Thread: Second hand car woes!! Need a sanity check please!

Hello - I need some advice, really to confirm that I m taking the right course of action. Sorry for the length of this but I’ve had a real battle!

I bought a second hand car from a car trade place (not one of the big ones) on 31st July. I part exed my old car. The new car was £5295. I took the car for a test drive (short drive only) and I pointed out to he sales rep a number of ‘faults’ (such as scuffed wheels, worn seats in places, couple of dents/marks etc etc). The faults were all raised by me - the rep kept quiet. We agreed on a price (which I thought was still high, but thought that being from a garage and all…!) He offered me a warranty but it was too expensive so I declined - to which he said “well then this is a sold as seen deal”. On the invoice, he wrote down “sold with all faults as agreed” and “in need of work”. This I took to mean the ‘faults’ that we agreed to when I viewed the car. About 5 miles from home (30 mile journey), I started to notice a bad squeaking from drivers side rear wheel and a terrible grinding from passenger side (ish) rear. That weekend, I took it for a good test drive and the problems didn’t get better. I travel a lot with work, and was away the next week for a few days. When I got back (7th August) I took the drivers side rear wheel off to see what the squeak was - and was horrified to see a the shock absorber spring was broken. Also, the car had leaked about 2L of oil on the drive, and the break calliper was seized up. So - obviously, straight on the phone to the dealer. He told me that he needed to get the invoice out to see what it said. I told him I didn’t care what it said - the car is un-roadworthy and I want to bring it back either for a refund or for it to be inspected and fixed. We entered into a discussion whereby it became obvious he was trying to get out of this. He agreed to see the car on the following Monday, but as we made the arrangements, he told me he is “not accepting liability”, but would be prepared to “come to an arrangement with me and meet me somewhere on the costs”. I told him I was not prepared to travel all that way only to shell out more money so if he is not willing to pay for it all or take the car back,- I am not coming! He got angry and told me I was being unreasonable. I threatened trading standards - and that was the end of the conversation.

I had to get the spring and the oil leak fixed (hole in the oil filter) as it was dangerous to drive and making a mess of the drive. I did this straight away on 7th August (kept the receipt and the old spring), then had to go away on business the following week. In addition to this, I have been unable to tax the car, so can’t drive it! The dealer gave me the part 10 from the V5 and told me I could tax the vehicle (which I stupidly believed - don’t buy cars often!!) only to find out I can’t tax it. Also, called DVLA to see where my logbook is, and they told me they have just (last week) issued the logbook to someone else - not to me!! So now having to get the car re-registered to me (another 20-30 days)!

Called consumer advice and they gave me the usual answer of writing to the garage formally. I am not away this week, so on Monday, I have booked the car into a specialist to do a full check, and quote for anything that needs fixing. I then plan to look at the faults and see what I feel is acceptable (based on the age of the car etc), and whats not acceptable.

On Monday, I will then write to the dealer (stating the SOGA) and provide copies of the report and invoices for spring/oil filter, giving them 2 options. 1) - take the car back, giving me a full refund (+ the £160 I have paid for the oil filter/spring). 2) Formally agree to fix all the faults that I want fixed, and reimburse me for the £160 spent thus far.

Questions - is this the right course of action? I have toyed with the idea of rejecting the car outright, but in truth, if the faults are identified and fixed, then that brings me some assurance that the car is ok (otherwise I have to go buy another car and start again). I realise I can’t expect all faults to be fixed, but the grinding noise might be the rear differential - which is a mega issue that I firmly believe the garage were aware of. I am doing this as quick as I can, but its difficult as I travel quite a bit. Am I running out of time as I have had the car nearly a month? I need a sanity check please!!?!

Just take the car back and reject it under the SOGA rules. Don't even atempt to repair it. Sounds like a heap of trouble to me.

Look on British Enterprise Regulatory Reform (BERR) website and talk to trading standards. We recently took a dealer to small claims for repairs 3 months after purchase of a second hand car and we got the car repaired (paid for by the dealer, plus court costs, diagnosis of problem and car valet) and a feeling of satisfaction as the dealer treated us appallingly. I also did a review check of this particular dealer and was spurred on by the fact that I wasn't the first to take them to the small claims court.