Stapes Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Wonder if someone can advise. Someone smashed into my car around Christmas and I needed a new one quickly, so rather than buy from a big dealer (usually Arnold Clark) I went to a smaller affair and bought a really cheap runaround. If anything went wrong in the first month I was covered. I had a small issue which they fixed. Last week I thought there was an issue with the brakes, so my wife took it to our local garage for me. She was told that we'd been had, and that the car had been cobbled together. So he did a fix for us (it wasn't the brakes) but when I was driving it today it felt like I was driving on oil, pulling all over the road, making a lot of noise, and a wee bit smoke coming from the engine. My question is - do I have any recourse? They sold me a vehicle that, to me, appears to be a death trap. The money isn't an issue, but I am raging at the risk they've put us at by selling a clearly dodgy motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euan2020 Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 my opinion - which would need to be investigated - is not fit for purpose - so i think you would have recourse - I don't know if the 6 months timeline has any impact - I'm thinking not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euan2020 Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 (edited) http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-second-hand-car-i-bought-has-broken-down-what-can-i-do https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/ (although England) Even if private sale, you have recourse, if you have a witness and they lied to you ie "Never been in an accident" guess it depends the age and mileage - ie if 15 years old and 200,000 miles then might have less scope of complaint Be interesting who issued the MOT, and if you go back to them 1st - Re MOT the car, and if they pull out major failures ask them why they issue MOT certificate previously .................... Edited July 13, 2016 by euan2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Bongo Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/your-rights-if-something-is-wrong-with-your-car http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-second-hand--car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 If you paid cash up front you would have to prove the car was unfit when you drove it away. You can go through trading standards/ sale of goods act but it's likely to be a long drawn out process. If it's on finance you can hold the finance company jointly accountable for it and they can be made to pay for repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 Cheers all. Will check links etc. It's a 07 plate with around 48,000 on clock when I got it. The garage I got it at did the MOT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Col Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 you seemed to be happy with it for 6 months? Plus you've taken it to another garage who you admit has done work on it. I doubt the original garage will entertain any complaint now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stapes Posted July 15, 2016 Author Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, Big Col said: you seemed to be happy with it for 6 months? Plus you've taken it to another garage who you admit has done work on it. I doubt the original garage will entertain any complaint now. It did appear to be ok for six months, but things started to go wrong after that. The garage I took it to only replaced minor bits and pieces (a £30 job) but told my wife that the car had basically been put together with parts from other cars, and that it would require a major job to fix. They did the MOT in-house at then original garage so they've given an MOT to a car that isn't fit for purpse, indeed, I would argue, is dangerous. Tbh, I'm not goin for cash back, but I'm more worried about what they're selling other folk and am considering speaking to Trading Standards. Anyway, went and bought old reliable today - Nissan Micra (from a reputable dealer). Cannae go wrong with them as a run around. Edited July 15, 2016 by Stapes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alibi Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 You can actually make a perfectly good car using parts taken from other cars - that's how scrapyards work - so you would need to be more specific about what is actually wrong with the car. Is it a cut and shut? If the car was OK for 6 months and then after someone did some work on it, it was skiteing all over the place, are you sure you got your own car back? What on earth did they do to it to make it start burning oil, smoking, pulling to the side and making a lot of noise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eisegerwind Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Don't waste your life getting into a argument about a dodgy car. Punt it. Best move is, 1. Buy a Nissan. 1=1. Buy Toyota. See you've done, 1 good move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eisegerwind Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Oh, there is no such thing as a 'reputable dealer'. Not to be confused with 'reputable mechanic' of which there are some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 23 hours ago, Eisegerwind said: Don't waste your life getting into a argument about a dodgy car. Punt it. Best move is, 1. Buy a Nissan. 1=1. Buy Toyota. See you've done, 1 good move. Toyota's are brutal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 On 15/07/2016 at 10:47 PM, Stapes said: It did appear to be ok for six months, but things started to go wrong after that. The garage I took it to only replaced minor bits and pieces (a £30 job) but told my wife that the car had basically been put together with parts from other cars, and that it would require a major job to fix. They did the MOT in-house at then original garage so they've given an MOT to a car that isn't fit for purpse, indeed, I would argue, is dangerous. Tbh, I'm not goin for cash back, but I'm more worried about what they're selling other folk and am considering speaking to Trading Standards. Anyway, went and bought old reliable today - Nissan Micra (from a reputable dealer). Cannae go wrong with them as a run around. You do realise that most of the mechanical stuff isn't covered by the MOT? Sounds like somebody in the past has done some repairs using used or recondition parts. Which is perfectly acceptable and is done all the time. Did the 2nd garage tell you which parts were from other cars? Based on the limited information you have given us so far I would suspect that it could be 2nd garage who are at it. It's not Kwik Fit, is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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