Thread: Rejecting a car

Hi all,
i need some advice please.

Bought an ex demonstrator (SEAT Leon) in July 2008 , registered Febuary 2008 with 4 thousand miles on the clock.
Paid cash (17k).
The dealer was located in crewe , i live in london some 200 odd miles in distance.
When i took delivery i noticed that the cars exhaust rumbled a bit , just thought it was a sporty exhaust but as the weeks went on it got worse and the car started to lack power.

Went into my local dealership in London which looked at it and promptly said the exhaust was blowing and there was a 10 week backorder.

Waited the 10 weeks , had the call to take her into the garage , dropped her off and picked her up that night suposedly all fixed.

I drove 4 feet and the exhaust was still the same , went back in and got the head technician out who said it sounded more like a missfire , i then booked the car in again for 2 weeks time where they were getting some bits into change , that was in end of October , but didnt fix the problems.

I then contacted SEAT hq and told them of my problems they rang the garage and booked the car into them on my behalf , that was 10 weeks ago and it is still there !.

Basicaly they did some old fashioned tests and found the compression ratio was high on cylinder number 3, they reported the findings back to SEAT who told them to take the cylinder head off and examine it and forward their findings.

The cylinder heads exhaust valves on cylinder number 3 were siezed solid , which meant my car had been running on 3 cylinders ! for the last 6 months and 7,000 miles.

The cylinder head was replaced but the engine management light now stays on which they cannot get rid of , thats been the problem for the last 4 weeks.

I have given SEAT and my local dealer every possible oppertunity to fix the car , its been a rolling 6 months of trying to fix it and the last 10 weeks at their premises .

I have covered 7,000 miles with the fault on my car (total milage now 11,000 miles), but the dealer said i could use the car because there were no obvious faults logged on the computer on the car.

I contacted the original dealer last week and prempted him that i am rejecting the car and they dont want to know.

I have drafted a letter which i will post tomorrow stating i am rejecting the car.
am i entitled to a full refund? and if so will it be at todays rates and will they take into account the milage i have done , considering i have not driven the car as specced ie driving with all 4 cylinders working !.

it has been logged on SEATS system since August 2008.

SEAT uk dont want to know about rejecting or replacing my car or giving me a refund and the dealer i am using to fix my car have draggd their heals and dont really care if it gets fixed or not which has been reflected in the last 10 weeks ,
and the dealer i bought the car from doesnt want to know either.
what am i legaly entitled to?

i deally i would like a full refund.
or a like for like replacement , i have a lot of extras on my car.

Thanks.

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Hi,

Welcome to the forums
Your case/s sound identical to mine with Audi... over a 6-9 month period, things have gone wrong one after another
Gave them the chance but they couldnt fix it and eventually, it was handed back to me unfixed in their own words

I put a thread on here which you may want to go through especially given how alike our problem is...I was getting fantastic help especially from two people on the forums although for an unknown reason, they both went AWOL and decided to stop helping which was a real shame. I did contact one of the guys in private but got no reply despite being active on other threads so I sort of left this place and went to another forum who have been equally helpful.

The thread is : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...e-help-me.html

There is information and letter templates on there too

Dont know if Seat fall under VAG group but VAG are useless themselves and I found myself in a situation where I am having to pay £4000 to finalise this issue... I could go to court but for the hassle/costs, this might be better. Having said that, things have taken a turn for the worse however, see how the thread helps you and if you have any questions, do report back

I personally think you have a good case for rejection... however, I did not get my rejection accepted if thats a way to explain it...it just went round in circles and to different channels.
I was offered replacements but like you, I had a lot of extras in mine - extras they could not all find in one car.

So then its where do you stand....

Good Luck and sorry to babble on!

If it is not 'fit for purpose' you have a right to reject it under the Sale of Goods Act.

If you speak to Customer Services they will say they are aware of the SOGA, but actually they probably haven't got a clue.

You must get your letter to the CEO of Seat.

I had something similar with Renault. Not as bad as yours, but an automatic gearbox which went wrong outside the warranty. Customer Services kept bleating "it's not under warranty", and actually refused to give me contact details of senior management. I finally got through to the top and got everything agreed and paid for. But you must get the complaint to someone who actually understands their obligation to you.

Good luck with this.

DD

DD

Thanks for the reply ,

I have just been reading your posts , they are indded similar situations to mine.

Yes SEAT is under the VAG group.

what has happened since your last post of November?
where are you up to now?

Originally Posted by Desperate Daniella

If it is not 'fit for purpose' you have a right to reject it under the Sale of Goods Act.

If you speak to Customer Services they will say they are aware of the SOGA, but actually they probably haven't got a clue.

You must get your letter to the CEO of Seat.

I had something similar with Renault. Not as bad as yours, but an automatic gearbox which went wrong outside the warranty. Customer Services kept bleating "it's not under warranty", and actually refused to give me contact details of senior management. I finally got through to the top and got everything agreed and paid for. But you must get the complaint to someone who actually understands their obligation to you.

Good luck with this.

DD

DD

Hi and thanks for the reply.
i have actually been told whether right or wrong that i must reject the car back to the dealer and not the importer.

Yes your contract is with your dealer and finance company if there is one. As more than one of us found out, they dont always accept the rejection! Mine is still going on since August 2008. The golden rule is DONT USE IT. Park it up, preferably with the dealer and send any correspondance via recorded delivery and keep copies and notes of everything.

Mine has been parked up on the drive, flat battery, seized on brakes now until I await an appointment for a vehicle inspection... Good luck stick to your guns

thanks for the reply.
my car is still at a dealer and i am still in a courtesy car.
i have no finance , i paid cash for the car.

the dealer i bought the car from is 200 miles away and they have now been informed that i am rejecting the vehicle which funnily enough they have disputed !

now they wont return my calls and the person i need to speak to is never there.
trouble is i am in a local SEAT dealers car , so they could ask me to take that back any day , but i need a car for work.

its bloody stressfull dealing with all this.

I work for a VAG dealer and as far as I am aware, you have to reject the car with the dealer you bought the car from. Copy any letters to VAG head office.