Thread: can someone please help! problems with financed car.

Hello, In November last year we took our car to a garage as it would not start. They informed us that the engine needed replacing and it would cost around £2,000 so we decided to buy another one. Unlucky for us the bloke who ran the garage had a ford galaxy he was getting rid of for £6,500. We test drove the galaxy and it was just what we needed so we decided to buy it off him. In order to do this we needed finance so he had to sell it to the sales division of the company ( His dad owns the whole lot - 3 separate businesses - garage, sales and another garage that mots cars) We got finance through welcome finance as this is the company they went with. We were informed that the car had a new automatic gear box which caused the odometer reading to drop from 88,000 miles to 29,000 and because we know nothing about cars thought nothing of it. The car also had a 12 month warranty.

When we got the car we noticed that when the engine warmed up after approx 20 miles and the gear changed from 2nd to 3rd, the car jerked forward as if we were being shunted from behind. We also noticed that the air bag light was permanently on, the fuel gage started reading empty when the car was started eventhough we had just filled it up, the dvd player that we had paid an extra £500 for played upside down and one of the tyres had a nail in it. The garage was informed and they took the car back to fix in January, by this time it wasn't changing gear at all. It went back to the garage 3 times in all and everytime it came back the same. The last time it came back they informed us that there wasn't a fault with the gear box.
We then decided to get an independent report done so took it to a Ford garage. When we told them about the mileage they said that the odometer would not have changed just by fitting a new gear box. The only way the mileage could be changed is if it was tampered with/clocked. The report also came back that the suspension needed urgent attention and a number of other things needed urgent attention but they couldn't find a fault with the gear box. We would need to put everything else right in order to find out what was causing the jolting. They told us that it was probably something to do with the module which would cost thousands to put right.
So we now decided to inform trading standards. They needed proof of mileage so told us to check on the vosa website for the mot history. We found that the car had actually done 171,000 miles and had been clocked twice. We also found it had been mot'd 3 times in 3 months last year and everything on the advisory notices still applied to the car even down to the nail being in the tyre.
The car is now sat in a layby by our house as It is too dangerous to drive and neither the company we got it from or the finance company are willing to do anything about it. I have got 5 kids and am not going to put their lives in danger. We have had to get another car and I have stopped paying the finance company as the car is not fit for the purpose it was bought. Trading standards are investigating the garage for car clocking but cannot help me as I have stopped payments (I can't afford to pay for both cars) but informed me anyway that they could not force the finance company to do anything about it and I would probably have to take them to court.
Can anyone advise me where I stand and where to go from here. We do not want the car as are not willing to pay £6,500 for a car thats done £171,000 miles and needs thousands spent on it to put it right.
Thanks in advance

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Hi, thanks for your reply. We have already done all that and have had a letter back from the finance company saying that the mileage is not guaranteed, we left it too late to report it (we informed the garage 2 days after we bought it and were waiting for them to fix it) and because we didn't take out the warranty with them (it was never offered) they are not going to do anything. Will we have to take it to a small claims court to get back the £2500 paid already back or wait for them to take me to court for breach of contract and put my side across then. Someone has told me to dump the car outside their office. I don't know what to do.

hi indigo and welcome

hear we go again, another satisfied welcome customer, excuse the pun

welcome are notoriouse in ignoring requests and correspondents getting lost, you will be banging your head against a brick wall.
at the end of the day, the car is now welcomes problem as they are the legal owners untill the balance is clear.
i do wish you would have done a search on the internet first before dealing with this lot.
they are loan sharks, hiding behind a consumer credit licence.

they have a duty of care, the warrinty does not matter, sale of goods act, fit for purpose comes to mind.

welcome will be quite happy in defaulting you, then a few years down the line, sell the account to a DCA.
you need to nip this in the bud now and put welcome on notice.

reply to the letter welcome sent you,
tell them sale of goods act
warrinty irrelevent as goods not as described and duty of care

the value of the vehicle is not as described due to its history, milage etc

tell them you require them to end the contract and repay all monies owed

at the top of your letter put

letter before action

and give them fourteen days to respond

contact your local trading standards to get them to do an investigation
give them as well as welcome all the vosa info

keep your thread updated on developments

welcome can be beaten, you just have to throw the law at them

Thankyou I will get onto the letter straight away.
Trading standards are investigating the garage and strangely I have been informed that the garage has been closed down but not by ts. The bloke who owned the car originally and ran the garage is now working with his dad at their other garage. Is this going to stop ts from investigating? In my eyes this just makes them even more guilty of wrong doing.

ok, the letter has been written and will be sent on Monday by recorded delivery. What will happen if they chose to ignore this letter as well? What will I have to do?