Mouldy car from Evans Halshaw Newcastle

[BigFatGreedyBanker]

Hi,

 

Looking for some advice and info on our rights if possible please.

 

We purchased a car last week from a branch of Evans Halshaw https://www.evanshalshaw.com/ . It’s a 3 year old Kia with 17K miles on the clock and cost £6707. We did this as a distance sale without viewing the car or visiting the dealer. The dealer is quite a distance away from us. We responded to an  Autotrader  advert and did the transaction over the phone and by email.

 

We asked lots of questions about the condition of the car and the dealer sent images etc. The only problem that the dealer highlighted to us was a small stone chip on the bonnet and the car was otherwise described as very good condition with no issues, as you’d expect for a car with so few miles that’s still under warranty (Kia warranty is 7 years).

 

We agreed to go ahead and paid for the car via bank transfer as they wouldn’t take a card payment.

 

The car was delivered on a trailer to our work address by the dealer, the cost for which was included in the price. We weren’t there and a colleague signed for it to say it had been received.

 

When we inspected the car (a few hours after it was delivered) we noticed a very large area of mould growing in the boot. We’d specifically asked if there was any stains, marks etc on the interior (and have this on email) and was told there were not. We contacted the dealer to make them aware of the situation and they were going to organise for a local Evans Halshaw branch to clean it which, although not ideal would have been acceptable to us as we thought something may have just been spilt in there.

 

During the rest of the (quite rainy) day the car was parked up outside in a car park along with a number of other cars. At some point we noticed that the windows were steaming up and covered in moisture on the inside. The other cars around it were bone dry on the inside. We relayed this info to the dealer and they said the local branch would sort it.

 

That night after some thought and Googling on the possible causes, we decided that we didn’t want to get involved in having to track down the potential causes of this dampness which may not be a straight forward task and could

possibly involve a process of elimination and dismantling the car.

 

We then contacted the dealer and informed them we wanted to reject the car due to it not being as described and cancel the contract. They seem to think we only have the right to reject the car in a 14 day cooling off period if we paid by finance. And because it’s a car, the Distance Selling Regulations / Consumer Contracts Regulations don’t apply.

 

After some debate they’ve agreed as a “good will gesture” to take the car back but want us to pay for the car to be returned as that’s what’s in their terms and conditions. We believe that that this cost should fall to them as the fault wasn’t described to us, this was a distance sale and the regulations take precedent over any terms they may have.

 

Please can someone confirm what our rights are here? And if I’m correct and it is there responsibility to bear the return cost, any links to relevant regulations I can point them to would be great.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[dx100uk]

they are wrong.

 

2 hours ago, BigFatGreedyBanker said:

Evans Halshaw

 

should know better!!

 

tell them they have 2 options

return the car sorted

or 

dont bother returning the car at all .

 

under your short term right to reject

the issue was reported within 14 days, and under consumer regulations , you are quite correct that you don't need ANY reason to return it.

within 30 days you can return it for any reason 'not fit for purpose' and get a full refund under both circumstances.

 

have you involved the finance company?

if it's on HP don't forget it's THEIR CAR not yours!!

 

 

[BigFatGreedyBanker]

Thanks for the reply and the link.

 

The car was paid by bank transfer so there’s no finance company to speak of.

 

In the link it states...

///////

 

8 Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any 

reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the 

goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

 

///////

 

This is exactly as I understood it but I can’t see any reference to where in the regulations it states that. I assume it’s in there somewhere, but where?

 

Ignore me, I see there’s a link to the original at the bottom.

 

Thanks.

[dx100uk]

bank transfer is the worst way to pay for anything

it virtually removes any recourse through your bank.

 

ALWAYS USE A DEBIT CARD OR EVEN BETTER A CREDIT CARD EVEN BY PART PAYMENT.>£100

opps caps sorry.

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Minimise your problem.

 

Get rid of the car now whatever it takes. 

We'll help you go after the cost afterwards. 

 

Paid by bank transfer.  Bravo. 

[BankFodder]

autotrader