Thread: help please..3wks old car failure

hi guys, i just bought a fiat punto from a used car dealer 3 weeks ago who aparently 'has a contract with fiat' so when someone trades in a old car they give him so sell..i got the car for £1380 and got a 1 month waranty from him, right now the car has so far had power steering failure and will aparently need a new one at a cost of 700-800 pound, and the headgasket has blown, which wiill also cost 400pounds, what are my rights in terms of this?, i paid 1000pounds of the cost with credit card and the other 380 with cash, there with me i had my younger brother...what can i do about this please..im only a uni student with minimal funds and cannot afford this repair

You can reject it and ask for your maney back or get him to repair it at his cost and to your satifaction, also put aclaim into credit card company now, takes them 3 months to get around to dealing with it so it if you get on ok with dealer you can cancel or the credit card company will be up to speed and you should get your money back.

Unfit for the purpose it was sold. Reject it. return the car to them and demand a full refund. Give them the 14 days to do so then contact your credit car4d company and start the process for a chargeback, you should get the £1000 back at least. Sue them for the rest.

hiya, just an update, so i rang the dealer and he is messing me about, always saying ring back in 2 minutes etc and when i did finally speak to him, aparently they wont be able to cover the power steering problem becasue the waranty only covers engine, also as far as the head gasket goes, though i told him i had the car inspected by the AA and Another mechanic who said that the headgasket went due to a faulty thermostat and cooling system, he says that its probably because i did not put water in the system and that if i bring it down that his engineer will look at it and determine if it was my fault, and therefore i would have to fix it myself.
Now bearing in mind the waranty expires in 4 days im abit confused on what to do , firstly i live in luton, and travelled to bolton to pick up the car when bought, which is 3 hours away. From his attitude on the phone i am 100percent sure he has no intention to do anything about it, so is it really worth taking the car on a 3 hour trip with the AA, to hear him talk rubbish? and have his 'apparent mechanic' say what he wants to hear, im really confused on what to do, as i said im a student with exams coming up in 2 months, and need to resolve this pretty quickly, all help will be more than appreciated guys..thanks!

i have now also done as britainsworstdriver said!, i contacted the credit card company, and they said i should give them the vehicle report stating there was problems with the car when bought and that i should send other documents in relation to the purchase of the car, and that they should be able to refund the money, however im abit confused on how this works, if and when they do refund the money, does this mean that the dealer is off the hook for the 1000 pound?, because surely Natwest would then be loosing out?, also what happens from there?, what do i do with the car ETC, thanks

Forget the warratny, reject the car and ask for your money back, you are covered by SOGA. do everything in writing and give 7 days to return all your money also list what all the problems are and when went wrong.
once rejected you must not use the car.
Keep claim going bwith CC co. They will as covered has noyhing to do with dealer although sometimes if they have a lot of claims will take cc payment option away from them or increase charges.

hi mate, thanks for all the help you are giving about my situation.
i have a few questions though, should i just write a letter to the dealer stating that i have rejected the car and he has 7 days to refund the money ( if so, is there anything important i need to input into this letter e.g 'sales of goods act' etc..or a paticular form it should be written in!?), when i write to the credit card company, should i mention that i have written to the dealer about rejection?

Reject the car saying its not fit for the purpose I would demand money back and not let him repair also contact his local trading standards.

ok so i should write saying he has 7 days to give a full refund for the car, because its not fit for the purpose and that i will take legal action against the company if he does not?

I would return the car give him 7 days and contact trading standards I spent 25 years in the motor trade if it was me I would pay up.

Ok, to help.

I totally agree with the above post. Return the car to him WITHIN the warranty period, leave the car with him. TAKE A WITNESS. Hand him the keys and then tell him you have now returned the car to him under the sale of goods act as the car is not fit for the purpos it was purchased and that you will only accept a full refund. take a note of the mileage first.

As far as the credit card company is concerned, they should guide you through everything. IF he refunds you the card company will do nothing further, ie you won't get refunded twice. If he doesn't they should be able to recfover the £1000 you paid by card. you would then have to persue the balance from the dealer, possibly through court.

The card company simply charge bacvk the £1000 paid to the dealer by way of a bank reversal. If he doesn't have funds available they will still refund you and then they will chase him for the money. You are protected even if he goes bust etc. BIG advantage of paying by credit card, so well done for that bit.

Keep a copy of all correspondence. Only deal with this dealer in writing from when you return the car. Once you have handed over the keys with the car on his premises, make a note of the EXACT time of day. If he decides to park the car on the highway untaxed or anything, that is his preblem not yours. This is why you want a witness, ideally not a family member. Don't get into any fights or nastiness, just leave the car and tell him yo are returning the car and will only accept a fuill refund. remove YOUR tax disc and send that back for a refund.

This dealer sounds like they won't give in easily, but if you do this right you will at least get £1000 back and hopefully the lot. Even if you only get £1000 back, that is something. It is better to lose £50 than to lose £500, although it is even better not to lose at all!

I can pretty much be certain this guy does not have a contract with fiat. nobody does except a Fiat franchise. It sounds like sale talk, but if you can prove he said that he could be preseuted for making a false statement in relation to a business - a mistake I made years ago! If he denies it, call his bluff and tell him you let a judge listen to the recorded conversation and decide for himself. May just swing it.

Very best of luck. If you have any worries about the card company, ring them. They are surprisngly helpful in refunding matters. If in doubt, just ask them

ok, thanks for all help guys, like i said this dealer is in bolton and i am in nottingham..hence leaving the car at his place and travelling there ETC is not reasonable because its like a 3 and half hour journey, so im abit stuffed on that, i was wondering however wither i could contact the credit card company alone. and get them to refund the 1000 pounds firstly, while the car is in my possesion, then it surely would be left to the dealer to try and contact me and get the car back. that way he would be forced to pay up the rest as he would want the car back.
i contacted trading standards today, who told me that it would be a difficult claim because of the age of the car. the lady on the phone stated that i would need a written statement proving that the fault would not have been as a result of the cars age??...this is wierd as surely thats wrong information?

bump..please help

In my opinion you need to get the car back to the dealer the longer you leave it the less chance you have of getting anywhere with him.

You dont have to take the car back once rejected, it will be up to him to collect; and you will have to start court proceedings, once he gets court papers he will see you mean business and may start to talk to you, however dont bank on it. There is no magic way around this you just have to go through the procedures.
I claimed of BC for car repairs, had to pay up front, did not hear from them for three months, except that it was being dealt with, then got a phone call and money was credited to my account that day.
keep plugging away and dont give; put everything in writing.

If you take back and leave the car he will know you mean business and it might not go to court I speak with 25 years as a car dealer and can put myself in his shoes