Used car dealer sold really dodgy car
Discussion
Hi folks,
My sister bought an Audi A3 in Dec 2021, 19 plate. Specifically asked whether had been involved in any accidents or has any defects.
Dealer reassured my sister that there was none and showed HPI showing none.
March 2022, airbag light came on, took it local garage to have a look, reset it, was fine for 20 days, then came back on, reset it, came back on 10 days later, that continued till it pretty much came back on shortly after reset.
Long story short, took it several garages, said it had accident damage.
Dealer insisting no damage.
Audi looked at it sent videos showing front air bag wiring loom was broken, wiring that had been cable tied to hold in place - should be in a foam insert inside the bumper, sensors just cable tied not connected to anything, black circle sensor with cover missing as compared to drivers side.
Headlight date stamp from 2016 - from a car 3 years older. Showed the wing inside the engine bay had the original black paint and had just been painted over. More panel damage visible inside engine bay. Window pillar had also been painted. Washer bottle had date stamp of 2020.
My concerns:
i) Car appears to have suffered significant damage, it is a nearly new car, was there a deliberate attempt to keep this "off the books" so as not to be categorised - which would would have knocked thousands of pounds of the value of the car. Also, people like my sister would never touch a cat car.
ii) The "repair" appears to be dangerous - because it has not been categorised - we have no idea what the actual category would be for this car
- is the car structurally compromised?
- given sensors, components, wires have been cable tied, not connected, damaged components - we have no idea if any of the safety features are working - thus putting lives at risk - shows the person carrying out the repair couldn't care less and knew they would be putting lives at risk!
iii) This maybe the tip of the ice berg - as the Audi technician job was to find out the cause of the air bag light issue - has not done a full investigation.
iv) i've looked at the MOT history, in Nov 21, this car had a MOT major failure with “Supplementary restraint system warning lamp indicates a fault (7.1.6 (a))”. The very next day, with 1 mile added to the odometer, the MOT passed. Dealer had just reset the air bag light.
I believe the dealer was well aware of the air bag light issue and given how the other garages were easily able to determine the car had been involved in previous accidents. The dealer surely would have done some basic checks on the car and would've known the car had accident damage.
It has been bought half on finance, original cost £18k.
I've advised my sister to reject the car and claim full costs back.
What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks,
My sister bought an Audi A3 in Dec 2021, 19 plate. Specifically asked whether had been involved in any accidents or has any defects.
Dealer reassured my sister that there was none and showed HPI showing none.
March 2022, airbag light came on, took it local garage to have a look, reset it, was fine for 20 days, then came back on, reset it, came back on 10 days later, that continued till it pretty much came back on shortly after reset.
Long story short, took it several garages, said it had accident damage.
Dealer insisting no damage.
Audi looked at it sent videos showing front air bag wiring loom was broken, wiring that had been cable tied to hold in place - should be in a foam insert inside the bumper, sensors just cable tied not connected to anything, black circle sensor with cover missing as compared to drivers side.
Headlight date stamp from 2016 - from a car 3 years older. Showed the wing inside the engine bay had the original black paint and had just been painted over. More panel damage visible inside engine bay. Window pillar had also been painted. Washer bottle had date stamp of 2020.
My concerns:
i) Car appears to have suffered significant damage, it is a nearly new car, was there a deliberate attempt to keep this "off the books" so as not to be categorised - which would would have knocked thousands of pounds of the value of the car. Also, people like my sister would never touch a cat car.
ii) The "repair" appears to be dangerous - because it has not been categorised - we have no idea what the actual category would be for this car
- is the car structurally compromised?
- given sensors, components, wires have been cable tied, not connected, damaged components - we have no idea if any of the safety features are working - thus putting lives at risk - shows the person carrying out the repair couldn't care less and knew they would be putting lives at risk!
iii) This maybe the tip of the ice berg - as the Audi technician job was to find out the cause of the air bag light issue - has not done a full investigation.
iv) i've looked at the MOT history, in Nov 21, this car had a MOT major failure with “Supplementary restraint system warning lamp indicates a fault (7.1.6 (a))”. The very next day, with 1 mile added to the odometer, the MOT passed. Dealer had just reset the air bag light.
I believe the dealer was well aware of the air bag light issue and given how the other garages were easily able to determine the car had been involved in previous accidents. The dealer surely would have done some basic checks on the car and would've known the car had accident damage.
It has been bought half on finance, original cost £18k.
I've advised my sister to reject the car and claim full costs back.
What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Not sure where you guys are getting 18 months - car was bought Dec 2021 - In March 2022 - 3 months after the car was bought the air bag light came on.
So you guys think it's ok for the safety sensors and wirings not to be connected and just left there held by cable ties.
No way of knowing if these sensors are working and in the event of, god forbid, a crash - not knowing if they will work to save lives!
The black paint of the side wing was visible in the engine bay.
Most of the garages were able to spot signs of accident damage, pointing to replaced side wing and window pillar also being painted.
We simply do not know the full extent of the damage.
So you guys think it's ok for the safety sensors and wirings not to be connected and just left there held by cable ties.
No way of knowing if these sensors are working and in the event of, god forbid, a crash - not knowing if they will work to save lives!
The black paint of the side wing was visible in the engine bay.
Most of the garages were able to spot signs of accident damage, pointing to replaced side wing and window pillar also being painted.
We simply do not know the full extent of the damage.
I can't believe the level of downplaying, this isn't just a scratch or a dent! A whole wing has been replaced, damage enough to the window pillar to be painted.
So you think the car air-bag components wiring just left hanging, damaged, not connected - is all ok? The occupants lives at risk is all ok?
The odd occasion where my own car has had an accident, wing damage, it is always be recorded at the very least cat N (or was D).
How on earth can you say a car that has at the very least wing damage, the insurance would not record it.
This has not gone through insurance, scrap parts have been used.
So you think the car air-bag components wiring just left hanging, damaged, not connected - is all ok? The occupants lives at risk is all ok?
The odd occasion where my own car has had an accident, wing damage, it is always be recorded at the very least cat N (or was D).
How on earth can you say a car that has at the very least wing damage, the insurance would not record it.
This has not gone through insurance, scrap parts have been used.
Edited by swiftguy on Sunday 14th August 16:34
CloudStuff said:
Waste of time posting this in GG.
It's mainly populated by "happy wife - happy life" ph pensioner saddos who are sat in their sheds, deflecting their bitterness onto the forum.
You've just fed their appetite for "let's pile on and blame the OP" 'fun'.
That would explain it - not sure which forum was the correct oneIt's mainly populated by "happy wife - happy life" ph pensioner saddos who are sat in their sheds, deflecting their bitterness onto the forum.
You've just fed their appetite for "let's pile on and blame the OP" 'fun'.
Hugo Stiglitz said:
OP there's a hpi service that is quite indepth and can turn up unrecorded. It's popular on here. What's it called? If you can pay it/it shows up you may have more ammunition against the retailer.
Is this the v-check which a few others have mentioned - on the website it just mentions insurance write-off.
Can someone clarify on the salvage site it says Cat S - Structural damage - is this the same as what should/would have been recorded on a HPI report i.e. Cat S ?
As this is not showing on the HPI report - does this mean they actively chose not to notify insurance company so as not to have it recorded?
Given that it shows Cat S - Structural damage - does this mean damage to the chasis?
As I understand it, a Cat S car has to be re-registered at the DVLA?
As this is not showing on the HPI report - does this mean they actively chose not to notify insurance company so as not to have it recorded?
Given that it shows Cat S - Structural damage - does this mean damage to the chasis?
As I understand it, a Cat S car has to be re-registered at the DVLA?
Thanks all for the replies - the good and the bad.
Those that are saying no big deal, seem to be overlooking a major point here.
There is a mechanic out there who did what was needed to make this car look pre-accident.
Yet he couldn't care less about the safety components, made no attempt to fix them, just cable tied them up - full well knowing that the future occupants of this car, he would be putting their lives at risk, my sister and her children's lives at risk, as the air bag and safety systems would not have functioned!
This mechanic belongs in Jail!
C'mon let's see what excuses you are going to make up for him?
Those that are saying no big deal, seem to be overlooking a major point here.
There is a mechanic out there who did what was needed to make this car look pre-accident.
Yet he couldn't care less about the safety components, made no attempt to fix them, just cable tied them up - full well knowing that the future occupants of this car, he would be putting their lives at risk, my sister and her children's lives at risk, as the air bag and safety systems would not have functioned!
This mechanic belongs in Jail!
C'mon let's see what excuses you are going to make up for him?
ZX10R NIN said:
Just saw that it's a CAT car, now that does make a difference.
Do you have a copy of the HPI report? As you'll be able to make a claim against them depending on when the car was Cat'd.
Tell your sister to talk to the finance company as they will also put pressure on the dealer as the car is now worth less.
Why does the repairer belong in jail?
The car drove fine, yes?
So the issue again is the airbag loom, which is nothing to be jailed for.
Calm down & go about this logically.
Get your sister to talk to the finance company & explain that she's discovered that the car is an Insurance write off.
Then I'd do another HPI check to see if it's still showing as clear then get her to call HPI & explain that she purchased a car after using their service & it turns out it's an insurance write off.
Finally call the dealer & be CALM saying things like someone needs to go to jail/they knowingly sold a CAT car etc.
Explain what you've discovered & let them respond.
Did your sister do her own HPI check when she bought the car?
Thanks,Do you have a copy of the HPI report? As you'll be able to make a claim against them depending on when the car was Cat'd.
Tell your sister to talk to the finance company as they will also put pressure on the dealer as the car is now worth less.
Why does the repairer belong in jail?
The car drove fine, yes?
So the issue again is the airbag loom, which is nothing to be jailed for.
Calm down & go about this logically.
Get your sister to talk to the finance company & explain that she's discovered that the car is an Insurance write off.
Then I'd do another HPI check to see if it's still showing as clear then get her to call HPI & explain that she purchased a car after using their service & it turns out it's an insurance write off.
Finally call the dealer & be CALM saying things like someone needs to go to jail/they knowingly sold a CAT car etc.
Explain what you've discovered & let them respond.
Did your sister do her own HPI check when she bought the car?
My sister relied on the HPI report that the dealer presented her, she didn't do her own HPI report.
Yes, she will be speaking with both the dealer and the finance company to reject this car claim all monies back plus all costs.
Why does the repairer belong in jail? - because the repairer knowingly and deliberately chose not to fix the air bag wiring - which was broken and in clear sight once you remove the bumper. He would've known if this car now had a crash none of the air bags would have gone off and so putting the lives of the occupants at fatal risk. If a MOT tester decided not to report something that was critical to the safety of the car. The owner takes the car and the car crashes due to the critical component failure - does the MOT tester not bear any responsibility? Similarly a gas engineer servicing a boiler, decides to overlook a failed safety component on a boiler, boiler blows up - does the gas engineer not bear any responsibility?
I paid for the v-check today, this does the HPI check as well I believe and showed no insurance write off, image attached:
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/fYJMyCRh.png[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/89HgeCW6" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/89HgeCW6.png)
Sheepshanks said:
You need to calm down and stop saying ludicrous things - cable tying wiring is perfectly normal and there's nothing to say the safety systems wouldn't work. The airbag light didn't come on for several months and it wouldn't reset if there was a fault. It does a system check every time the car car starts.
You haven't said what kind of dealer the car was bought from. It doesn't sound like it was an Audi franchise. I've always thought that if nearly new (as this was) cars are in non-franchised dealers then there's usually a reason for it, otherwise it would be on a Audi forecourt being sold as Approved Used. I would want to hear a very plausible story before I went ahead with such a car. I presume it was a bit cheaper than Audi dealer cars.
How can you possibly sit there and say "nothing to say the safety systems wouldn't work" - The air bag wiring loom to the crash sensor was physically broken! In the event of a crash, please tell me how the crash sensor would be able to send an electrical signal over a broken wire! I can't believe I'm having to spell out such simple things.You haven't said what kind of dealer the car was bought from. It doesn't sound like it was an Audi franchise. I've always thought that if nearly new (as this was) cars are in non-franchised dealers then there's usually a reason for it, otherwise it would be on a Audi forecourt being sold as Approved Used. I would want to hear a very plausible story before I went ahead with such a car. I presume it was a bit cheaper than Audi dealer cars.
We are just going to have to agree to disagree on these aspects.
Yes the dealer was a non-franchised dealer. Not everyone has your level of knowledge about which dealers are safe etc These dealers wouldn't be in business if no one bought from them and only bought from franchised dealers.
I'm going to knock this one on the head now. I need to conserve my brain energy for the fight with the dealer.
I'd like to thank those who have positively contributed to this thread and helped me out.
Thanks all to those who pointed to the v-check website which has showed up the salvage details.
Good night all.
Edited by swiftguy on Sunday 14th August 22:37
@Driver101 - Thanks for the link - wow, this now makes more sense - looks like it's being done on an industrial scale! - due to the shortage and rise in used car prices - a lot more Cat S cars coming back on the market! Criminals and gangs being involved!
@piddy44 - Thanks for the support and detailed reply - yes, my sister has only just reached out to me for help - she doesn't like asking for help so tries to do things herself - she doesn't have much car knowledge and trusted the dealer. Was also in a predicament as starting a new job and needed a car and this car seemed like a good affordable car at the time. Most of us with car knowledge can be fooled - as others have said in posts above.
You've covered much of my sentiments regarding the dealer who is the expert - he is the one selling goods - the onus is on him to make sure the car is safe and road worthy and as described!
good point about the air bags and seat belt pre-tensioners being replaced.
Great points made. Will shortly get a HPI done.
@Fckitdriveon, @Sterillium, @BertBert- thanks - as in life you come across all sorts - some people genuinely try to help, others take glee from your suffering and then everything else in between - good to see that others have seen the darker side of people posting on this thread.
@Deep Thought - My sentiments exactly
Not sure why people keep going on about being Calm - I'm not about to go f'ing and blind'ing to the dealer - that will get my sister no where - of course I will be calm but firm and put my points across and see what he has to say for himself.
Also with Cat S - isn't there something you have to do regarding re-registration with the DVLA - not sure what this entails
I've checked with companies, the dealer has been around since 2003
@piddy44 - Thanks for the support and detailed reply - yes, my sister has only just reached out to me for help - she doesn't like asking for help so tries to do things herself - she doesn't have much car knowledge and trusted the dealer. Was also in a predicament as starting a new job and needed a car and this car seemed like a good affordable car at the time. Most of us with car knowledge can be fooled - as others have said in posts above.
You've covered much of my sentiments regarding the dealer who is the expert - he is the one selling goods - the onus is on him to make sure the car is safe and road worthy and as described!
good point about the air bags and seat belt pre-tensioners being replaced.
Great points made. Will shortly get a HPI done.
@Fckitdriveon, @Sterillium, @BertBert- thanks - as in life you come across all sorts - some people genuinely try to help, others take glee from your suffering and then everything else in between - good to see that others have seen the darker side of people posting on this thread.
@Deep Thought - My sentiments exactly
Not sure why people keep going on about being Calm - I'm not about to go f'ing and blind'ing to the dealer - that will get my sister no where - of course I will be calm but firm and put my points across and see what he has to say for himself.
Also with Cat S - isn't there something you have to do regarding re-registration with the DVLA - not sure what this entails
I've checked with companies, the dealer has been around since 2003
Al U said:
OP, can I ask which company you used for the check that showed the accident damage please?
It was given by other's in earlier parts of this thread:https://www.vcheck.uk/
Have just done HPI £20! - pretty poor for what you get compared to v-check
Just seems to have a tick next to 'Not an insurance write-off' and 'Not scrapped'
So what has likely to have happened here, previous owner had an accident of some sort, has insurance company took the car and sold it to salvage company and told salvage company it is a Cat S? but then didn't update HPI?
Some people have mentioned VCAR - is this the main database - source of truth? doesn't look like can search this directly
Just seems to have a tick next to 'Not an insurance write-off' and 'Not scrapped'
So what has likely to have happened here, previous owner had an accident of some sort, has insurance company took the car and sold it to salvage company and told salvage company it is a Cat S? but then didn't update HPI?
Some people have mentioned VCAR - is this the main database - source of truth? doesn't look like can search this directly
Dan W. said:
If you want to pm me the reg i can do a proper trade HPI for you so you can see what us dealers would have seen.
Thanks for the offer Dan, at this stage I'm not sure if I'm comfortable passing over identifiable information.Assuming your trade HPI would still return a 'Not insurance write off'
I think we've established there is a discrepancy between what HPI shows and what v-check shows - v-check searching additional databases to provide a more accurate result
sorry not kept you updated was waiting to hear back from dealer. Have spoken to dealer, dealer wants to take car in for inspection and said will then make an offer early next week. He wanted to make a deduction for mileage and length of use.
I've sent him the vcheck info.
I'm not sure what he wants to inspect, it's rather a moot point, it's a Cat S.
Is it wise to let dealer take the car for "inspection"?
Was having a chat with my sister's husband, he said when he had gone to the dealers, there were a number of cars at the back in various states of repair. Might be completely innocent, but don't know.
Still waiting to hear back from finance company.
I've just watched the Dispatches programme and it covered this exact situation, cazoo and car giant have also been caught out.
The programme covered how HPI is failing to capture Cat S at salvage yards - and showed how vcheck is! - so a big win for vcheck.
Said there are around 40,000 cars in this situation. The cars on the programme covered exactly the safety concerns I had and raised by others, with air bags not being replaced and seat belt pre-tensioners.
I've sent him the vcheck info.
I'm not sure what he wants to inspect, it's rather a moot point, it's a Cat S.
Is it wise to let dealer take the car for "inspection"?
Was having a chat with my sister's husband, he said when he had gone to the dealers, there were a number of cars at the back in various states of repair. Might be completely innocent, but don't know.
Still waiting to hear back from finance company.
I've just watched the Dispatches programme and it covered this exact situation, cazoo and car giant have also been caught out.
The programme covered how HPI is failing to capture Cat S at salvage yards - and showed how vcheck is! - so a big win for vcheck.
Said there are around 40,000 cars in this situation. The cars on the programme covered exactly the safety concerns I had and raised by others, with air bags not being replaced and seat belt pre-tensioners.
Edited by swiftguy on Wednesday 17th August 00:23
Apologies for not coming back with an update on this, have been meaning too
TL;DR: Dealer has refunded full deposit minus £500. Finance Company to refund the payments that have been made on finance.
So my sister has lost £500 +£450 garage costs.
Picking up where I left off. Dealer wanted to take car back for inspection before offering any refund of sorts. I said that would be fine if the finance company said it was fine to do so - in case finance company wanted to inspect the car before the dealer got their hands on it.
Also sent all the info to the finance company.
Got a call from the finance company (FC) who said they have spoken to dealer and agreed to take the car back and offer refund minus use.
The FC said ordinarily the dealer is entitled to deduct 45p/mile, but they have negotiated this down to 35p/mile. The car had done 13,000 miles which would cost my sister £4,550. This would be their Final Response and if we weren't happy we could take it to the Financial Ombudsman.
That is a massive amount to lose and no way would a car have lost that much value in the space of 5-7 months (given it was first complained to FC in May).
I rang the dealer, tbf to the dealer, he was a nice and pleasant person to talk to and seemed quite reasonable. I explained to him that it was just too much, he said it was the FC that came up with 35p/mile. I was shocked, I said didn't the FC try to attempt to get a full refund or near enough a full refund. He replied No. The FC didn't even attempt to fight our corner. Seemed like the FC was on the side of the dealer more than the victim. The dealer said he will take on my concerns and see what he can do.
I got a call later from the FC and said the dealer has now offered 25p/mile, which now bought the figure down to £3,250.
Back in July, my sister had rung FC to relay her concerns about the car, the FC had sent out an independent engineer to assess the car and they had produced a report. My sister finally got round to sending me the report. The report was damning! - citing a long list of issues including previous accident damage:
Report findings:
"In our opinion based on the visible evidence we would conclude that we were able
to identify and demonstrate multiple faults with the vehicle at the time Of our
inspection. There were body defects to the vehicle, which we noted in the form Of
the body being distorted, sanding marks to the paint, overspray and scratches in
the filler which has been put on the vehicle.
The daytime running lights and sidelights were inoperable on the vehicle's
headlights. There was also an airbag light illumination on the vehicle.
[b]We would highly advise that the vehicle is not to be used under any circumstance
and as such should be taken out of in-service use immediately.[/b]"
Read the last 2 lines above and then wonder how in the very next paragraph, the Report Conclusion was:
"We would conclude that although we were able to identify and demonstrate faults
with the vehicle at the time of our inspection, we do not consider these faults to
have been present or in development at the point of finance inception and are not
the selling agents' responsibility in our opinion.
We do consider however that the vehicle should not be driven under any
circumstance and should subsequently be taken out of in-service use immediately."
How on earth they can reach that conclusion - "we do not consider these faults to have been present at the point of finance..." - without even providing any evidence on how they have reached this conclusion. The FC used this to reject my sister's complaint and then having the gall to say that all these issues developed under my sister's ownership! Let that sink in, this from one of the top Banks! To add insult to injury, then saying, this car is so dangerous that it should be immediately taken off the road!
I replied back to the dealer with the report findings and saying I'm now more livid than before. The report clearly states the car is very dangerous and highlights a long list of faults. No one in their right mind would believe all these faults occurred after the point of sale. The evidence of the MOT failure and the salvage yard pics would provide the hard evidence. After another phone call, all very pleasant mind, just expressing the depth of the issues etc He said he will see what he can do to make it as fair as possible.
The Dealer replied, using CAP prices on what the depreciation would have been if it were not a CAT S. So his final figure was £1250.
With the £450 garage costs, this would have been £1650.
I said this is not acceptable and the most we are willing to accept is a £500 loss. The dealer replied back and accepted!
I was then kicking myself for not having stuck to my guns and should have held out for a full refund and garage costs.
So now my sister is down £500+£450=£950.
That's where we have left things.
The Dealer proved to be more reasonable than the FC. I was absolutely shocked by the behaviour of the FC and I'm not sure if they have got round to refunding my sister the money as yet.
1. The FC being Santander, their conclusion of the "independent" engineer report was shocking - there is no way they can reach a conclusion to say none of these faults were present at point of sale.
2. Report finding that the car is dangerous and should be taken out of use - and just leaving my sister to deal with it and providing no help whatsoever
3. After the 35p/mile debacle - it had become quite clear that the FC is not on our side - it was very much trying to help the dealer - no doubt to protect revenue streams
4. When I spoke to the FC - the chap I spoke to - and he put this in the Final Reponse letter - that the deposit was paid to the dealer and we will then have to negotiate with the dealer to get this back and that Santander has no responsibility for the deposit. - Which goes against the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Not only had we have to deal with a Dealer selling a dangerous Cat S car, we then have to deal with a seemingly corrupt Finance Company!
TL;DR: Dealer has refunded full deposit minus £500. Finance Company to refund the payments that have been made on finance.
So my sister has lost £500 +£450 garage costs.
Picking up where I left off. Dealer wanted to take car back for inspection before offering any refund of sorts. I said that would be fine if the finance company said it was fine to do so - in case finance company wanted to inspect the car before the dealer got their hands on it.
Also sent all the info to the finance company.
Got a call from the finance company (FC) who said they have spoken to dealer and agreed to take the car back and offer refund minus use.
The FC said ordinarily the dealer is entitled to deduct 45p/mile, but they have negotiated this down to 35p/mile. The car had done 13,000 miles which would cost my sister £4,550. This would be their Final Response and if we weren't happy we could take it to the Financial Ombudsman.
That is a massive amount to lose and no way would a car have lost that much value in the space of 5-7 months (given it was first complained to FC in May).
I rang the dealer, tbf to the dealer, he was a nice and pleasant person to talk to and seemed quite reasonable. I explained to him that it was just too much, he said it was the FC that came up with 35p/mile. I was shocked, I said didn't the FC try to attempt to get a full refund or near enough a full refund. He replied No. The FC didn't even attempt to fight our corner. Seemed like the FC was on the side of the dealer more than the victim. The dealer said he will take on my concerns and see what he can do.
I got a call later from the FC and said the dealer has now offered 25p/mile, which now bought the figure down to £3,250.
Back in July, my sister had rung FC to relay her concerns about the car, the FC had sent out an independent engineer to assess the car and they had produced a report. My sister finally got round to sending me the report. The report was damning! - citing a long list of issues including previous accident damage:
Report findings:
"In our opinion based on the visible evidence we would conclude that we were able
to identify and demonstrate multiple faults with the vehicle at the time Of our
inspection. There were body defects to the vehicle, which we noted in the form Of
the body being distorted, sanding marks to the paint, overspray and scratches in
the filler which has been put on the vehicle.
The daytime running lights and sidelights were inoperable on the vehicle's
headlights. There was also an airbag light illumination on the vehicle.
[b]We would highly advise that the vehicle is not to be used under any circumstance
and as such should be taken out of in-service use immediately.[/b]"
Read the last 2 lines above and then wonder how in the very next paragraph, the Report Conclusion was:
"We would conclude that although we were able to identify and demonstrate faults
with the vehicle at the time of our inspection, we do not consider these faults to
have been present or in development at the point of finance inception and are not
the selling agents' responsibility in our opinion.
We do consider however that the vehicle should not be driven under any
circumstance and should subsequently be taken out of in-service use immediately."
How on earth they can reach that conclusion - "we do not consider these faults to have been present at the point of finance..." - without even providing any evidence on how they have reached this conclusion. The FC used this to reject my sister's complaint and then having the gall to say that all these issues developed under my sister's ownership! Let that sink in, this from one of the top Banks! To add insult to injury, then saying, this car is so dangerous that it should be immediately taken off the road!
I replied back to the dealer with the report findings and saying I'm now more livid than before. The report clearly states the car is very dangerous and highlights a long list of faults. No one in their right mind would believe all these faults occurred after the point of sale. The evidence of the MOT failure and the salvage yard pics would provide the hard evidence. After another phone call, all very pleasant mind, just expressing the depth of the issues etc He said he will see what he can do to make it as fair as possible.
The Dealer replied, using CAP prices on what the depreciation would have been if it were not a CAT S. So his final figure was £1250.
With the £450 garage costs, this would have been £1650.
I said this is not acceptable and the most we are willing to accept is a £500 loss. The dealer replied back and accepted!
I was then kicking myself for not having stuck to my guns and should have held out for a full refund and garage costs.
So now my sister is down £500+£450=£950.
That's where we have left things.
The Dealer proved to be more reasonable than the FC. I was absolutely shocked by the behaviour of the FC and I'm not sure if they have got round to refunding my sister the money as yet.
1. The FC being Santander, their conclusion of the "independent" engineer report was shocking - there is no way they can reach a conclusion to say none of these faults were present at point of sale.
2. Report finding that the car is dangerous and should be taken out of use - and just leaving my sister to deal with it and providing no help whatsoever
3. After the 35p/mile debacle - it had become quite clear that the FC is not on our side - it was very much trying to help the dealer - no doubt to protect revenue streams
4. When I spoke to the FC - the chap I spoke to - and he put this in the Final Reponse letter - that the deposit was paid to the dealer and we will then have to negotiate with the dealer to get this back and that Santander has no responsibility for the deposit. - Which goes against the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Not only had we have to deal with a Dealer selling a dangerous Cat S car, we then have to deal with a seemingly corrupt Finance Company!
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