Dealer refusing repair under sale of goods act, advice needed! ***Resolved***

[j3lly]

Hoping someone can help.

 

We were looking to buy a new car and found the one we wanted on auto trader end of January called the dealer a few times asking questions and decided to buy, unfortunately we didn't view the car before purchase as the car was in London and we are in manchester we paid deposit over phone on 7th feb of £500 by debit card

 

Car was coming with 12months mot, 6months tax & 6months warranty, we paid for it to be delivered, they were waiting for documents after a plate transfer so we had to wait for those before mot & tax could be arranged. After chasing this up several times we were given delivery date of 21st, on the 20th we paid the outstanding balance of £5250 by bank transfer.

 

About an hour before we expected delivery on the 21st we recieved a call to say they couldn't deliver as hadn't actually recieved documents from dvla yet.

 

22nd feb was told documents had been recieved, mot done & tax purchased, delivery booked for 24th

 

On delivery day 24th feb 2014 they said the delivery driver had returned car to them as there was a coolant level issue, they had ordered part and would be repaired by end of day but couldn't be delivered until 25th now, my partner decided to get train to them after work to pick it up so once they confirmed work was complete he went to collect it. (We were refunded delivery charge after couple weeks)

 

Car drove home great no problems other than the horn stopped working.

 

The next morning 25th we discovered one of the rear doors didn't lock and one of the rear elec windows didn't work nothing major but we emailed the dealer to let them know and they were really nice about it and said they would arrange for a local dealership to repair. car is parked in garage at home and in a secure car park

At work so weren't too concerned door wouldn't lock for a short time while waiting for repair. Car was booked in to local dealership for 5th March.

 

On 28th feb my partner took 2 of our children shopping but on arriving they were unable to get out of the car none of the doors would unlock, apart from the rear door that wouldn't lock they came straight back home and they all had to climb out though that back door. Dealer was called and apologised but the local garage weren't able to give us courtesy car any earlier so repair date stayed at 5th march. Doors unlocked again after being left overnight.

 

My partner drove it to work on 4th March but it developed a loud knock when going over a bump even the tiniest. We again emailed the dealer to let them know about this knock. We had had the car for 8 days at this point

 

The car was taken for repair to horn, knock, window & doors on 5th March. They replaced wiring looms in doors, a suspension leg and horn now worked. Work was authorised to be done outside of warranty. Car returned to us 11th March.

 

Car was great for a week then on 18th the car started blowing out lots of blue smoke and lost power, called to book in for repair and earliest they could book it in was 27th March.

 

Car was taken for repair on 27th they suspect piston stem seals and need to strip the engine.

the dealership we bought it from won't authorise work to be done as they say this isn't their responsibility we should claim this under warranty.

 

Should this repair be done by dealer under sale of goods act or should it be our responsibilty to arrange the repair under warranty?

 

I don't want to be claiming under warranty if this is dealers responsibility so thought I would check.

 

We picked the car up 35 days ago, 10 of those days the car has been in garage and pretty much the rest of the time the car has been waiting to go into the garage. We do like the car so want it to be repaired and keep it.

 

Sorry it's so long

[renegadeimp]

It is the dealers fault as you had problems from the start. Pretty much all used car dealers do this. Thats why they have such a shady reputation. Reject the vehicle and get a full refund if the repairs arent satisfactory.

[j3lly]

The repairs that have been done already we are happy with but this new problem with piston stem seals they are refusing to repair unless I claim through warranty. The company we bought it from is polar ford.

I would really like to keep the vehicle if repaired, I thought they would be responsible after such a short time but they are pushing us to claim through warranty saying this isn't their responsibilty.

We will keep pushing that this is their fault a little longer and hope they give my partner has to call them back this afternoon

[renegadeimp]

IIRC they have to fix it under SOGA.

[j3lly]

Ford have made us an offer, if we have this repair done under warranty they will extend the warranty to 2 years.

My initial thought is wow do it but then it sounds too good to be true.

 

Would there be any downside to us accepting this? I think what I'm asking is by us accepting to have a repair done under warranty are we still covered by sale of goods act if something else major went wrong next week that warranty didn't cover? (If that makes sense)

 

We only have this offer verbally so far we have asked for it to be sent be email aswell and to give us time to think about it and plan to have a good read through t&c tonight

[renegadeimp]

As long as you have it in writing and you do not pay a penny for it. I'd say it is a good offer.

[j3lly]

Great thank you

[renegadeimp]

I would still demand full confirmation in writing along with the reason they are doing this before i accepted though. I would also enquire why they arent repairing it under SOGA.

[j3lly]

My partner asked why they weren't doing this repair under their obligations under soga the guy he was talking to said he didn't know anything about soga so would need to go speak to legal department. It was then that they called back offering the warranty. My partner has asked for it all in writing and he said he will have to speak to his manager tomorrow about that.

 

They also now suspect it is crack in cylinder head as engine has low compression.

 

Partner asked what happens next if we accept offer and was told they will strip engine confirm the problem and then contact warranty company to make the claim. When asked what then if problem not covered they didn't know, also we asked who was funding the diagnostics as warranty doesn't and we certainly aren't again he needed to go away and confirm with manager.

 

I have just sat and read through warranty t&c and it clearly states cylinder head cracks are not covered!

[renegadeimp]

The dealer doesnt know about SOGA?

 

From the info you gave in the last post, it sounds like they DO know about SOGA but they are trying to shrug off responsibility.

[j3lly]

Have had a call from them this morning asking us to put it in writing via email what we are wanting from them as far as repairs then they said they will reply with their offer. I assume they mean putting their offer of extending warranty period down in writing

[j3lly]

Hello Mr X

 

Further our recent telephone conversation and your email please find a response.

 

I understand that your vehicle X is in our X Branch awaiting diagnosis for the issues that you have mentioned.

 

If acceptable to you, it is our proposal that we offer you a free of charge further twelve months warranty extension that would commence when your existing warranty expires.

 

This would elevate the matter of you using your current warranty to rectify the existing problem with your vehicle. If this is acceptable to you I would suggest that you inform the Service department at X to proceed with their investigations so that the situation can be resolved.

 

In the event that your issues are not covered by your warranty I suggest that we will talk further.

 

 

Kind regards

[renegadeimp]

So they're completely ignoring soga.

[Conniff]

A couple of things. Warranty cannot ever take your consumer rights away, nothing can, a warranty is extra to your consumer rights.

 

They might be saying crack in the head as they know that isn't covered. You would be wise to go and see the head before it is sent to be 'stitched' or replaced and ask for the crack to be pointed out to you.

 

Can you clear up one thing for me. In post #3, you state 'piston stem seals', valves have stem seals, pistons ?

[j3lly]

Sorry I've just checked and I've got it written down in my diary as valve stem seals so I've no idea why I wrote piston.

 

The work is being carried out at a branch close to where my partner works so will make sure he asks to see it before it's repaired.

[j3lly]

They have had the car 12 days now (this time) and have still not given a definite diagnosis infact it doesn't sound like they have done much at all since last week.

 

We are considering rejecting the vehicle now, are we still able to do this at this stage and how do we do this it's not something we have ever had to do before.

[j3lly]

Update, the local garage carrying out the work have advised it needs new engine, someone was sent from warranty company to inspect car who also recommended in their report a new engine, as fitting of a new engine will be more than car is worth it's been mentioned to us that they will be offering to "buy us out of the car" I assume this is their way of saying they will give us our money back, we are waiting a call back from someone who can authorise this apparently.

 

Should we ask for out of pocket expenses aswell such as feb/March/April tax as we can't get refund on those months from Dvla & maybe even train fare from when vehicle was collected?

[Slaac]

Buy you out means they will after to buy it back at below what you paid (probably) or offer you a replacement vehicle but ask you to make a contribution.

 

If they have documented engine failed - needs replacing they either do that, replace like for like (whole vehicle) at no cost or refund you in full - iIn fact IIRC if they can't repair it YOU chose replacement or refund - not them.

[j3lly]

Update: they "bought the car back" eventually last week for the same price we paid for it plus we got the extra we wanted to cover the tax & train fare. So I guess we were lucky as did actually think we would have more of a fight after reading a few other stories

[rebel11]

Hi j3lly

 

Well Done, your thread has been marked 'Resolved'.

[j3lly]

Thank you