Sold faulty car, please help.

[Hitby]

Hi,
In March I bought a Renault Laguna 2002 1.9 DCI. When I picked it up it was impossible to put fuel in it as the locking mechanism on the fuel cap was broken (fixed under "warranty").

Two months after I bought it the engine stopped on an A road leaving me without steering or brakes and I had to be recovered back home after putting my heart back in my chest, I had my wife with me as well . Cost £120. The garage diagnosed 2 completely failed fuel injectors and 2 were about to go. Cost of refurbishing them, £700. The garage I purchased the car from didn't want to know and the warranty they included said they weren't covered.

Then the fuel guage stopped working. Renault diagnosed a faulty instrument cluster which they replaced at the same time as a faulty abs sensor, cost £550 plus £50 to change my insurance to a courtesy car.

Today I took the car in for it's 72000 mile service and cambelt change. It is now at the garage who tell me the woodruff key has split in two and I'm lucky the engine hasn't entirely imploded. Cost £25 + cambelt change and service - £370.

Also, I'm informed that the car has a huge diesel leak - problem is yet to be diagnosed.

Now, for a 5 year old car that I paid £4000 in good faith less than 4 months ago I'm more than a little upset at having paid £1400 on repairs, not including the service and cambelt change, obviously.

Does anyone have any advice for me, can I claim any of that money back legally or reject the car? Is it too late? The car was purchased on finance with my old car taken as deposit (oh, how I wish for that back now).

Anyway, appreciate any help.

Thanks

Hitby

[delboytrotter]

I had a 1.9 DCI renault laguna, and i had it in the garage 7 times in 3 months, the last time it was in the garage it was unusable from the beginning of December until i finally rejected the car on the 25th January 2007, it had several problems and the more i look into it the more i discover that lagunas are trouble prone, even the renault dealer has to put a 3 year warranty on them to et them out the door, if oyu dont mind could you send me a PM with a list of all the faults you have or have had and i will try and find out how common they are.

[Hitby]

I will do yep, although, my guess is I need to be chasing the dealer I bought the car from, not renault? How do you go about rejecting the car? If I did is it right that I won't see any of the money I've spent on repairs?

[delboytrotter]

i think a lot of the things you have are pretty common to the laguna of that year, up until 2003 it was not the best car out there,
I rejected the car as mine was on HP and after 6-7 repairs taking the car off the road for 68 days out of 150 days ownership and some advice from the forum and trading standards i rejected it, but that was in January and it is still not sorted out, Capital Bank have even messed about with my solicitor so it is now going to court, although i am unsure when yet. the car you bought from a dealer should be covered by the sale of goods act and as such you may have a case for "not of reasonable quality" but be quick as you must try and get these kinds of things sorted out as soon as possible, write to the dealer if he is not interested then speak with a solicitor who i versed on consumer issuses.

[Hitby]

ok, thanks for your advice, mine is also on HP, I have emailed the dealer but don't really expect a reply, I will send the same email registered post in seven days if I haven't heard from them.

thanks again
Hitby

[demon_x_slash]

Hang on - as long as the person you bought the car from was acting as trader and not a private seller, and you've had the car for less than six months, throw the Sale of Goods Act (amendment 2003) at them, specifically the 'reversed burden of proof' - in essence, it means that any fault discovered within six months of purchase is deemed to have been present at the time of purchase; therefore, the dealer or trader is obliged to either repair, replace or refund entirely, as the goods are not fit for purpose. Look up 'Reversed burden of proof', and away you go!

[demon_x_slash]

News Update - Lincolnshire County Council

http://www.salford.gov.uk/fpnissue7.pdf

Trading Standards Central - Trading Standards and Consumer Protection information for the UK

For a few examples - hope this helps. We've successfully used this as recently as last week to get a problem corrected on a new car.

[delboytrotter]

I tried to throw that at my HP company and they ignored me, they did not even answer my mail, just ignored me completly, so did the garage they reckoned i would never get it to court so tough! even now i have employed a solicitor and they have not even bothered to get back in touch with him, these garages and hP companies all know that it is too difficult to get people to court so they take the risk and ignore people, DEMON X is totaly correct about the reverse burden but if they wont take hte car back nor refund your money court will be your only option, one thing that may be in your favour is in England you can go small claims up to £5000 where as in scotland we can only go up to £1500
Good luck and dont let them get away with it

[delboytrotter]

what finance company did you use and is it Hire Purchase or what

[friend at vns]

Hitby,
Make sure you have a full written local engineers report either by an independent engineer or local Renault dealer, make sure who carries this out are themselves qualified with IAEA, IMI and so on, and make them aware it may end up in a court room.
You don’t want to be in a position where someone tries to bamboozle you with all the technicalities of a motor vehicle.
Be prepared in advance and let the fiancé company and garage know what your doing and for them to expect the bill for the inspection fee.
Good luck don’t let them get one over on you!