Please please help me..

[frankiefrankie]

I am 26 and I passed my driving test on Dec 2nd. A week before I passed, my Husband bought me a car. It is a 7 year old Volkswagen Lupo with only 33k on the clock.

 

The dealer was fantastic over the phone and in person, told us it was in amazing condition, that it had just had a full inspection and flew through. We travelled 200 miles to pick it up. We checked the service book and all looked in order. No missed services, although some service receipts were missing. We were given a free warranty which we were told covered everything that could possibly go wrong with the car if it occurred within three months.

 

We paid £2395 on our Barclaycard Platinum Credit Card and were very pleased. Two days after I passed my test it stalled (it's an automatic, so shouldn't stall) and has stalled a few times since I've had it. We have changed the air filter and thought nothing of it, since it was only a cheap repair.

 

Since then, the cambelt slipped, which damaged the engine and I had to be towed home at a cost of £150. The repairs (new cambelt, water pump, and valves etc) cost me £615. The warranty company refused to pay out because they told me that the warranty I had was only their basic package, whereas I was told it was the top package they had when I bought the car. We called the man who sold it to us, but he hung up on us, and is not answering or returning our many calls.

 

As well as that, the garage told me that the cambelt had NEVER been changed (should be done every 4 years, and my car is 8) and that it was just a matter of time. I have just had to put new brake pads on and bleed the brakes aswell, because the car would not stop when I approached a roundabout. I was terrified - I had my daughter in the car and I haven't been driving long.

 

It is now playing up yet again, and I'm at my wits end. Too scared to drive anywhere with my children in case my car breaks down. I went to college this evening, only to have to call my Husband in tears and ask him to come and get me because it had broken down again.

 

Please tell me what I can do. I'm pretty sure that I must be covered under the Sale of Goods Act?! But what can I do? I've looked on the Barclaycard website and it says that the Platinum Card only offers protection on new purchases.

 

Please, please help. I can't afford to just buy another car.

[Conniff]

Ok Frankie

 

No more phone calls.

 

Write (with a brown envelope from your newsagent if possible) and send it recorded delivery.

 

Write the dates and what went wrong and and enclose a 'copy' of any and all bills you have where you have spent money.

 

Tell him about the warranty and remind him of what he said about it.

There is no need for you to worry about any warranty (though you weren't conned on that as he did give you what he said only he used the wrong name, he should have called it soga), as it means nothing, you will be writing and demanding that the bills are reimbursed under the sale of goods act and give him 14 days in which to pay.

 

On the fifteenth day if he hasn't replied, you send him a Letter Before Action quoting all the things from the first letter and giving him 7 days in which to pay.

 

After the seventh day issue a court summons.

 

You have a great advantage in that you used your credit card and will be able to ask their assistance to do a chargeback if all else fails.

 

If you don't want the car any longer, you can reject it, but this must be done in writing, and you musn't use the car again.

 

It will be up to them to collect it and at their expense.

 

That's a brief outline, if you want it in more detail then come back and you will get lots of help.

Edited January 26, 2009 by Conniff

[frankiefrankie]

Hi there,

 

To be quite honest, I would just like rid of the car now. It is suffering problem after problem, and I can't really afford for it to go to the garage again so soon after coming back the last time (I've only had it back 5 days) I can't, in good conscience sell it to someone else either.

 

Another thing I forgot to mention - that cambelt that I had to replace (after it had already damaged my engine) there was a tick in the service book to say it had been changed. However, I have looked again at the receipt for that service and the cambelt is not mentioned at all. Upon closer inspection - the tick in the box in the service book is slightly different to the other ticks for that service. It looks like MAYBE he ticked that box himself?

 

What really gets to me is that had he been nicer about it, returned our calls, helped us a bit - I could have 1) accepted it as a genuine mistake or 2) accepted something less than a full refund - but I have totally lost confidence in the car now.

 

How do I go about claiming a full refund from him? Am I entitled to ask for/get a refund? Could I still ask Barclaycard for a chargeback, even though their website says they offer purchase protection on new goods only?

 

Thanks so much for your help so far! Like I said, I'm at my wits end.

[Conniff]

You can still reject the car even though you have paid for repairs, would you like to list what else you have had done and any further problems, even the slightest, that you are experiencing.

We need to decide what to make the main rejection point, ie not of merchantable quality, not fit for purpose etc; or all of them.

 

When you have done that, we can help with a letter to send him.

[frankiefrankie]

OK thankyou!

 

*Cambelt slipped which caused valve and water pump damage etc: £615 at the garage.

*Car to be towed that day £150 from RAC

*New brake pads as the old ones were cracked and worn £20 for the pads, fitting done by my father in law.

*Bleeding the brakes as there was also a substantial amount of air in the brakes - My father in law did that for me.

*Wing mirror on passenger side does not move with the aid of the knob thing - can only move the mirror to the correct place by pushing the actual mirror. Haven't been able to fix this yet.

*Washer jet on rear window broken - my father in law has fixed this, with spare parts we got from a scrapyard £40

*Broken air filter - £19.99 to replace + fitting.

*So far unknown cause of intermittent stalling - hard to diagnose intermittent fault.

*So far unknown cause of last night's breakdown. Car going to garage 4pm today for diagnostics.

*Needs new brake discs, haven't been able to afford this as yet. Next on list.

*Stiff lock on passenger side door. Very hard to open in the cold. Wasn't like this when we bought it, but got really stiff after about two days. We think maybe he may have just quickly WD40'd the locks before we got there.

 

Thanks so much for your help. Out of interest, if I reject the car, am I then unable to claim back the cost of repairs? Would it be worth me repairing again, and then claiming from him just the repair costs?

 

Thanks so much again,

 

Frankie.

[frankiefrankie]

Update: Took car to garage today for diagnostics. They plugged it in and it reeled off so many error codes that it was impossible to pin down the problem. Needless to say, not all the error codes would have been problems it has now, but it was very clear that at some point or another, my car has had almost every fault going. They now say the best way to tell hat the problem is is to drive the car as usual, and bring it straight in when the engine management light comes on again.

 

I'm thinking that the best thing I can do now is fix it up as best I can, claim back the money for the repairs from the man who sold it to us, and then part-ex the car.

 

Can you help me draft a letter at all? I'd be ever so grateful. Even more grateful than I am already!

 

Just gutted, because I really liked that car. It's a shame I have no faith in it anymore. It's just not reliable enough to take my children out in.

[raydetinu]

I would suspect that you would not get far in claiming the money you spent repairing it as you have not got anything in writting from the dealer that he will not undertake the repairs or anything in writing that you have even requested he do so. The only option you have in IMHO is to reject it and you must do that without delay, in writing stating why and requesting full refund give them 14 days to respond or will take court action. You must not use the car if you do this though.

[frankiefrankie]

Really? I don't have anything in writing, but I have tried to call him so many times.. he doesn't answer to any of our numbers, and when we call anonymously, he waits as long as to find out it's us, and then he hangs up.

 

It just gets worse and worse

[Conniff]

Before you do that Frankie, click on the link and check the mileage with past MoT certificates. Click on 'Check your MoT certificate' and follow the instructions:

 

Online Services

[frankiefrankie]

Hi Conniff,

 

These match up to the mileages shown on the certificates.

 

Do I have to reject the car, do you think - or can I try and claim back the cost of repairs from him?

 

Frankie.

[frankiefrankie]

Just to update, the garage looked at the car again yesterday - they've said that no more error codes are showing and that all appears to be in order now. I'm still not driving it, which is getting difficult now. I want to write and ask for payment towards the cost of the repairs I have had carried out to get it to this standard. Can someone help me to draft a letter?

 

Frankie.

[helen1973]

hello.... i had problems with a car i bought on finance i purchased last may i only had it 2wks and had it serviced only to find many priblems including oil leak, heating and ventilation not working, no reverse lights and dangerous brakes.I informed the finance company and they sent out a independant vehicle inspector , his report dismissed all our findings so i arranged for the AA to do a inspection and found more faults and the ones we already knew about, he advised us to formally reject the car giving finance company 7 days or would proceed with court proceedings. They failed to respond and yesterday i attended court and WON the case under the sale and supply of goods act. I get back deposit £1000 AA report £150 service on car £115 new tyres £95 and court fees £170. So my advice is write to garage give them 7 days saying rejecting car then start small claims court proceedings!!!!

[helen1973]

i see your in bridgend south wales??? what was garage called as thats where i purchased my car???

[raydetinu]

The problem you have is that you have not been dealing with the dealer that sold you the car nor have you kept him informed as to what you are doing!

You can write to him detailing the problems and demand he compensate you and if you wish issue court proceedings but as you have acted presumptiously you may find your case flawed IMHO.

[frankiefrankie]

Raydetinu, thanks for your comments - I know you think our case is weak, you ahve said so before, but to be honest, all I'm asking for here is help in drafting a letter, I'm not asking if anyone thinks my case is weak or strong anymore.

 

In our opinion, we didn't act presumptiously. We had no choice but to pay £150 to be towed in the first place. In the second instance, when the car was at the Garage before being repaired, we called and managed to speak to the man who sold us the car. He gave us our policy details, and told us that the warranty company would cover us, as we had their top level of cover and if we had any other problems to call him again and he would sort us out. We called the warranty company, and they told us to get our garage to get in touch once they had diagnosed the full extent of damage.

 

A few days later, whilst the car was being repaired (it took over a week for the work to be completed) the warranty company called us back and said they'd checked our files and we didn't qualify for reimbursement because we were only covered by the simplest warranty, and even if were comprehensively covered, they wouldnt pay out, as the cambelt had never been changed, and therefore the car hadn't been maintained properly.

 

We then called the garage back, as the service book says the cambelt has been changed, but upon checking this, the corresponding service receipt makes no mention of the cambelt.

 

We believe wholeheartedly that the man who sold it to us ticked that box himself to fraudulently tell us it had been done. Surprise surprise, the man at the garage never answered any more calls from us since that first time. Since the garage had already started work on the car, we couldn't stop it, and the garage needed to be paid.

 

I can't see how this would be construed as acting presumptiously, but I am prepared to reject the car, or claim my money back - I know it won't be easy, I know he won't just give me any money, I know I'm not guaranteed to get anything back.

 

I am prepared to take my case to a court, I have successfully claimed money from banks, credit cards, and PPI companies before. I am simply asking for help in drafting such a letter.

 

If somebody can help me, please reply.

[frankiefrankie]

Hi Helen,

 

I did not purchase my car in Bridgend, it was Surrey way. I had to travel a few hours to get it Out of interest, did the finance company take your car back in the end? How long were you without the use your car? (Since I take it you had to stop using the car to reject it?)

[helen1973]

only went court yesterday and finance company have 2wks to collect car and refund me costs as instructed by the courts . It has been long process , i purchased car 28 may 08 and stopped driving it 22 june 08 .it has been hard to manage with only 1 car but was worth it to cancell 5grand finance agreement.... best of luck

[raydetinu]

You have no paper trail at all,An email would have done! they can say this is the first they knew about it!

There is no mafic to writing a letter; all you need to do is list the problems, mentioning phone calls with a time line of events etc, and ask for him ti mreimburse you under SOGA as the car was faulty not fit for purpose etc.

give him 14 days to respond or you commence court action. see other threads for procedure.

Can you prove he sold or included the higher spec. warranty on the receipt or in the warranty paper work given to you. Have you tried Your card provider, I know you said only new goods but they take fraudulant/misrepresented sales seriuosly so may be worth talking to them! easier than going to court.

have you spoke to trading standards?

[frankiefrankie]

Thanks for all the replies so far, the car broke down again a week ago, so I am SORN'ing it, and I am looking to get my money back from the dealer who sold it to me. i know any money spent on repairs is gone, so I'm looking for some help in starting a court claim.

 

Do I need to send him another letter (an LBA) or can I start with moneyclaim?

 

frankie.

[Conniff]

Neither. Send him a list of all you have done and spent and tell him you are rejecting the car under soga. It is up to him to come and collect it.

Give him 7 days to respond and if that is not favourable, then send the LBA.

[frankiefrankie]

Fantastic, thanks.