Thread: Bought a car and now have lots of problems

Hi i bought a car on the 18th of January, from a trade seller advertising on ebay's classified ads.

The seller is about 70 miles away from me, so as i didn't want the car to go i put a deposit on it, and judging by the description thought i had a great deal.

When i got somebody to take me to view the vehicle (brother in law), i looked around it, and it seemed fine, tidy and in good condition, as i talked to the seller he mentioned that the only thing wrong with it was there was a bit of a gouge in the steering where the previous owner had one of those disabled wheels on it, which i accepted.

i asked him if there was anything else wrong with it and he said that there wasn't, i then drove the car home, and was quite pleased with it, until a few days later when i noticed all the head lining was wet, after it had rained.

As this is our only vehicle and i need it so i can drive my disabled son to school, i had to repair this, ( it was the rear sunroof leaking bad), i have other children and have to run them to school also.

After a few days everything seemed fine, then i noticed that the carpets in the front passenger side and drivers side were wet, i undid the trim holding the capets in place, and took these up to see what the problem was, and noticed that over time the sunroof leaking had made the foam underlay sodden, and it was staying wet in the footwell...it had started to rust but not bad.

Getting paranoid at this stage i did this in the back load space and it was the same, but it had quite a bit of rust, and a nice 1 1/2 inch rust hole in the boot floor.

Also since owning the car the passenger side front dooor has stopped opening from inside and outside unless someone holds the lock catch while it's been opened from the outside.

I have contacted consumer direct and they gave me some tips as what to put in a letter to him, i paid him the £200 despout through paypal, but paypal say they can't do anything because the goods were not delivered???

I would like to get the repairs done to the car but don't think i should have to, as it's quite clear these were present quite some time before i purchased it.

I paid £3200 for the car, £200 desposit, and £3000 by bankers draft

I will put the description on here:

landrover 300 discovery tdi gs 7 seater R reg 1998

twin sunroofs, cd changer, mot may20th 2010

1 former keeper,only 70,000 miles from new,all old mot,s

sevice history,in outstanding condition,drives superb,

any trial or inspection welcome

for more information, ring...................

hope somebody can advise me, i would be just happy with a partial refund/compensation so i can get it repaired, it's too far to take it back and leave it to get it repaired by him, and i would also need somebody to take me back home, could i get a local firm to do the repairs, and bill him for them?

Thanks and hope you can help

Rod

I have drafted this letter ready to send tomorrow to the guy, does this letter sound ok, and does it need any amending?

Sale of goods act 1979

To whom this may concern

I recently purchased a Land rover Discovery Reg *** *** from you through a classified ad listed on eBay on 18th January 2010.

I paid you a £200.00 deposit through paypal & £3000.00 on collection in the form of a banker’s draft.

When I viewed the vehicle on your premises you told me apart from the gouge on the steering wheel, where the previous owner had used a turning aid, there was nothing else wrong with the car, which I accepted.

I drove home, and everything seemed fine, after a period of raining for a couple of days, I noticed the head lining was all wet, this was all of the rear, and went all the way to the front of the vehicle by the driver’s side door, I took the vehicle to a local garage to see what the problem was and their answer was that the rear sunroof was leaking around the frame where it meets the body/roof, I have had to have this repaired as the vehicle is my only means of taking my children to school, one of which is disabled.

Since this I have noticed the carpet was wet in the front two foot wells, when this was inspected, I discovered that all the carpet underlay/foam was sodden with water, and has been sitting on top of the metal foot wells, and has made the floor rust, also checked was the rear floor under the carpet, and underlay, this was worse, and has made the rear load space/floor rust, on one part the is a 1 ½ inch hole in the boot floor, also the passenger side front door does not open from outside, or inside properly, obviously none of this was either explained to me when I purchased the car from you or was pointed out, on the eBay listing you have listed it as in “outstanding condition” and told me that the car had nothing wrong with it other than the gouge in the steering wheel, it clearly isn’t in outstanding condition.

You have misrepresented this vehicle as in “outstanding condition” you also failed to mention to me about the sunroof leaking, the rust problem it has, or the door not operating properly.
The vehicle is not of satisfactory quality, and has also been misrepresented, when sold, I have contacted consumer direct who are advising me accordingly, I am giving you the opportunity to put right/repair the problems with the car, or offer me a partial refund/compensation to repair the vehicle at a local garage, before I take matters further.

If you decide that you want to undertake the repairs yourself I would require the use of courtesy car.

You have a reasonable time to contact me with an amicable solution, which is 2 weeks from the date you signed for this letter, if you refuse to repair the vehicle I will have no option but to repair the vehicle locally and send you the bill for the repairs.

If you refuse to pay for the repairs I will have no choice but to recover the cost from you through the county court.

Please make any correspondence in writing please

Yours sincerely

Thanks for the advice so far, i'm very grateful


Rod

ok will do, but i don't want the guy saying that i contacted him and that i was ok about the problems or anything, i would rather send the letter, as then i have all proof of correspondence.

thankyou for your prompt reply

Rod

You can go through the grief of dealing with him or fix it. This is a very well known issue on this model and the fix is quite easy. I will PM you the details of how to do it tomorrow afternoon/evening.

the water seemed to have stopped since the rear sunroof fix, i'm more concerned at this stage with the hole in the boot space, and the cost of repair, obviously i have met him half way by getting the rear sunroof repaired, what i would like is for him to contribute to getting the hole fixed in the rear floor.

I can't weld or i probably would have done it myself, but obviously this needs attention before it rots anymore of the floor.

I would be grateful of any help heliosuk please do send me details, and points to seal to stop this being an ongoing problem

Stoat, see pm's.

Other points to note are is that dealer is obliged to fix but not give you a courtesy car. I wouldn't send any letter off until you have read the information I intend to send you.

I've held off for a bit with the letter, i have read your pm

and have sent you one also, there is details of what the trader emailed back to me through ebays emails system too.

Basically he just said he didn't realise that those problems existed apart from what he told me (the steering wheel) thats all

Best regards

Rod

The interesting thing here is that he is not actually denying it so I'd go the softly softly route for now until it becomes more clear.

As a car dealer I would in this case offer to repair (no courtesy car im afraid) if brought to me or contribute the cost I could have the repair done at to yourself. This would probably be less than it will cost you but it isnt the dealers fault that you are not local or do not want to return the vehicle. Both problems are common to the discovery and a rusty floor plate in the rear is likely even without the sunroof leaking. The door is probably the electric central locking mechanism playing up. I would probably offer you £100 without prejudice.

Helio is right the dealer seems ok to deal with so I would keep up the communication and make notes as to date time content of calls etc. As a dealer the last thing customers should do is write in with complaints threatening Trading standard rejection of goods and court proceeding without the courtesy to call and ask us to look at it first.

Hope this helps