Used Car mis-sold? Outstanding safety recall

[Lbg123]

Hi, I am hoping someone can give me a bit of advice regarding a car that I purchased recently that I believe was mis-sold to me due to there being an outstanding safety recall that was not disclosed at the time of sale.

 

Here is a more complete background to my story...

 

I purchased a Vauxhall Zafira recently from a local dealer and a couple of weeks later discovered that the car had a safety recall issued on it due to a risk of fire. I was not informed of this when I purchased the car. I would not have bought the car had I known.

 

I have written to the dealer to complain and he stated that basically it is not his problem and that I should have known about it. I then wrote back to explain why I believed that the car was mis-sold and have recently had contact from his lawyer stating that the car did not have an outstanding recall (which it does) and that there are no advisories on using the car as normal. Vauxhall have advised me not to use the heater or blower motor and if it is absolutely necessary only use them on settings 0 or 4.

 

Having looked into it myself I have found guidelines from the DVSA that state that dealers should not sell cars with outstanding safety recalls on them titled "A guide to safety recalls in the used vehicle industry". Within the guidelines it states:

 

"The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 covers the areas of product liability and consumer protection in the United Kingdom."

 

"The distributor shall act with due care in order to help ensure compliance with the applicable safety requirements and in particular he…shall not expose or possess for supply or offer or agree to supply, or supply, a product to any person which he knows or should have presumed, on the basis of information in his possession and as a professional, is a dangerous product” DVSA considers that this identifies that a product with an outstanding safety recall should not be passed to a consumer. Producers and distributors are professionals in their field and should therefore be fully aware that safety recalls exist and that they can occur on any product. DVSA believes that this paragraph applies to the supply of used products in the automotive sector."

 

Having spoken to his lawyer and informing him of the outstanding safety recall he is saying that he still believes that the dealer has done nothing wrong.

 

My question to anyone more knowledgeable than me on such matters is do you believe that I have been mis-sold the vehicle and would I stand a chance by taking it to small claims. I appreciate this is a long post but any information would be greatly received and appreciated.

 

Thank You in advance

 

LBG

Edited July 12, 2016 by Lbg123
Editing due to formatting issues

[Conniff]

Have moved your thread into the - Motoring - Motoring subforums - General Motoring Issues section Lbg.

 

You say you bought it recently, can you tell us the exact date please ?

[oddjobbob]

The recall will be free from Vauxhall

 

Just book it in, get it done, and move on with your life.

[Lbg123]

Whilst it is true the recall is free there are other reasons for not wanting the car such as the massive depreciation in value and almost double the cost of insurance.

 

Also the thought of having my wife and 4 kids in the car knowing that these fires still occur after the recall has taken place does not fill me with confidence.

 

Like I said, I would not have purchased this car had I known of the outstanding recall

[Lbg123]

Without looking when I get home tonight I can not give an exact date but it was towards the end of April. I will look and update the post accordingly.

[BankFodder]

The recall will be free from Vauxhall

 

Just book it in, get it done, and move on with your life.

This contains some reasonably good advice but it is also unhelpfully abrupt.

 

You probably also have a basis for rejecting the car as well.

Their lawyer is wrong.

[j66]

It could have already have been inspected under the terms of a recall by Vauxhall. They issued a recall after investigations into there being the above average number of fires, the press picked up on this and it's been very widely reported.

 

They have subsequently issued another recall to inspect the already recalled vehicles again.

 

A franchised Vauxhall dealer will have knowledge of the identity of the vehicles affected, a non franchise car dealer won't know until the letter from Vauxhall lands on his door step.

[oddjobbob]

Whilst it is true the recall is free there are other reasons for not wanting the car such as the massive depreciation in value and almost double the cost of insurance.

 

Also the thought of having my wife and 4 kids in the car knowing that these fires still occur after the recall has taken place does not fill me with confidence.

 

Like I said, I would not have purchased this car had I known of the outstanding recall

 

Massive depreciation is part of motoring, and something to be considered before not after purchase. You can't reject it because it's going to go down in value

 

Likewise with insurance, you check that before buying not after.

 

It is extremely unlikely (or about the same as any other car) to catch fire once the recall work is done.

 

I sense a bit of buyers remorse here: this matter has been very very widely publicised i find it hard to believe you were unaware that Zafiras had this outstanding problem.

 

Like i said, the recall is free, it is no more likely to catch fire than any other car, get the recall done, move on

[Conniff]

Massive depreciation is part of motoring, and something to be considered before not after purchase. You can't reject it because it's going to go down in value

 

Likewise with insurance, you check that before buying not after.

 

It is extremely unlikely (or about the same as any other car) to catch fire once the recall work is done.

 

I sense a bit of buyers remorse here: this matter has been very very widely publicised i find it hard to believe you were unaware that Zafiras had this outstanding problem.

 

Like i said, the recall is free, it is no more likely to catch fire than any other car, get the recall done, move on

 

I have to agree with that.

[heliosuk]

I can see what the OP is saying but we need to clarify a couple of things.

 

 

If the car was bought from a non affiliated Vauxhall dealer then the OP has nowhere to go as the dealer would not have access to whether or not the car was affected or not.

 

 

If the car was bought from a recognised Vauxhall affiliated dealer then there would be grounds to complain however the OP would have to prove that the dealer had not carried out the recall already. It can take a few months to show on database records.

 

 

As per previous advice, take it to a Vauxhall dealer who will confirm if it's needed or not, if not then get on with your life.

[Conniff]

Any update for us Lbg123 ??

[Lbg123]

It isn't about the value of the car it is about how much I value the safety of my family!

 

You can find it hard to believe if you wish but it was not until after buying the car that i found this out.

 

You seem to know a lot about the likelihood of this car catching fire, do you care to share the source of this information.

 

The reason I am not happy is that I believe the car was misold to me. I now have a car that is not used because i care about the safety of my family. If you have looked into this you will see that Zafiras are still going up in flames even after the recall has been carried out.

 

Why do people think that car traders are above the law when it comes to selling unsafe products.

[Lbg123]

Any update for us Lbg123 ??

 

Yes,

 

I have taken legal advice on the matter and as far as I can see the car has been misold to me.

 

Also under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 they had no right to sell me the car. The DVSA has issued a guide covering this. I can't post links but if you google "A guide to safety recalls in the used vehicle industry" you will find the guide.

[Conniff]

You seem to know a lot about the likelihood of this car catching fire, do you care to share the source of this information.

 

I can answer that one. It's been extensively covered over and over again on every news broadcast for at least a year and on Watchdog.

[panther12]

I now have a car that is not used because i care about the safety of my family.

You can still drive it without fear of catching fire with the heater blower set to 0 or 4 as advised by vauxhall. The fire issue is with a dodgy batch of blower resistor packs which overheat and can cause a fire. With blower off (0) there's no power going through the resistor pack and with blower set to max (4) full blower power bypasses the resistor pack. The resistor pack is only used on the settings between off & max as it reduces the current flow to slow down the speed of the heater blower motor. Most resistor packs contain some kind of safety thermal fuse that blows when it exceeds a certain temp but for whatever reason the ones fitted to some of these motors are overheating and causing fire.

[j66]

Yes,

 

I have taken legal advice on the matter and as far as I can see the car has been misold to me.

 

Also under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 they had no right to sell me the car. The DVSA has issued a guide covering this. I can't post links but if you google "A guide to safety recalls in the used vehicle industry" you will find the guide.

 

Looking at the legislation that you have referenced to and the definitions that in the further legislation that is referenced:

 

“distributor” means a professional in

the supply chain whose activity does not affect the safety

properties of a product;

 

“producer” means—

(a) the manufacturer of a product, when he is estab

lished in a Member State and any other

person presenting himself as the manufacturer by

affixing to the product his name, trade

mark or other distinctive mark, or the person who reconditions the product;

 

I think that your basis for proposed legal action against the car dealer is flawed. The car dealer is not the producer of the car - it is Vauxhall and he is not the distributor of the car, that will be an approved Vauxhall dealer.

 

Why not just get the car booked in for the work and get it sorted out at no cost to you, other than a bit of time and fuel?

[heliosuk]

lbg, get a life and move on. You have no recourse against anyone apart from yourself for over reacting. The instances are very rare.

 

 

As others have posted, go to a Vauxhall dealer and get it checked for outstanding recalls (government) and campaigns (manufacturer driven) to see what is outstanding.

 

 

I doubt you'll get much help here unless you help yourself and the first step is to get it checked.

[Hammy1962]

A recall which was not only very good, but outstanding........................

 

H

[heliosuk]

I think there's more to this than meets the eye, buyer remorse me thinks. When I read "safety of my family" and not taking heed of the good advice given here I read bollocks. Quite pathetic really for someone trying to reject a car because they don't like it!!!

[oddjobbob]

I think there's more to this than meets the eye, buyer remorse me thinks. When I read "safety of my family" and not taking heed of the good advice given here I read bollocks. Quite pathetic really for someone trying to reject a car because they don't like it!!!

 

Yes. THIS ^^^^