Used car issues - can I claim back costs?

[191108]

Hi

 

This is my first post so please bear with me, I'll try and keep this as concise as I can.

 

We bought a 2006 Ford Focus Estate around 6 weeks ago from a dealership, and afer having it for around 2/3 weeks we started to experience problems. Initially this was the interior heater not working, and then followed by a raft of other issues (I won't bore with the details!). We have reported all of the issues to the seller who thought it was best for a local garage to carry out repairs (we live an hour from him) and he would pay them directly. We were happy with this and took the car to a trusted and established place to close to our home.

 

Fast forward another two weeks and the same problem happened again, followed by the car seizing up completely. We informed the seller immediately who, still believing it was nothing serious, advised us to take it back to the same garage and that he would liaise directly with them to resolve the issue. At this point we were happy that considering the situation things seemed to be straightforward.......that's until it was diagnosed with a blown head gasket! The seller refused to believe that this was the case and arranged for it to be towed back to his garage. Naturally, we requested a replacement vehicle - either in the form of a courtesy car or him hiring us a vehicle. He refused saying, quote: 'I don't do replacement cars'. We argued the point to the stage where he was hanging up on us and not answering our calls. My husband is self employed and relies on a vehicle to be able to work and having already missed one days pay wasn't keen to miss any further so we reluctantly hired our own vehicle.

 

Fast forward again slightly and after repeated phone conversations, they finally agreed that the head gasket had in fact gone and set to work replacing it. As of today, the car is still not fixed and they are claiming that it may be another week at least. We have now paid out for a total of 3 weeks hire car totalling hundreds of pounds, not to mention the loss of work time and the cost of getting the car towed to the local garage when we broke down.

 

We have requested repeatedly that he reconsiders reimbursing us for the hire car costs but he completely refuses and to be frank, doesn't show much sympathy towards our situation. He can often be found claiming: 'I am spending a fortune on this car' - 'we can't afford any extra costs'. Well, neither can we.

 

With this in mind, my plan is to write to him on Monday (and send by recorded delivery) stating that we require full reimbursement with 14 days, if no response/says no) I will write to him a final time before lodging a claim through the Small Claims Court.

 

We are torn as to whether or not to just request a refund for the car: can anyone give me any advice? Also, we believe we have grounds to say that the car must have be sold with defects in order for this to have happened so quickly, and according to the local mechanic, in his opinion, the car had not been adequately checked/serviced (I understand this is his words against theirs, though).

 

Through this whole situation I have kept a spreadsheet detailing conversations and actions, as well as emailing the seller with things we have discussed requesting he respond so that we have a record - this has been a bit hit and miss!

 

I'd really appreciate anyones take on our situation as a whole and any advice anyone might have as to if we are going about things correctly and if we can realistically expect to get our money back.

 

Many thanks

 

PS excuse my complete lack of car/technical knowledge.

Edited March 2, 2013 by 191108

[Conniff]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Can you confirm where you say 'get our money back', your are refering to the hire car and towing costs only ?

[191108]

Yes, that's correct. Just for the hire car and towing fee.

[heliosuk]

Debatable but on balance yes for the towing fee and no for the car hire costs. No dealer or manufactuer is liable for car hire costs on a product sold and the purchasor is not entitled to temporary replacement vehicles so to speak. If they pay for it it would be because of goodwill or that they are insured for it. This applies to all goods. They are not required to do anything for you other than fix the issue.

 

You would have to persuit a seperate action for costs.

[191108]

Debatable but on balance yes for the towing fee and no for the car hire costs. No dealer or manufactuer is liable for car hire costs on a product sold and the purchasor is not entitled to temporary replacement vehicles so to speak. If they pay for it it would be because of goodwill or that they are insured for it. This applies to all goods. They are not required to do anything for you other than fix the issue.

 

You would have to persuit a seperate action for costs.

 

Thanks for your response.

 

In regards to the point you make relating to a purchaser not being entitled to a temporary replacement: is this common knowledge or taken from a piece of legislation/guidance that I could have a read? Also, is it a 'set' ruling or does it depend on the severity of the disruption caused by us not being able to use the purchased item?

[heliosuk]

They have to repair or replace, that is all. Anything else you would have to pursuit seperately as a consequencial loss. Where dealers do supply tempoary loan cars is as a gesture of goodwill and good business sense however it has now become common place that people expect it as a matter of course and the entitlement is simply not the case.

 

If my dishwasher caught fire and needed the dishes washing the supplier does not have to give me a loan dishwasher whilst I wait for it to be fixed or send Mrs Mop to do it for me. If of course I chose to rent one or hire a Mrs Mop then that would be down to me and I would have to sue the manufactuer or rather who sold it to me for the costs.

[191108]

I'm not sure I agree with the dishwasher analogy, as in this example you obviously have another method of washing the dishes (the sink) so are not really being inconvenienced significantly; in our case we cannot function in our daily lives without a car and no alternative exists for us without incurring a significant cost. I feel the strong point of our argument is the time it is taking for the car to be repaired, not reasonable in our eyes.

 

I appreciate the clarification and I am certain that you are right in saying it's not common practice for a courtesy vehicle to be provided (thank you for informing me of this), but it doesn't mean we won't still fight our corner and at least try to recover some costs. Hopefully we can put forward a strong enough case and argument to make it a successful battle

 

By the way, by 'sue' do you mean persue court action through the small claims court?

[heliosuk]

Yes, perhaps it's not the best analogy but you have got the drift and yes by "sue", pursuit, suit, sew or whatever in the small claims court. Easiest thing is to explain this to the dealer concerned that you intend to recover your additional expenses byt this method and it should concentrate his mind! Be careful though in how you word it as you are using it as part of a business and the rules might not be seen as the same to that of private use obviously depending on what you use the car for. An example of this would be someone buying a car from a dealer as a private individual and then using it as a private hire vehicle/pre booked taxi.

[191108]

Yes, good point.

 

My husband is self-employed (a sole trader) and doesn't use the vehicle for business purposes other than commuting to and from a place of work/job. I use it to do the menial things in life but to which it is essential when you have a 16 month old!

 

He is being slippery, no doubt about it and had we had to hire car for perhaps just 1 week, then I don't think I'd be here asking the questions in all honestly; it's the fear of not knowing how long this will go on for as when we ask for a reasonable time-frame he gets very agitated until we force him to give us a day/date - all very wishy washy. As I've mentioned above, 3 weeks worth of hire has now been paid for and who know how many more weeks................thats the scary part and what has forced me in to action!

[heliosuk]

I think on balance you need to give an accurate time line of events. You say you have a spreadsheet which is very good and will make a huge difference as to how you handle this. The focus itself (apart from some diesel varients) is an extreamly reliable car and the head gasket fail is very unusual. In fact I think I'd actually question it.

 

I would say that in this case you should write by recorded delivery an official rejection letter and a subsequent letter by the same means that you fully intend to follow the matter through and recover the costs you are currently incurring as a result. There are templates on this forum to reject but the subsequential loss I don't know.

 

There are a few posters who take an accurate pragmatic view on a lot of what you said such as Conniff and Sailor Sam and will look at a rejection letter based on the facts rather than just firing one off. Suggest you ask them for help with this.

[ericsbrother]

Ask for your money back

[ericsbrother]

sorry, refuse the goods under the sale of goods act and demand a refund.