My son paid £6k for a car last week, a 2010 golf with 77k miles. He bought it from a motor dealer in London.

His wife drove it down to my family in Wales, and on the 2nd day the car wouldn't engage D or R (auto-box)

He contacted the dealer, relaying the issue from his wife.

Unfortunately the issue has only worsened, and he decided, rightly in my view, that he was rejecting the car under the consumer rights act 2015 as it was less than 30 days old, and informed the dealer of this via email and phone-call.

I am driving the car back to the dealer in London on Saturday morning - exactly 7 days since the purchase.

Since looking at the paperwork with the car, please see link

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19FvkpDbBqEgJe39jH6HFTnSi_Ddvb2XF

It seems the previous owner also had a the same fault.

My question is, does this piece of paper go in our favour as proof the fault already existed, or against us as he took the car with that paper in the service book, therefore accepting the fault.

Basically - Do I wave that under the dealer's nose, or hide it?

Thanks in advance.

You are probably better off not mentioning it to the dealer. It could become a point of contention

Your car comes with any defects that were pointed out to you or if you carried out an inspection, any defects which that inspection could reasonably have revealed.

I think your position has to be that you didn't know about this and that the dealer didn't point it out to you. Are you able to say that the documents were made available to you until after the contract was complete?

This document was in the folder in the glove-box.

I'd say, obviously the dealer wasn't aware it was there as that would potentially (if they'd bother looking!!) put off a customer.

So yes it was available, but not pointed out either.

I would have thought buying from a dealer you should expect a working car in good condition without looking for faults, but I maybe naive.

I would suggest that you photocopy the document and then put it back in the glove box and leave it there and don't refer to it.

I wouldn't leave it in the glove box.

The dealer might refer to it saying that this fault was pointed out to you and paperwork given to you.

They're very good at taking statements from their employees.

Take the car back, show them the fault, get your money back (If they comply)

Don't mud the waters with anything else.

Are they a large dealer or a back street dealer?

If the latter, they'll probably refuse to refund, shut the Ltd company and open a new one next day, unless they are registered as traders but not Ltd, then you need a bit of luck and hope they have personal assets.

I read an article a couple of years ago of this guy who got conned and then spent weeks outside the garage discouraging potential customers.

He eventually got his money back.

Update, I called citizens advice this morning, and they informed me I should show it to them as proof that the fault was already there.

I asked about the opposite, and was told that even if we knew there was a fault before, it was bought in what should have been a faultless condition.

Sorry, but citizens advice are wrong. I'm sorry to say that they are often wrong. Well-intentioned, but often wrong.

Have a look at subsection 4 - https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?448210-9-Goods-to-be-of-satisfactory-quality

Exactly.

So if you show them that piece of paper they will inevitably say that you were made aware of the fault.

Also, how did you pay? Cash, card or bank transfer?