Used car purchase - now broken down :( **SORTED**

[mcuth]

Hi all

 

Am a little unsure as to where I stand on this under the SOGA, etc.. so, I hope someone can help please:

 

12 days ago, I finalised the purchase of a trade/p-ex car from a garage & picked it up. It's a Rover 416i, T reg ('99) with 135k miles on the clock - cost £780, no warranty purchased or included. Payments of the deposit (£250) and the balance were put on my g/f's credit card.

 

The car came with a brand new 12 month MoT, and I was told that in addition it had "recently" (no, not sure just how long ago that was) had a new head gasket and starter motor - no proof of these as the service history isn't complete.

 

Tonight, driving home from work, the car overheated - I pulled over and let it cool down, filled up the coolant tank with water and tried to start it - but it wasn't having any of it, bump starting didn't work either. In short, I had to call my recovery service and get towed back home - when diagnosing the fault, the recovery agent said that the head gasket had blown (he took a look at the inside of the cap of the coolant tank & oil filler cap, both covered with brown-y froth - "cappucino" he said!). Not sure whether the overheating was caused by the head gasket, or vice versa - but the head gasket going would perhaps explain some difficulties starting the car in the morning. The recovery agent also said that perhaps the "recent" head gasket replacement was just that - only the head gasket (i.e. seal) and not getting the head skimmed....

 

Now, I'd like to be 100% sure of my position before calling the garage tomorrow morning - I dunno if SOGA covers the sale of used cars with no warranty or not.

 

Hope someone can help - I only wanted something to last me 12 months - not 12 days!

 

Cheers

Michael

[Bookworm]

Hi, babes!!! Typical, never writes, never calls until he's got problems!!!

 

Trading Standards Central - Consumer Advice Leaflets

 

tells you what's what, and yes, you should be covered under SOGA.

 

Same thing happened to me a few years back, and yes, overheating, great big globules of oil in the water system (as opposed to the water getting in the oil, which would give a great big smoking car), bla bla bla...

 

£800 should buy you more than 12 days of use, you're quite right, but a new head gasket/cylinder may well be too costly to make it economical to repair, so see what the trader has to reply when you contact him and take it from there.

[mcuth]

Hi, babes!!! Typical, never writes, never calls until he's got problems!!!

 

ROTFL - thanks darling

(says she, who never replied to my facebook post )

 

Seems that there are too many open/new problems versus solved problems at the moment *sigh*

 

Trading Standards Central - Consumer Advice Leaflets

 

tells you what's what, and yes, you should be covered under SOGA.

 

Same thing happened to me a few years back, and yes, overheating, great big globules of oil in the water system (as opposed to the water getting in the oil, which would give a great big smoking car), bla bla bla...

 

£800 should buy you more than 12 days of use, you're quite right, but a new head gasket/cylinder may well be too costly to make it economical to repair, so see what the trader has to reply when you contact him and take it from there.

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction (as always ) - I've never been in this situation before!

 

Cheers

Michael

[Conniff]

You must have the 'K' series engine - a wonderful engine, but very prone to head gasket failure.

 

You must take the car back and reject it. Do it in writing.

 

Don't accept a repair as this engine requires a mechanic that knows what they are doing and an engineering shop that is very careful with skimming the head.

If it is not done properly, it will let you down again, but if it is done by a proper engineering company then it can give a very long and satisfying return.

If you are happy that it be repaired then I would insist that the Rover dealer does it and no one else unless you live close to someone like 'Rovertec'.

 

If you want another of this type then see if he has one with the Honda engine, a completely different car and wonderfully smooth gearbox.

[v_j_r]

Looky here:

 

Consumer Sales Directive & the Sale of Goods Act

 

SUBJECT

Sale of Goods Rights, Faulty Goods, Poor Service.

 

RELEVANT OR RELATED LEGISLATION

Sale of Goods Act 1979. Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations (following 31/3/03 transposition of Directive 1999/44/EC).

 

KEY FACTS

1. Rights have been enhanced when the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations was implemented on 31 March 2003.

2. The Regulations transpose EC Directive 1999/44/EC on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.

3. Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

4. If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale a consumer can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances).

5. For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) consumers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement).

6. At present, the onus is on consumers to prove the good did not conform to contract (e.g. was inherently faulty) and should have reasonably lasted until this point in time (i.e. perishable goods do not last for six years).

7. Now consumers have a six months reversed burden of proof and a right to seek a repair, replacement and a partial or full refund.

 

The following are subject to the transposition of the Directive 1999/44/EC via the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations on 31 March 2003:

8. If the consumer chooses to request a repair or replacement, then for the first six months after purchase it will be for the retailer to prove the goods did conform to contract (e.g. were not inherently faulty).

9. After six months and until the end of the six years, it is for the consumer to prove the lack of conformity.

10. If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can seek a partial refund, if the fault has meant that they have had only some benefit from the goods.

11. If repair and replacement are not possible or too costly, then the consumer can claim a full refund, if the fault has meant that the consumer has enjoyed no benefit from the goods.

12. Where retailers or manufacturers offer free guarantees or warranties, the Regulations provide that they will now be legally binding.

13. The guarantees must also be written in plain English, must be available for viewing by consumers on request before purchase and must state that they do not affect the consumer's legal rights.

14. The Regulations do not impose an obligation on retailers or manufacturers to offer guarantees nor do they apply to extended warranties, which have to be purchased by the consumers.

15. The consumer has exactly the same rights with second hand goods as he does with new, however, with older goods it is increasingly difficult for the consumer to prove that a fault was inherent at the time of sale and the conformity criteria also allow second hand goods to be judged less rigorously than new.

 

Best Regards.

[mcuth]

Just wanted to post an update that this all got resolved - thanks everyone

 

The story following the above........

On Weds 30th July, I had the car towed to the workshop of the dealer that sold me the car. The workshop were really no help because they were so busy and didn't have a diagnosis by Tues 6th August. So, I wrote a letter to the MD of the dealer, giving the story and 2 options - full FoC repair or full refund & quoting SOGA, etc.. - sent this by Special Delivery.

 

On Thurs 8th August, I received a reply saying that apparently #4 piston had a hole in it causing a complete loss of compression and they didn't think it was the head gasket at fault - however, they'd offer me the purchase price off any other vehicle in stock.

 

By Fri 9th, I'd looked at their website and there was nothing else I wanted to purchase from them - rang the MD and told him so, he went off to see if a repair was viable. He rang me back later and said the repair's not viable so he'd get a cheque in the post for the purchase price.

 

Anyway, upshot is that on Saturday I went to clear out the car, transferred the V5 over, picked up my cheque and it's all sorted

 

Cheers

Michael

[postggj]

cag does it again

[Bookworm]

The Pink Hat strikes again! Woo-hoo!!!

[mcuth]

The Pink Hat strikes again! Woo-hoo!!!

 

LOL!!!!!