Bought a car and been done, what recourse do I have?

[Pesty]

High guys

Bought a Honda Crv a two weeks ago. Didn't notice that the mil light didn't come on on ignition. ( yes I'm am very annoyed with myself) but also assumed a car dealer would have picked this up so didn't check too thoroughly car appeared very well cared for and ran well.

Anyway I noticed the light so went to replace the bulb but guess what. There is no bulb to replace so it must be an led on the board but looking through the holes in the back you can see somebody has inserted some plastic to cover the light

Code reader says timing chain. If it was a couple hundred id get it done and chalk it down to experience but it's a very big and expensive job.

Been trying to get hold off him all week but no joy. Been working away so no change to drive there, so not spoken with him.

I'm guessing that if he's done the light he will tell me to fo. It was that sort of place however as I said I have not spoken with him.

What rights do I have when I do speak with him?

Hate buying cars

[73mark]

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

[Pesty]

Thanks.

Well it's a proper second hand car dealer but a little place, in a not nice area. Perhaps I'm doing him a disservice but I'm assuming he's tried to cover this up so will also try and get out of it,

There are a few other little issues that I'm not bothered about. It's a 10 year old car.

[Chris944_S2]

Remove the cover and go see him, tell him the MIL has come on and it must be fixed under warranty. Don't give him any further info on what you've found until you see how he reacts.

Chances are he will get it fixed properly, since the warranty covers it.
He may not even have put the cover on, could well have been done by a previous owner and missed by the dealer

[Matttracker]

You mean he has actually covered up the warning light? That's well out of order. Threaten him with court

[oldnbold]

73mark said:

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

Rubbish, please refer us all to this "Law"

[Nigel Worc's]

Chris944_S2 said:

Remove the cover and go see him, tell him the MIL has come on and it must be fixed under warranty. Don't give him any further info on what you've found until you see how he reacts.

Chances are he will get it fixed properly, since the warranty covers it.
He may not even have put the cover on, could well have been done by a previous owner and missed by the dealer

I'd go with this.

It may be that he has just bought the car at auction & sold it on, as is his trade, he may not actually have done it himself or have any knowledge that it has been done.

[Fluid]

Matttracker said:

You mean he has actually covered up the warning light? That's well out of order. Threaten him with court

Easy tiger.

It might not have even been him.

[Sir Bagalot]

Don't assume the dealer is at fault, then again don't assume the dealer didn't notice either, but I would go and have a chat.

I am amazed that people buy 10 yr old cars from dealers.

[73mark]

oldnbold said:

73mark said:

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

Rubbish, please refer us all to this "Law"

My friend is a secondhand car dealer and he told me this.
So I'd believe him over you.

[Pesty]

Matttracker said:

You mean he has actually covered up the warning light? That's well out of order. Threaten him with court

I don't know if he has or the previous owner.

It could be previous owner did it and sold it at auction or part ex'd it an he didn't notice.

I don't want to disassemble the clocks in case I break anything doing it, looks a bit involved.

Sir Bagalot said:

I am amazed that people buy 10 yr old cars from dealers.

I havnt bought a car like that for years. Time was short and I was stuck. It looked very nice and not a bad deal.

I couldn't be faced with weeks of people buying my old one.myes I lost a few hundred by not buying private and selling mine private abut at the moment it was worth it not having to deal with all that,
I've got other far more important things to worry about.

Or would have if this car had not been a Lemmon

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 15th March 18:13

[andymc]

73mark said:

oldnbold said:

73mark said:

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

Rubbish, please refer us all to this "Law"

My friend is a secondhand car dealer and he told me this.
So I'd believe him over you.

im a car dealer and he's talking tripe

[bearman68]

You may not have to get toooooo upset with a timing chain error either. In my experience, if the car is running well then it's unlikely to be a timing chain problem.
I know these particular codes are quite often 'ghost' codes - they pop up when nothing is wrong. (Not saying this is the case only that it might be).
Sorry for your trouble though - there are so many better ways of making EML's disappear.

[Roo]

andymc said:

73mark said:

oldnbold said:

73mark said:

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

Rubbish, please refer us all to this "Law"

My friend is a secondhand car dealer and he told me this.
So I'd believe him over you.

im a car dealer and he's talking tripe

Yep.

[oldnbold]

andymc said:

73mark said:

oldnbold said:

73mark said:

if it's a proper dealer you'll be covered for 6 months.

All dealers have to by law now,if they didn't make you aware of the problem before deal is done/purchase.

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 17:02

Rubbish, please refer us all to this "Law"

My friend is a secondhand car dealer and he told me this.
So I'd believe him over you.

im a car dealer and he's talking tripe

I'm an ex car salesman I can assure you that your "friend" is talking out of his ar5e. But if you are so sure provide a link to the relevent legislation.

As has been said above if the vehicle was purchased from a small dealer he probably just threw a bucket of water over it and stuck it up for sale, so he may not have a clue about the problem. This doesn't mean that he should wash his hands of it. Contact the chap and have a chat.

[eliot]

How much MOT is on it? it wouldnt pass an MOT like that.

[73mark]

Under the amendments to Sale of Goods Act (EC Directive 1999/44/EC) if you want to dispute a claim by a customer it's up to you for the first six months to prove that the fault was not present at the time of sale. However, after the six months is it's up to your customer to prove the vehicle was faulty when sold.

[marmitemania]

I would take the tape off the EML and take the car back. If he gets all sh!tty you know he has probably done the cover up and there is probably a fault with the chain as I'm sure even a small car dealer would have a generic OBD2 code reader which would have cleared the fault if it was a ghost code. If he says he will sort it then obviously your home and dry as the fault will be rectified. It not difficult to get to the dials there will be a few screws around the inside part of the shroud remove these and the shroud will pull out then you can get at the speedo which is usually held in by two or three screws. You can then just pull it out as there is no speedo cable but there will be a loom plugged in the back. It's then just a matter of unclipping the glass which you will see is easy. I guarantee you will not brake anything, just make sure when you put it back together you don't have any finger marks onthe inside of the glass.

[Fast Bug]

73mark said:

Under the amendments to Sale of Goods Act (EC Directive 1999/44/EC) if you want to dispute a claim by a customer it's up to you for the first six months to prove that the fault was not present at the time of sale. However, after the six months is it's up to your customer to prove the vehicle was faulty when sold.

Which isn't a warranty. And also takes in to account age and mileage of the vehicle. You wouldn't expect a 15 year old car with 150k on the clock to be as minty fresh as a 6 month old car with 2500 miles on the clock.

[73mark]

Fast Bug said:

Which isn't a warranty. And also takes in to account age and mileage of the vehicle. You wouldn't expect a 15 year old car with 150k on the clock to be as minty fresh as a 6 month old car with 2500 miles on the clock.

It said new and used cars no limit on age.

Lawgistics.co.uk

Edited by 73mark on Sunday 15th March 19:18