Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
Hi Guy's, wonder if anyone can give me some guidance.
I bought a £16,500 car from a registered vehicle trader on 29th April. Upon driving the car home the 200 miles home from the garage I noticed that the Active Cruise Control was not working.
I gave them a call as I had been given a 3 month 3000 mile full vehicle parts and labour warranty by them and they told me to take it to the BMW dealership and have the problem diagnosed. I done that and the dealer told me that the sensor required re-alignment which would cost almost £400. I phoned the place I bought the car from and they told me to get it done and send them the invoice for reimbursement.
I booked it into the dealer and they attempted to re-align the sensor which failed. They said that the sensor must be faulty as it would not initialise with the programming system. The cost of a replacement sensor would be a total of £2200. I called the dealer whom I bought the car from and he said that he would call BMW customer services in order to try and get them to reimburse part of the cost on the basis that the vehicle was only 5 months out of warranty. The dealer had already told me BMW would not entertain him as he was a trader and he had sold me the car therefore it was his responsibility to get it fixed. I agreed to let him try this anyway as I was off on holiday the next day for 2 weeks and so there was nothing I could do at this point.
2 weeks later and back from holiday I have a cheque at the door for the £400 to cover the cost of the alignment which I had already paid BMW with a compliments slip stating that they would call me back on 29th May. That came and no call. I called them and the guy (owner of the garage) would call me back as he was dealing with a customer. Since then I have had no return calls despite phoning them every day and leaving voicemail messages on both their business landline and mobile. I know he/they are working as their website has been updated with stock and the voicemail has changed since his holiday message.
I have this morning sent them the following email (of which I have a read receipt)...
Dear XXXX,
Since my telephone contact with XXX at 13:35 on 25th May in which he stated that he would call me back within an hour after dealing with a current customer, I have had no response and been unable to contact him or any representative of XXX Cars since. I have attempted contact on both your business landline (XXXXX) and mobile telephone (XXXX) each time leaving a message with my details in order for you to return my calls.
As your website is updating and your voicemail message has changed in the last day I can only assume that you are open for business and ignoring my calls. For this reason and after taking legal advice, I am sending you this email to request that you contact me within the next 2 working days.
If you fail to contact me within the above stated timeframe I will have deemed myself to have attempted contact with you via every channel possible regarding this matter. I will therefore be issuing you with a written letter stating my case for recovering the costs of repair or full refund of the vehicle which I purchased from your dealership on 29th March 2008.
If I receive no response in relation to the above said letter I will be submitting evidence to the courts formally rejecting the vehicle for a full refund under s.14 (2) and s.14 (3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 with the inclusion of interest, costs and compensation. This case will be based on; misrepresentation of your advert which clearly states the vehicle has Active Cruise Control, breach of contract bound by the 3 month warranty provided to me and signed at the time of purchase and also the said sections under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
Let me assure your Dealership that I have dealt with issues such as this in the past and I will not be going away on the matter. I would therefore hope that you will respect your duty and contractual agreements and repair the vehicle before I am required to take this matter further.
Yours Faithfully,
The question now is... I don’t want to have to reject the car and I also don’t want to have to pay the cost of repair out of my own pocket then have to fight to reclaim the cost back. Can I make a claim through the MoneyClaim web site with a reimbursement of the amount to fix the vehicle from the invoice which I received from them after paying for the car? OR will I have to formally reject the car and proceed for a full refund?
Hope someone can give me some initial guidance on this before I have to go all out with the solicitors.
You wont have gruonds to reject the car for the cruise control not working, not seriuos enough!
Best bet is to give dealer opportinity to fix it at his expense. If he wont then get it fixed and sue for the cost in small claims court.
send him a letter before action giving him 14 days or so to respond.
dont get solicitors involved, will bleed you dry!
As you say it was advertised with this function and you want it sorted.
If it is a large dealership they will not want to go to court and loose.
How did you purchase the car? if on HP they can help put pressure on dealer.
You wont have gruonds to reject the car for the cruise control not working, not seriuos enough!
Best bet is to give dealer opportinity to fix it at his expense. If he wont then get it fixed and sue for the cost in small claims court.
send him a letter before action giving him 14 days or so to respond.
dont get solicitors involved, will bleed you dry!
As you say it was advertised with this function and you want it sorted.
If it is a large dealership they will not want to go to court and loose.
How did you purchase the car? if on HP they can help put pressure on dealer.
Yes, I dont really want to have to reject the car so taking them to court to recover costs is my prefered option. The question really is... do I have to spend the money to fix the issue before I can claim this back through court or can I just claim it back based on the quote I recieved from BMW to fix the issue?
The car dealer I purchased from is not a large dealership, they are just a standard vehicle trader.
The car was purchased with my debit card so I am unable to use HP legals experts.
P.S. He is no responding to me at all so I doubt a letter will get him to respond, however I realise that this is the standard legal course of action so I plan to do exactly as you suggest.
A letter is deemed delivered when posted, but in any case, make it recorded delivery.
If he insists that your return the car for repairs, he will have to pay for this also which could include a hotel as you are so far away.
Trading Standards wants your help
Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
_________________________ ________________ _________________________ ___________________
A letter is deemed delivered when posted, but in any case, make it recorded delivery.
If he insists that your return the car for repairs, he will have to pay for this also which could include a hotel as you are so far away.
Afraid not. The warranty which I have from them states that I am liable for transportation costs to them in the event of requiring repairs. However this does not really concern me given the cost of the repair vs the cost of travel. In any case if he requests this he is just being awrkward as the cost of repair is a specialist part from BMW with the cheapest labour rate I could get (which he couldn't beat) hence the instruction to take it to a "local" dealer (89 miles away)
Broke Active Cruise Control
the next day for 2 weeks and so there was nothing I could do at this point.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by raydetinu
