frankly that's not the dealers problem.
whether or not the advert misrepresented the car or not, whether it was deliberate or not is now irrelevent.
you had the opportunity to give the car a thorough check over but you didnt.
looking at it from the dealers point of view.
he has advertised a car.
someone came to look at it.
they liked it and bought it.
50 mins later they call back saying they dont want it because it doesnt have air con.
it didnt have air con when he looked at it, so why should that be a good reason to take it back?
all sorted - got my cash back
an advert that is inaccurate is a breach of the sale of goods act 1979 which states the item must be "as described".....buyer beware is not relevant here, this was a dealer who cant hide behind stuff like that.
ohh.....and just to keep you lot happy i went 3 miles down the road and gave the 4k to a private seller who had one in the right spec and bought that....in the dark Hopefully it looks ok when the sun comes up 
an advert that is inaccurate is a breach of the sale of goods act 1979 which states the item must be "as described".....buyer beware is not relevant here, this was a dealer who cant hide behind stuff like that.
ohh.....and just to keep you lot happy i went 3 miles down the road and gave the 4k to a private seller who had one in the right spec and bought that....in the dark
Hopefully it looks ok when the sun comes up 
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