i am neither a lawyer or an engineer, but i am a person who went into a court of law against a team of solicitors and won hands down , who thought that because i had little understanding of law presumed i was of a lower Intellect than them and i am surprised that a man like yourself who is clearly educated would make comments like that. i was not questioning you on the subject of the hydraulics , it was my own personal thoughts on the matter. At the end of the day if he cannot get any satisfaction from the manufacturer or salesperson , he should seek legal advice, because whether it's consumer, business, commercial, everybody has statutory rights under the sale of goods act, it does not matter if it is a tractor or a pen , if he can prove that there was an inherent fault with this at the time off purchase and because off the time scale he will have to do so , then his only option might be the courts. and you are correct that his rights will be different , but he still does have them rights, it's the law.

i understand your point heliosuk regarding him being a consumer or a business, he needs to look at the agreement or contract he signed at the time off buying and see what their exclusion clauses are, even then he might have some redress because of the unfair contracts terms act, "excluding liability for defective or poor-quality goods is also permitted only if it is reasonable", while the uct act does not define what is reasonable the courts might. he states that this problem has been there since they bought it , had 2 clutch replacements with the third on the way , and only done 500 hours. what reasonable hours should he have been looking at if this problem was not occuring? if i were him i would seek legal advice on this, because like you have stated it could be defined as a business purchase, but in my opinion i would seriously consider suing for damages, he has been very reasonable by letting 2 clutches be replaced in the hope it would fix it, he knows fitting a 3rd will do the same thing, and they have suggested fitting a Hydraulic clutch, you have to ask why, do they actually know this would fix it, because if all the other tractors of the same make and model have a clutch cable without any problems, then you have to ask ,why should he let them fit a hydraulic one ? and six months down the line it comes back again. it's a good idea to get in touch with the Manufacturer and hopefully they might help, but if not i would feel his only option would be to sue for damages , and 22,000 is alot of money and he deserves better than what he has had at this present time.

howare they testing the imbalance after each component has replaced, road test or rolling road, or both?

when you say slight vibration under braking, did you feel it through the car or the steering wheel? have they checked the brake hose pipes, it might be worth replacing them, and have they inspected the rear brakes for any possible faults. 2 months is ridiculous to fix this, i would really consider taking the car somewhere else and have them look at it, they have actually added to your predicament by causing a fault with the abs, i'd hate to think how much this is costing you.

can i ask if you don't mind answering, how much you paid for the tractor, and did you pay cash or was it on a hire purchase agreement? for it to be coming up to it's third clutch replacement in just over two years , to me in my opinion shows that there is an inherent fault with it and by replacing the clutch and cable every time this happens is not curing it. i would mention to the dealer your in the opinion of now wanting to reject the tractor and pay a fair amount both of you can agree on for the use you have had from it , and that you no longer have any faith left that the problem will be rectified, and suggest wanting a replacement. i would mention all that to see what their response will be , i don't know how much tractors cost but they can't be cheap, and if they value your custom they might be extremely helpful towards you, "tread the water "so to speak, it will give you an idea on which options you will be left with.

have a read of this which might help in understanding your rights Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet - BIS

i would personally get it drained down to the correct level. i had a focus that was overfilled and if i remember correctly (don't hold me to this) it caused the crankshaft seal to go , might have have been the sump seal, thats the reason they have a maximum level on the dipstick , i don't think it's worth the risk in the long run.

take it to a garage and ask to drain the oil a bit from the sump plug, five minute job, they might charge you they might not. too much oil can cause seals to go.

if you decide to go to the small claims court, you could claim for poor workmanship , this might come under "the supply of goods and services act"

i agree with what you say jimmyspangle but it's also about proving that they fitted the wrong wheel bolts in their service centre, it's his word against theirs, and don't forget they will have a legal dept for this kind off thing, if he is prepared to go to court then he should, but they could turn round and say we put the correct wheel bolts on, he wants his money back and i don't blame him and he will incur more costs going to court and he could not be sure of winning, i don't like telling anybody not to sue but the onus is on the customer to prove the the garage has been negligent, he will have to prove the technician made that error and if he's confident that he can , then yes take them to court.

personally how you want to pursue it is up to you, because they have stated that they will not look into it any further, my opinion is to move on and put it behind you, if you decided to go through the small claims court there would be no gurantee that you would win and could cost you more money, you have the RAC report but there is just no telling what the outcome would be. thankfully nothing happened but i do understand your frustration and anger at what might have been and trust me i do understand what you are feeling about it , a similar thing happened to me a few years ago, put a new front wheel bearing on, and didn't tighten the driveshaft nut or the wheel nuts correctly, he actually took me to court and lost, ive had many dealings down the years with garages who rip people off and don't think about customers safety from main dealers to back street jobs, i would suggest not returning to this place and tell people by word of mouth to avoid it, be thankful that nothing worse did happen, as much as i would like to say "sue em", i would move on, i know your angry about them putting your families safety at risk and it is appaulling and if something had happened , well it would be a different story altogether, but it is up to you at the end of day what you decide to do.

why should you pay for something you have not done? all you can do is see what they say on the day, be adament that you have not caused the damage, and that the damage was obviously there when they gave you the car , it's stated on your agreement that it was frozen and dark , and it had been snowing alot at that time, they cannot expect you to see damage when there is snow covering the car, stand your ground , i think they are trying to frighten you into paying, tell your insurance company if they insist that you did it, whether they can keep your car or not i have no idea , i don't think they can, but i am not sure, with this being a insurance job, you should involve them if the need arises , if you ever pay for anything and your not happy with paying it , but have too , then always write on the invoice in bold "paid in protest", get names , phone number, time and place , detailing why your unhappy about paying, make sure they have a copy too, so at a later date you can take the matter to court if you wish.

well under no circumstances let them bully or frighten you into signing or paying anything that you are not responsible for, you had the decency to inform them about it, and it is clearly written on the hire agreement form that it was frozen and dark, he states that its taken 10 days to point it out, tell him its been snowing since before xmas, christ i haven't seen the colour of my car since then, personally i think they are trying to pull a fast one, ask to see the previous hire and diagram agreements relating to the car, they just might have something written on them relating to the damage. ive no idea if they can keep your car if they try to make you pay, somebody else might know, but take your insurance details with you, and ring them on the day if they start disputing it, see what they have to say, but with it saying frozen and dark on the form , i just can't see them being able to make you pay.