Clutch gone within a month of buying car.

[lisa1960]

Hi.

I brought a peugeot 407 diesel 2005 plate a month ago, traded my dearly beloved merc A class in.

The local garage gave me a £300 3 month warrenty with it.

First week of having the car we took it out for a 250 mile round trip to see how it drove, Great we thought until the computer shows that a partical fuel additive needed topping up. I took it back with a list of things that we had found wrong with the car but the main one being the fuel additive. He said well the car that you part exchanged with, the gear box had gone on it he did'nt seem all that concerned about my car, and said that he would have a word with his macanic. I did'nt hear anything from him. There was a noise coming from the front passengers wheel but i thought it was because i had reciently had the front and back brakes replaced. So i booked it into peugeot to have the additive topped up which cost me £249.00. The same week after having that done on it i was on my way to work when the car did'nt have no go in it, and the revs went up to 4 and smoke started to bellowing out of the engine, so i rang the fire service up. I rang peugeot up and they said that it was the clutch that had gone and it would be £900 and if the wheel thingy??? had gone too an extra £400 ontop. What is my rights and what should i do please please advise.

[Boro]

What is the mileage of the car and how many miles have you covered since buying it?

[lisa1960]

Hi

When i brought the car it had done 113.795 miles ive done about 400 miles in it in 5 weeks.

[Guest nez69]

DPF fuel additive should be done on the vehicle service, not mant independants will fork out for the equipment as it is not cheap.

 

The fluid itself is not too exspensive though and would enquire what they did for your £250 hard earned.

 

The sale of Good Act is on your side and the vehicle should be fit for purpose and last for a reasonable time.

 

The clutch is a wear and tear item, were there any signs of it slipping or being worn before it went?

[lisa1960]

No no signs of it slipping only what happened to it that day. Rang the trader he said that it is the clutch slipping when he tried it, then his machanic took it out and said it wasn't

and that it was the master cylinder gone on it. He said that that is not covered by the warrenty i said you have sold me a car that is not fit for the purpose i want it fixing.

He told me that he would order the masrter cylinder and get the job done 3 day later he phoned me and said that nothing is wrong with the car and that he is not fitting the master cylinder and for me to have a full refund and my old car back. I DON'T WANT THAT I WANT THE PEUGEOT. What can i do.

[Jeepstar]

I'm interested how peugeot managed to give this confident diagnosis over the phone without seeing the car. Once you started getting all this work you claim done at another garage you pretty much voided your warranty.

 

Wear and tear items in most cases are not covered by warranty. The car just needed to be fit for purpose at the time of sale. With 130k on the clock you have to accept things will be wearing out.

 

Incidentally if you traded your old car in with a known major fault, I'm not surprised the dealer didn't want to know. It is a 2 way street and if he is like most dealers he probably asked when valuing your car, 'are there any problems with it' If you replied no then he could well chase you for the cost of the buggered gearbox you dropped on him.

[Dragons Dennis]

......he could well chase you for the cost of the buggered gearbox you dropped on him.

 

No he couldn't. If you don't know what you are talking abot, don't offer advice!

[Jeepstar]

Dennis, I am fairly clued up regarding the law on used car sales. It is what I do for a living. Most traders when valuing will use a vehicle appraisal sheet detailing condition of bodywork, miles, interior, mechanicals, hpi status etc. The customer will then sign to say the information given is true. If it isn't true the trader could quite legally pursue for the difference between the value of it as described and the value as a non runner. Most wont do this but shove it into the auctions. But if the customer then comes back wanting warranty work on their new purchase, they can expect little recourse.

 

Many bigger garages now ask you to bring your trade in a couple of days prior to collecting your new one for a mechanical inspection. Contrary to common belief , most garages work on extremely tight margins now. They don't have the money to get shafted with your rubbish.

 

If the OP does decide to take it further, the trader will say 'but I offered her money and old car back' This means the OP was not left out of pocket. The reason, I'm willing to bet, she doesn't want her old car back, is she knew the gearbox was fubar.

[Dragons Dennis]

I was a car dealer for many years and also know what I am talking about. The car dealer is an expert on cars, the general public are not. The car dealar has a legal obligation to know the condition fo the cars they are selling, the public do not. The dealer could use any form they like and ask whatever they like also. But is the dealers resposibity to appraise any car being part exchanged by way of visual examination and if they choose to confirm mechanicals work correctly, they only have to drive it to see. That is what we did and oddly enough, never got stung with dodgy gearboxes.

 

I do however agree with you that the dealer has offered to take the car back and return the part exchanged heap, thus there is no further recourse for the OP. On that you are 100% correct.

[Popeye1000]

Hi Jeepstar and Dragons Dennis,

I'm sorry to interject on your topic, i would view that lisa1960 has a valid claim with regards to purchasing a vehicle fit for purpose, if the garage owner did or didn't know wether the clutch was going he should have said so at point of sale, if he was trusting his mechanic who said it was the master cylinder, he should have listened. We are going into the realms of should this vehicle be on the road in an unfit manner??

I'm sorry to say but i have yet to see a poor car salesman, yes Jeepstar you may be an exception to the rule, but i have seen salesman gleeming at the thought of a women walking in to a salesroom and taking advantage, just for arguements sake how much did he offer lisa1960?? how much did he put her vehicle up for sale on his forecourt?? was this with what he did to the vehicle or was some unsurspecting punter going to come along to buy it.

I do apologise for this but we should look at what lisa1960 has paid for, is it fit for purpose 400 miles in 5 weeks, clutch gone, the vehicle is an 05 peugeot 407 diesel, with 113,795 miles, average mileage is estimated at 10,000 miles a year, this vehicle has done 20,000 over a year, was she informed of the service history, how many owners, did her vehicle have a service history, is she the only owner. As Mr Clarkson say's buyer beware.

 

I am sorry for going on.

[Jeepstar]

I totally agree many in the motor trade take advantage of women. While looking for a new van for my partners business she got quoted a price £4k more than we got offered when I walked in with her.

 

Mileage for a diesel large saloon is average of 12k a year making it 72k average.

 

Believe me popeye. Most of us are nowhere near as wealthy as the public like to believe. In the year before scrappage scheme. Garages were shutting at an unbelievable rate. Traders sitting with stock were watching cars on the forecourt drop by 7-10% month on month. Most were struggling to break even on cars.

 

What does make me laugh in this case is the fact the OP traded in a faulty car, got offered it and her money back and still was complaining.

[heliosuk]

Oh Lordy, what is going to get some of you to understand that a failure on a car sold from a dealer is their liability that regresses the longer the owner has had it irrespective of the mileage. In the initial stages of ownership the responsibility lies with the dealer. The dealer should check for issues such as this prior to sale and rectify accordingly.

 

Tough world the motor trade isn't it but you can't expect to sell crap and get away with it anymore. The OP would also have a very valid claim against the dealer for the DPF treatment as well as this suggests a cover up.

[Popeye1000]

Hi Jeepstar,

Maybe we need to take this to another site or forum, as you say you your partner got offered 4k more, i would be asking why the difference??

I believe people are been misled in this thing with DIESEL'S doneing twice round the world thing.

Cheap servicing, you still have engine management systems.

I'll agree that it depends in which part of the country you live, i live in MANCHESTER, i've two auction sites, in BELLE VUE, ADT, STOODLEYS, both do van auctions, but it depends on what you want. Some people want a brand new car for nothing. If you said it is free they would still expect you to tax and insure the vehicle for them. Just watch TOP GEAR in America.

Going back to the post i would have kept the MERC, spent the money to put it right, some off us are not so savvy.

No disrespect but with your views to waiting to sell a car, you must take what is on offer, i.e. i traded a granada cosworth in for the car i have now, beleive me i didn't want to trade it in, but needs must the company i sold it to in part ex, must be laughing.

Even with the scrappage allowence, don't dispute people took advantage with this, but dealers knew what was going to happen so compenstated for.

With all the new technoligy thats out for new cars, even as a hobby, i've had to invest money in the repair of my own cars and bikes, computer hand held diagnoiscs.

It would appear that we are going to disagree even if we agree. Hope you find what your looking for.

Hope lisa1960 gets what she is looking for from the trader or the small claims court if that's what she wants.

[scaniaman]

Jeepstar, ref your post 11. Don't know where your located but your figures for depreciation don't apply here. New car sales are up and a large Scottish retailer is expanding at a terrific rate even with reduced profits from the scrappage days. His price for used cars is actually increasing on stock held by him for a year----only the very wealthy can hold stock for that time.

[Jeepstar]

Scania the quotes I give are for 2-3 years ago. Most of us up here in Scotland are doing ok but margins are well down. Really depend on the trade in to turn a profit.

As you say the stock prices are actually rising. Just begining to level out a bit last couple of months. Finding clean merchantable stock is a problem unless you pay strong money.

 

Apologies popeye wrote that wrong. She went in with no trade in and got quoted £11k to buy a new van, I went with her and got that same brand new van for just over £7k. That wasn't using trade sales or anything full retail.

[sailor sam]

If the dealer has offerd a full refund then I belive he has fulfilled his obligation to the OP.

[scaniaman]

Jeepstar, Ref your post 15. I think you may have mis understood my post14 in regards rising prices of stock. I was talking about old stock rising in price. Do you mean that dealers are not affected by depreciation just like the rest of us?? The large dealer i refered to, has increased the price of long held stock which were not undervalued in the past. Their web prices SEEM to be set to attract the public who have just started looking for a car---they won't have checked the website as frequently as i do, over such a long period.!!!!! In some cases, the same, or VERY similar cars are advertised at different prices on separate parts of the site!!!!!!! In other cases the same cars are advertised at the same price as at 3/4 2010????Since you are in the trade perhaps you could tell us why it seems to be a pre-requisit that car salesmen are nearly all completely nonchalant, and in many cases arrogant, ESPECIALLY when talking to "Knowledgeable" prospective customers.In my experience, considering the large amount of cash involved in vehicle purchase, the Product knowledge of many car salesmen, even at main dealers, is abysmal---therefore that is why many of us are calling for Regulations be imposed upon those involved in car sales.

[Jeepstar]

Scania, partly due to scrappage schemes and a decrease in the regularity of fleet managers of large companies changing their cars. The price of desirable used cars has risen pretty much month on month for the last 2 years. Personally I dont subrcribe to some of the valuations currently given in the trade price guides. I personally try to buy right and turn a car over at a small margin. To give an example of current valuations. A mid range petrol clio is worth £100 more today trade & retail than it was in August last year. Thats according to the current and oldest cap black books I have.

 

Sadly the main dealers are not training their staff in the product they are selling, they are trained to sell warranties and finance. My tip when looking for a car is to find an independant garage you trust and ask them to source a vehicle for you.

[scaniaman]

Thanks for that Jeepstar---question on car salesmen not quite what i had expected.!! You mentioned having to pay" strong" money to obtain decent cars for resale. Over the last two weeks i have advertised a three year old diesel car, 25,000mls, 11mths ticket. This is the first time in my life that i have received absolutely no replies--not even tyre kickers. Some months ago, the biggest rouge in the Scottish car trade offered me £5.500 as a trade in against an obselete new (pre reg) car. Today, i was offered £6000+ for the same car against a used car, but from a main agent in Glouster. Prices in England were traditionally lower than in Scotland, but it would appear that the trend may be shifting.As far as trade in prices are concerned, a main dealer recently informed me that the price offered was to a great extent determined by the banks, as it would be the amount they would be prepared to finance----very serious state of affairs methinks.How did we get here from a faulty clutch??????LOL