Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Second hand car and consumer rights
  • Lifer
    Free Member

    Picked up a car from a second hand dealer on saturday, had a test drive and inspection all looked good. Since then I’ve discovered the clutch is slipping (first found out when going to overtake, revs increased but took the car a good few seconds to increase speed). It was the first time I’d really put my foot down (lots of traffic Saturday lunchtime). Just spoke to the guy and he said he’ll supply a clutch if I can get someone to fit it (so still looking at £200ish labour) but I don’t think I should be spending any money on a car I’ve had for 4 days. As I understand it I have 30 days under consumer rights act to reject the car?

    Has anyone had similar and got a refund?

    nickjb
    Free Member

    You are right that you have 30 days to reject it but you need a good reason. A wear part being worn might not but enough but if the car was mis-described then you should be OK, eg if they said it was in good working order or drives well and clearly that isn’t the case. If they were suitably vague then you might be on shakier ground especially if a clutch on the way out is normal for a car of that age/condition. Surely they have mechanics available so its worth pushing back to them to get it fitted

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Thanks, ‘Drives well’ was the first line in the advert.

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    mechanicaldope
    Full Member

    See wool’s defender thread. Don’t give it back to them without getting the cash. Drives Well is fairly vague to. I just used that phrase when part exing my car. To be fair, it does kinda drive well. You just have to ignore the smoke.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-second-hand–car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights

    If there’s a problem with a second-hand car soon after you’ve bought it – for example, the car develops a problem you wouldn’t expect for the car’s age and mileage, or it turns out not to be what you’d been led to expect – you may have the right to reject it and get your money back.

    If you bought the car after 01 October 2015, you only have 30 days to reject a second-hand car and get a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act.

    During the first six months after purchase it’s the responsibility of the seller to prove the fault wasn’t there, not for you to prove that it was.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Cougar has it.

    Next time, boot it on the test drive, along with hoofing the brakes on, hill start, italian tune up etc. A test drive is a time to push the car, checking for such things IMO, and many come to light under pressure.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Apprentice from work just drove from ayrshire to Bristol to buy a 10 year old impreza, drove it home, only to discover head gasket is gone. Seller claiming no knowledge, I don’t fancy his chances of getting owt back….

    wzzzz
    Free Member

    Is it otherwise a good car? How much was it – £500 or £5000?

    I’d take the free clutch and have it fitted.

    Worth a try to get them to pay up or pay halves but not worth losing too much sleep over and then having to start the car search again. Chalk it up.

    Next time when test driving try out the clutch…..

    suburbanreuben
    Free Member

    Next time, boot it on the test drive, along with hoofing the brakes on, hill start, italian tune up etc. A test drive is a time to push the car, checking for such things IMO, and many come to light under pressure.

    Yup!
    (but if the owner drives like this from cold…)

    Lifer
    Free Member

    A bit of a weird turn of events. I originally emailed the trader using the email address on their website as I thought it would be good to have stuff in writing. Turns out this email address was for a completely unaffiliated company (a different car trader) who emailed me back to say nowt to do with us. I sent my apologies and said ‘I just followed the link on this website http://www.etc.co.uk’. Then rang the actual people I dealt with and got the offer of paying a couple of hundred quid to fix a car I’ve had for 4 days. Just checked my emails again and the other car place emailed me back to say ‘thanks for letting us know, we’ve been in touch to ask them to stop using our email address’ and then gave me a rather large email outlining the consumer rights in relation to second hand cars and that in their opinion it does apply in this case, which is nice 😀

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Lesson learned re the test drive.

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

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