Sold a Bad Differential

[mikefifth]

Hello, seeking legal advice please.

I own a Honda S2000, the original differential failed so I purchased a spare from a Honda breaker. The spare was described as being "70,000 miles, with no rattles and in working condition". The new differential costed me £150.

 

I had a garage professionally fit the differential for a sum of £372.96 including VAT on the 04.04.2016. Upon installation it was discovered that the "new" differential was suffering from a rattling symptom which is indicative of pion bearing failure. I can have the garage provide their professional opinion if required.

 

I have contacted the seller through ebay who said he is happy to refund the £150 but nothing more.

 

I would like to recover the cost of the differential along with the fitting cost of this incorrectly advertised part.

 

Do I have any legal rights here?

 

In order for me to replace this duff differential I am required to purchase another and have it installed again for £372.96, is it unreasonable for me to seek installation and fitting?

 

If I am to return the broken differential can I not recover the cost of removal and shipping?

 

Regards

 

Mike

[king12345]

To avoid further problems I would have your own differential reconditioned.

They last longer and rarely fail.

Being an ebay transaction you're lucky to get the £150 back.

After all the part came from a brakers yard.

[BankFodder]

Yes, I think that you have the right to claim back the cost of fitting.

 

However, you might need to box a bit clever

 

First of all, have you got the full address of the breaker's yard?

 

Are they operating as a limited liability company?

 

I think that the advice given above to have your own differential reconditioned is very good advice.

 

If you can, get it reconditioned and then have it fitted. However, you need to get the broken differential out of the car as quickly as possible and return to the seller. Did you pay by PayPal? If you did then you should lodge a dispute with eBay immediately. That will eventually insure you at least for the cost of the item and also delivery and return fees – because I understand that PayPal is now making sure that those costs are covered as well.

 

You need to return the old differential and at least to get your money back for that in order to minimise the next problem – which will be going for the installation cost.

 

If you go for the whole to one time, you might find that the seller will start causing problems about it all – including the £150.

 

Once you get that out of the way, then you can start to claim your money back for the fitting from the seller – but you will probably find that you will have to bring a legal action. You need to read up a bit about bringing a small claims in the County Court. I take it that you are a private buyer and of course he is a commercial seller. This means that once you issue a claim, the case would be heard in your local court and he would be obliged to travel to your court if he wants to fight the claim. This will present an additional difficulty.

 

Your chances of success are extremely high – better than 90%. However, you will then have to think about having the judgement enforced and this could pose difficulties and you need to take this into account when considering whether or not to bring a claim. You may decide to put the bailiffs in but he may be well used to that kind of thing and know exactly what to do to get them to leave.

 

If his breaker's yard is well organised and the parts are already out of the car and on shelves et cetera then the bailiffs may be prepared to remove items. If it is simply a yard with broken down old cars were over it then the bailiffs will probably unlikely to want to remove items to the value of your claim

[Conniff]

Is there a website for the breaker mike ??

[king12345]

Would the fitter give you a goodwill discount to fit the next differential as you're now a returning customer?

I'm just thinking that the breakers might agree more easily to a smaller bill, or maybe not...

[mikefifth]

Excellent advice so far, thank you so much.

 

I am not willing to provide names at the moment but it is a well known honda breaker in the UK.

 

I will lodge a paypal disput and have the old diff taken off the car. I'm truly gutted about this!

[Conniff]

Is your paypal account through a direct bank transfer, a debit card or credit card ?

 

Paypal uses all three and if a credit or debit card, you will have another means to reclaim should your paypal dispute seem to be being dragged out.