Car bought from dealer dodgy mot and many other faults - heelp pls

[BlackKnigt225]

Hi All I am new to this forum and looking for some advice. I bought a car on 7th of this month and the car had been MOT'd the day before purchase by the dealer. On the way home I I started to think that some things weren't right so started to do some investigating, unfortunately was away for the following week. I took it for an inspection and found that the following MOT failing faults were present :-

Both fron outer Cv gaitors torn (one without securing)

A broken rear coil spring

too much play in the drop link bush

N/S/F Lower arm rear bush torn

Ride heigt sensor bent

both rear calipers binding (one is very hard to turn by hand)

The handbrake will not hold properly.

Both rear tyres through to the thread. the MOT has the rear tyres near legal limit and no other advisories.

 

There are several other faults such as the radiator cooling fan wiring has been tampered with and such is permanently on. The thermostat had been removed and there is a cooling sytem error in the ECU. The fuel guage does not work properly, there is a leak where the soft top meets the window an when hot engaging first gear is sticky. The car was test driven but only for a couple of miles as there was no petrol in it.

 

I have written to the garage and E-mailed them stating that under the sale of goods act I am rejecting the vehicle as it does not match the ad description and subsequent concversations with him and that I had asked him about any faults, none were mentioned and moreover the car is unroadworthy and as such not fit for purpose. He has not recieved the letter yet but will tomorrow and appears unwilling to read the E-mail. I called him on Saturday 3 weeks to the day of purchase to voice my concerns and intentions and to re iterate the E-mail that had been sent on Friday, only to be met with abuse and a complete unwillingness to do anything. Although his opening gambit when I said the car was unroadworthy was to offer me £700 les than what I paid before I had even told him what was wrong. I have contacted CAB to tell them what I was doing but said had offered them time to collect and refund (following the phone call it is clear he will ignore me completely) Tomorrow I will ask them to refer to Trading standards. I am also conatcting the DVSA for a re-test as the garage that looked over the vehicle said that it was obvious that some if not all of these faults would have been present at the time of the last MOT. The car has covered just over 200 miles since purchase, 170 of which were returning home from the dealer, the rest to get it inspected.

I am quite prepared to take him to court but am now without transport and want a quicker end to this as it is causing me an inordinate amount of stress.

 

WHAT A NIGTMARE

 

ANY HELP MOST APPRECIATED

[SabreSheep]

Sounds like your on the right track form what I can see.

maybe send a letter before action after the retest. Get reports from both the retests.

Send a copy maybe with the LBA

 

If no good begin a small claims case

[BlackKnigt225]

Thanks SabreSheep I have a report from the first garage and will supply anything supplied by the DVSA.

What is an LBA?

 

I have given them 7 days for a written response and informed them that I shall be contacting Trading standards and the DVSA and have alo contacted Autotrader and made the police aware of possible dodgy MOT's by this trader.

 

I hope that upon receipt of the letter he realises the potentially very serious implications that these investigations might have. i think that he thought duriing the phone call that he could fob me off. NOT SO he is in for a very long hard fight and I will use everything at my disposal to get the right outcome.

 

He should not have let me drive away in a car in this condition.

[SabreSheep]

letter before action - give 14 days.

u also want the cost of the retests refunded

[BlackKnigt225]

Cheers will send an lba upon the receipt of the DVSA report (if they will act)or my near MOT centre have offered to give an expert opinion having consulted them on what to do in these circumstances, my preference is the DVSA.

Will also bill them for costs as advised.

Have also made them aware that as the car they supplied is unsafe and unroadworthy and above all illegal it is their responsibility to collect

[BlackKnigt225]

Well contacted the DVSA today and am waiting for them to contact me to arrange a re-test. CAB not so good, I asked them to forward to Trading standards, they said that they have and that at the moment TS will take no action, so it would appear that supplying a car with an MOT that is substandard to say the least is OK. I shall be back on their case once I have the DVSA report. LBA sent (special delivery this time) and the recorded delivery letter sent on Friday still has not arrived.

[rebel11]

Hi BlacKnight225

 

How did you pay for it? Don't speak to him over the phone, only communicate in writing, send everything Recorded Delivery.

 

Here's some info:-

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/tradingstandards/documents/Guidanceforsecondhandcardealers.pdf

[BlackKnigt225]

Hi rebel11 the car was paid for in cash. I did ring him to tell him to read the E-mail copy of the letter as I was concerned about the timescale and to explain what I was expecting. I have sent two letters now one detailing the faults and the resolution requested,stating that I want written responses and a further lba today.

[rebel11]

The court will want to see that you've tried everything to resolve the matter. So lets see what he does, but prepare to go to court. Do a bit of research on going to court. You should pay by debit/credit card.

[BlackKnigt225]

Many thanks I will if necessary take him to court. The link provides a lot of very useful information. The professional diligence section is of great help as is the reference to not hiding any faults. I shall read it in it's entirity and read up about going to court.

[rebel11]

Some more info:-

 

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_taking_action_e/consumer_legal_actions_e/consumer_going_to_court_e/before_you_take_someone_to_court.htm

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-use-the-small-claims-court

 

If you need help, the guys here have a lot of knowledge, just ask.

[BlackKnigt225]

Many many thanks. I shall look at all of this and be armed with as much as possible. If I have to issue proceedings I may well be asking questions on here.

A great forum and lots of sound advice. Thanks guys:-)

[BlackKnigt225]

Thanks for all the excellent responses.

 

The letter sent yesterday an lba and a copy of the original letter (still not arrived) was received by the dealer today. I got a phone call whereupon he proceeded to tell me that it was not his responsibility and that it was that of the MOT station. I did not want to get into a lengthy debate but realise I had to listen to what he proposed. I pointed out that it was his responsibility as a dealer to make sure a car is roadworthy before sale and that the MOT was arranged by them, therefore nothing to do with me. I also re-iterated that I wished to exercise my right to reject the vehicle under the Sale Of Goods Act 1979 owing to it not being fit for purpose and not what had been described in the ad and subsequent conversations with him and was not of satisfactory qulaity. He has offered to refund me £2900 (which he would transfer to my bank today !), I paid £3200 for it on 07/06/2014. I re-iterated that as I had stated in the letter I wanted all correspondance in writing.

He said he was deducting £300 for rental of the vehicle .I re-iterated that I was rejecting the vehicle and as such required a full refund. He then said that this is his offer take it or do what you want, take me to court you will have to wait 6 months for your money, I'll pay then.

Incidentally he also stated that he no longer worked for the dealer and that he would forward his new address and contact details (hmmmm) and that he had only called in to pick up mail. The letter was addressed to "The manager" of the so called dealer.

The conversation was left with him saying that he would put the offer in writing and also forward his new details to which all future correspondance should be sent (not sure if I'm buying this but may well send 2 copies of anything further, one to each address) The contract is with the dealer and so it is their responsibility to act and not this individual, if indeed he has left.

I am waiting to hear from the DVSA (VOSA) and am without transport so would prefer a speedier solution, however I am not about to accept £2900.

I have been mulling over saying that I will accept £3000 to put an end to this and so that I can get transport again. This would be on the understanding that it is his responsibilty to collect the vehicle as it is unroadworthy and illegal. I would also require this offer in writing. Obviously the court would require that I had been reasonable and explored all avenues.

What do people think, this is getting more and more suspicious. To me the offer to take the car back means he is accepting responsibilty however not with an acceptable level of recompense.

[sheene]

At least you have some response from the dealer AUTOSAVE BLACKPOOL read my post our just ignoring me and the court at the moment have read reviews on google saying they told a customer in the past who had problems with a car they sold him to "take us to court over it" would seem some dealers have no fear of the poor system in place to claim money back off car dealers funny if you owe income tax your hounded and made to pay asap or else.