Second hand car. Where do I stand?

Question

I bought a second hand car under a month ago from a dealer and the gearbox has broken. It's a "R" reg so it's fairly old. I called the dealer that I bought it from and he said there is no warranty on the car. I got in contact with Trading Standards and they told me that the letter of the law is that if the vehicle has a fault within 6 months of buying it then it's up to the dealer to prove that the fault wasn't present when I bought it and that it was "fit for purpose". She also told me though that given the car's age, it ultimately came down to whether or not a car of that age could be expected to have the gearbox fail. To me this seems contradictory because I've had the car less than 6 months (infact only a month) and it's not "fit for purpose" in so much as it's undrivable and surely that is the "purpose" of a car? Very confused. Please help!

Answer 1

Pursue the case - the vehicle is not fit for purpose and the Trading standards are right in that if a fault develops within the first 6 months then the garage/dealership are liable for the cost of repairs. You should put your complaint in writing to the garage, sending the letter by recorded delivery and giving them 14 days to deal with the problem. You should also state in the letter that failure to respond/comply will result in your taking legal action against them.

Answer 2

You understandably feel as if you have been ripped off, but hold on.  Presumably when you bought the car the gear box was working OK.

Think about it, you automatically blame the dealer, but something works until it breaks!  Every car you see at the side of the road with an AA/RAC van in attendance was working fine when it set off on its journey! On an R reg car there are going to be many parts that are well towards the end of their design life and could potenially fail at any time.

I have owned 32 cars, mostly 5-10 year old ones. The 'best' car I ever owned was a 12month old Toyota Carina E.  But at the same time it was far and away the worst, in the 9 months i kept it just about everything that could go wrong did!

With a gear box, so much depends upon the driver. If you play jack the lad dropping the clutch out at 5000rpm you could wreck a brand new gear box in a week if you were unlucky.  If when you bought the car the gear box was fairly quiet and all gears engaged easily and stayed engaged, then the box was, at that time, fit for purpose.

Answer 3

Take the matter up with trading standards and follow there advise through. Worth pursuing and going for it.

Answer 4

whenever you buy a car weather it be brand new or used you should of asked weather it has a warranty with it warranties last anywhere from 3 years to a month and this means that if anything goes wrong within this time you can get it fixed for nowt(although warranties dont cover everything) i personaly dont think u gonna get any joy from the dealer this is their buisness and they no exactly what they can get away with when buying a used car your taking pot luck especially with an older car they may or may not of known it had a problem when they sold it to you but getting a new gearbox is expensive and will probably cost more than the car is worth so i dont think they gonna fix it for you if you decide to get another car a key question you shud ask is "has it got a warranty?" and make sure its wrote on your reciept a lot of car dealers are F***n sharks and dont care once the car is sold but anyway good luck pal

Answer 5

get back in touch with the dealer that u got the car from, tell them what trading standards said to u if they still refuse to do anything about it tell them u r taking the matter back to trading standards and the police, trading standards and the police will then take ur car away and examine it theirselves while waiting for proof from the dealer that this was not a problem at time of sale, if he cant prove it he will be made to buy ur car back from u at the price u paid for it or give u another car. please dont let this just drop u have a good case so chase it up

Answer 6

where  u shud stand?  in a garage maybe?

Answer 7

The phrase 'fit for purpose' is used in the sale of goods act to briefly describe what a purchase should do.

In the case of a car, a major component such as the gearbox is necessary for the vehicle to work.

If you'd spent three months towing a caravan around, the implication is that the extra load & constant use goes beyond normal 'wear & tear'.

A gearbox failing within a month (and it would be helpful to know exactly what happened, did you get any warning, etc.) in normal use is unacceptable.

You should WRITE to the dealer stating that you are rejecting the car & why, the date you bought it, the date it happened, what inconvenience this has caused & what you want them to do about it (refund, repair, replace, etc.) and ask for a response within seven days in writing.

If you get no response or a negative one, go to trading standards. They're pretty good.

Answer 8

At he end of the day, my Unlucky Friend, you will spend more money and waste more time chasing a refund than you will just buying a used gear-box from a breakers yard, fitting it and hoping it keeps working.  An R Reg car is usually only worth a few hundred at the most...  Five hundred quid can put you in a Mercedes 190E which just go on forever, and a grand buys you one with leather, alloys, low miles and full service history.  Don't waste money pursuing this refund, which isn't going to happen...  Dealers get your money and don't care afterwards... Legal action will cost you, will involve a court-date months away, and may well be postponed by a few wweeks, a few times.  Take it on the chin, we all buy a lemon sometime.  I only pay two weeks wages now.  The most a car can owe me is... Two weeks wages!

Answer 9

You have to make some hard decisions. If Trading Standards statement is correct, and it probably is. You have a case. I would give the dealer the opportunity to repair the gearbox without charge having told him what Trading Standards have said. Important - do this by letter and keep a copy. Then if he declines you then have to decide whether to pay another garage to do the repair and claim the cost back from the dealer, or scrap the car. You may have to go through the small claims court to get your money, but often the threat of court action is enough to bring a settlement. It's hassle I know, but there is no other way that comes to mind. A written report from the repairing garage with regard to the cause of the failure would be helpful. On the other hand if the car has done well above average mileage your compensation award could be reduced. But you may argue that that wasn't reflected in the price of the car. Good luck.