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Problems with £8000 car bought from a dealer.


BigBoy22
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Hi guys.

My friend bought a car on hp for £8000 about 2 months ago. The car had just over 30000miles on the clock. My friend has a problem with the following bits: faulty air con, faulty alternator. The air con has now been 'repaired' 2 or 3 times and it's still faulty and the alternator has just gone. The dealer (Vauxhall) rejects any liability for the repair of the alternator. As mentioned before the air con has been re-filled so it works for few weeks and then stops working again. I assume that under the Sales of Goods Act 1979 the dealer has to repair the car as it is clearly of unsatisfactory condition and not fit for its purpose. But is there any chance he could reject the car or p/ex it for another vehicle? Or does it depend the wording of the agreement.

 

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Neither air-conditioning or the alternator are serious enough imho to reject the car as being unfit for purpose. Air con is just a luxury item and alternators can go at any time.

 

Was there a warranty with the car? If so get it fixed under warranty. If the air con keeps losing pressure then they are, as you say, just topping up probably in the hope that this will keep it going until the warranty runs out. Insist on a proper repair, not just repeated top-ups.

 

Regarding the alternator, is this an excluded item in the warranty? Why did they reject the claim; on what grounds?

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Sorry Ed but I have to dis-agree with you.

 

Whether any item is a 'luxury' or not, it should still work. Under SOGA, any fault which appears within the first six months of ownership is assumed to be present at the point of sale so any warranty which applies within that time is fairly irrelevant anyway as it does not replace your rights under SOGA.

 

The OP has a number of options, one is to contact some one called VX Max (I think) on this forum who claims to be a Vauxhall customer service rep and ask him to look into this as the car was supplied by a Vauxhall dealer. The other option is to formally contact the dealer (by phone) saying that you expect him to make the car of satisfactory quality by sorting the air con (properly!) and the alternator at no futrther cost to you. What ever he says, inform him that you will also be putting this request in writing (by recorded delivery) giving a 7 day time limit of reply. Indicate that all further correspondence must be done in writing (if they refuse to sort the problem out, ask them for a written explaination). Personally, I would first try this Vauxhall customer service bloke on here because if he is as good as his word, he would be your best bet on getting this sorted without going down the legal route.

 

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Please click my reputation button at the bottom of my profile window on the left if you found my advice useful.

 

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Sam is quite right here as is Ed but the faults are insuficcient on face value to reject the car. SOGA is not clear cut but sets out guidelines which many people on this forum seem to forget, especially the statement "the fault is assumed to be present 6 months before". It's a wild and woolley statement, easily challengable and the empathis is on "assumed". Not something to be relied on.

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No, there is no cause here for rejection, as any "reasonable" person would agree that the car is capable of transporting someone from a to b without air conditioning working, unless it was pointed out at the point of sale that the air conditioning was vital for some reason.

However, it is clear that the dealer is trying to fudge the air conditioning as it is leaking, and this is a breach of contract.

The alternator is not subject to a SOGA claim but may be covered under a seperate warrnty - the following explains why

"Goods cannot always be expected to work fault-free. They can break down through normal use. Buyers cannot, therefore, expect to hold the seller responsible for fair wear and tear. There needs to be a fault that was present on the day of sale even though it only became apparent later on, or a misdescription of the goods, or a lack of durability that suggests the goods were not of satisfactory quality to start with"

From the Berr website.

If the alternator was "inherently faulty" either through poor design or manufacturing defect then this would have been apparent as the car would have had the charging warning light on, so at the point of sale the car conformed to contract as far as the alternator goes

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Good post CCK. Far too many start the SOGA route. As I continuously try to point out it's not clear cut.

 

Unfortunately we often see posts requesting £3 grands worth of repairs for a £1 grand car. There needs to be some sort of perspective brought in which you seem to do.

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