Am I entitled to reject this car

[Jo0102]

After looking at this forum - you guys seem to know your stuff and I have already used some of your advice from other posts but could do with some more - please!

 

My boyfriend brought a car yesterday from a dealer - not anything amazing just a £1000 vauxhall astra! All was fine - and the advert stated sold as seen (I have now since learnt that this is illegal and means nothing! - I hope I am right).

 

He got 25 miles down the road and smoke started to bellow from the bonnett and the car came to a stop - he immediatley rang the dealer and got told it was no longer there problem (my boyf then had to pay £60 to get towed off the side of the motorway!) In addition to this my boyf found out while driving the car the speedometer was faulty thus affecting the mileage reading and miles per hour.

 

Am I right in thinking this is covered by the sales of goods act - we have written to the dealer stating this and also stating we want a full refund - can you advise were we stand with this. Does the dealer have to return the money in full - any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

jo

[bl1989]

Did you pay for it on a credit card, out of interest? If you did you might be protected.

[Jo0102]

Yes we did - does this help?

[bl1989]

Possibly not actually, since I've just read that cars are excluded from Credit Card Protection...

[lasertung]

If cars are not protected by CC protection, what about warranties and service contracts?

[rickyd]

Sale of goods act covers this under the merchantable quality clause. If you are buying goods at a sale or discount price and the faults were pointed out at the time of purchase, you cannot reject on the grounds of these faults, but sold as seen has no legal value whatsoever.

 

Just grounds for rejection I'd say, and for claiming the £60 out of pocket expenses which he wouldn't otherwise have needed to spend.

[ClampingKing]

Ok, to answer your question there are one or two things that are in your favour.

 

1. 'sold as seen' means nothing unless it is a private sale.

2. As this was a car dealer, even if just selling one car a month from home, they are a trader. As such you have protection under various laws including the sale of goods act.

3. Did your BF buy this car to breakdown on the motorway? No? OK, then the car is not fit for the purpose it was purchased for.

 

So, first things first. Ring the dealer and tell them you are rejecting the car under the Sale of Goods Act and you want it collected by them at their expense.

 

Secondly, contact your credit card company who are equally liable for your loss and inform them that the goods are not of merchantable quality and that you have asked for a refund and ask them to mark the transaction to that effect for now.

 

Write a letter to the garage and send by recorded delivery informing them that you are rejecting the car and demand a full refund of the £1000 and collection of the car within 7 days. You can also ask for the £60 towing fee, but I wouldn't hold out too muchn hope for that.

 

I expect that they will either ignore you or phone you with some abuse. If they do the latter bring in the police if there are ANY threats. 'I will kick your BF's ass' etc.

 

If you do not get the car collected by them within the 7 days then just start court proceedings and /or charge back the card.

 

Do not be afraid to use the courts, but also get onto trading standards immediately too. People do not understand the power the TS have and they can have crooks like this jailed if need be. I speak from experience! Don't upset trading standards!!!!

 

Good luck and keep us posted. Above all, remain polite and calm. Do not stoop to this knuckle scraping feck-wits level.

[rickyd]

Agreed with clampingking, chase the garage first. Once they have replied and assuming they disagree with your claim, contact the credit card company.

 

Tell them you are claiming under section 75 of the sale of goods act and confirm that you have already taken this up with the dealer but had no joy and confirm that the purchase falls under the £30,000 upper limit.

 

Remind them that they are jointly liable for your losses, which include the £60 already paid plus any further out of pocket expenses you may have incurred thus far, then wait for their response.

 

Don't even think about feeling sorry for them, not only have they received the merchants fee for this sale, but they have bigger and better weapons at hand for recovering their losses from the supplier. There's also the simple fact that £1060 means far more to you than it does to the credit card company.

 

This is fairly clear cut - the car wasn't up to the job of being a car and the supplier and the credit company are liable!

 

Just a thought - if the speedo wasn't working they sold you a car that was unroadworthy. Anyone who supplies an unroadworthy vehicle is committing a crime unless they make it abundantly clear to you that the vehicle isn't to be driven in its present state. This applies to anyone - dealer, private sale or one off sale from a garage.

 

Useful ammunition for later via Trading Standards or the Police.

Edited August 1, 2009 by rickyd

[Jo0102]

Thanks all - have done the letter to the garage - as expected no reply as yet - but will give them the 7 days.

 

Will then try the credit card company- will this be a battle to get the money out of them?

 

Thanks all - you have turned a pretty crap week last week into something much more poitive!