Hi there

On the 27th July, my husband and I purchased a used car from a dealership for £26,950. We paid £2,000 deposit via credit card, traded in a vehicle for £2,450 and paid the balance via debit card.

Within 21 miles of driving the car and 3 days of owning it, the engine management light appeared on the dashboard. We contacted the dealership straight away but as it was nearing 7pm the Service department was not available. However, the following day my husband did receive a call apologising for the issue but advising that unfortunately these things do happen.

On the 2nd August, we dropped the vehicle back to the dealership and picked up a courtesy vehicle. They plugged out vehicle in to find out what the fault was, we were advised it was the DPF and it would need to go to VW. We also pointed out some other issues with the vehicle, the brakes looked worn and there were several issues with the paintwork that we hadn't picked up on when originally looking at the vehicle. The Service Manager took down the issues and said they would get them dealt with whilst they had it.

To cut a long story short, we have had to chase the dealership for updates regarding our vehicle, explain the other issues to god knows how many people and we never get call backs when messages are left. The original fault has gone from being the DPF, to the EGR Cooler and now something to do with the air conditioning has been thrown in the mix also. The dealership has looked at the brakes and told us that they have 1,000-2,000 miles of wear left on them and that this is acceptable. I would like to point out that they MOT'd and serviced the vehicle before we picked up and this was not mentioned on any paperwork. They agree with the paintwork issues but couldn't tell us what they were going to do about it.

Not only have we had issues with the above, we also had an issue over the tax for the vehicle. We paid for the dealership to put 6 months tax on it and were told that this had been done and the tax disc would be sent on once received by them. We later found out that the car was not taxed until the 7th August, so they were happy for us to drive around that long. The salesman pointed out that it wasn't an offence to which my husband soon corrected him.

Today I have spoken to the DVLA and they haven't received any notification that the vehicle has changed ownership. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't even sent the V5 document yet.

We have already sent a letter of complaint to the Director of the dealership via email and recorded post to which we received a response saying that a certain person would now be dealing with us and he hoped they could rectify a bad experience. We have since sent another letter of complaint and asked that we receive a response in writing detailing exactly what repairs had been carried out etc and what they were going to do about the other issues and so far we have not received anything.

We have contacted the CAB who have said we have a case to reject and if we don't get anywhere, we can approach the bank to help through the chargeback scheme. I have checked this and they are happy to deal with on our behalf.

My question is, what should we do next? My husband wants to take their courtesy vehicle back and then send a letter of rejection via email and recorded post. We are obviously not driving the vehicle as it is at the dealership still (will be 3 weeks tomorrow). Should we keep hold of the 2nd key that we have and the paperwork that we have or should we return these to them.

There is probably much more, but to be honest so much has happened that I find it difficult to keep track with it all.

Many Thanks

Hi namar82

Welcome to CAG.

Have a read of the follow information:-

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/tradingstandards/documents/Guidanceforsecondhandcardealers.pdf

The trade-in car, the dealer needs to return the car if they haven't sold it, if they have sold it they need to refund the value of the trade-in. This is the difficult part, but you have options.

Send the dealer the following amended template, explain all the issues with the car, explain about the return of the trade-in car or return of cash if it has been sold, send it Recorded Delivery:-

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-rejecting-a-second-hand-car-bought-from-a-dealer

Contact your Credit Card provider ask to carry out a Chargeback, send the following amended template, send it Recorded Delivery.

Contact your Debit Card provider ask to carry out a Chargeback, send the following amended template, send it Recorded Delivery.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/how-do-i-use-chargeback

Keep the paperwork.

Find out what has happened to the trade-in car.

Hi rebel11

Thanks for the advice.

I am new to this, can you please tell me how to get to the actual templates that you have highlighted in your post? When I click on the word "template" it just takes me to the general CAG library page.

Many Thanks

Scroll down the links that I posted. Remember you need to find out what's happened to your old car.

Hi rebel11

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

I am new to this, can you please tell me how to get to the actual templates that you have highlighted in your post? When I click on the word "template" it just takes me to the general CAG library page.

 

Many Thanks