That's a good idea - would this stand up in court?

Thanks for this - I am passed that stage as I have already sent a rejection letter. I am at the stage that I am about to send a letter before action and give them 14 days to reply. The advice I need now is how to return the car when they wont speak to me? Am I right to not leave it with them unles they sign for it?

Update - I have received a letter from lawgisitics regarding the dispute. They are asking me to return the car so that they can fix the headlight and ball joint. Should I arrange to return it? I do not want them to fix it as I have already rejected the car and had it inspected by their mechanic who has told me that the chassis of the car is bent. I would like to return it as I cannot raise a chargeback through the visa rules until I have done so. I have asked the garage to collect the car, but they have not acknowledged this request. If I do return it I presumably need to get them to sign for receipt of the car. Could anyone advise me on the best action to take next?

My husband is not happy for me to let this information go public yet. Could I private message you?

I am concerned to name the garage yet. I will in the future if nothing is done. Small claims is up to 5000 but the car was 5500 and we have spent over 200 so far on getting it checked out and MOT'd

You can't seem to speak to trading standards directly. Its consumer direct who pass on the details. Will trading standards deal with us directly or contact us if they think we have a case?

Thanks for this. Trading Standards have been informed but I am not sure what they will do for me personally. This guy has been in the motor trade for years how is he still getting away with this? We need a car but if we buy another one we will have two cars taxed and insured and cannot afford this. It has completely turned our lives upside down.

We have bought an Audi A3 diesel about three weeks ago. After we had the car about a week my we noticed that one of the wings looked a slightly different colour and took it to a body repair shop for advice. On further inspection the mechanic said 'nothing on this car is straight' he said that 'diy' bolts had been used to fit the panels on the wing and that spacers up to 3/4 inch had been used to try to achieve alignment. He said that some of the fixings were missing and that the bonnet had been fully adjusted to try and make it fit. This obviously rung alarm bells and so we went straight back to the dealer who had advertised the car on autrader as in 'excellent condition' The dealer said to take it to their mechanic so he could check this out as he could not take our word for it. We took it to his mechanic and he said to us that part of the chasis was bent and had not been straightened out before the panels had been replaced. He said the car is not right and if I were you I would ask for your money back! We went back to the dealer and owner of the garage armed with this information. We had a somewhat lively response from him including swearing, shouting and at one point when we mentioned our rights as a consumer to leave. We said we wanted a refund but his response was 'it's not going to happen.' He said he would get us another car and would start looking on line that day. We then said if he could find us a car that we were happy with that would be fine, but we would have to let our mechanic check it out before we accepted the car. This made him shout and get angry and say 'I will check the car. I am not going to spend another 50000 and then you don't want that, then I will be ten grand down.' As you can imagine we were not impressed with the customer service that this person offered. He then said that he would not get another car until he had got his money back for our car and when he saw the dealer that had sold it to him, that he is going to smash him! We left the garage and went home to decide what action to take next. We then telephone a few days later and spoke with the original salesman who had sold us the car. He said could he call us back in an hour. He didn't call back in an hour and when we called back initially there was no answer that was until we withheld our number and then he answered straight away. They have never contacted us or called us back when asked to. We then took the car to our own garage for an inspection and they did a written report of their findings. When we went to pick the car up they said we are most worried about the engine problem. The car is running on three cylinders when idling and is misfiring and there was a turbo oil feed leek . The diagnostic was inconclusive and would require a full strip down to investigate further. There was a insecurely fitted radiator and air conditioning sensor. The car would fail an MOT as the headlight was wedged between two panels and was broken at the back and fitted on with bolts so could not be adjusted unless the whole corner of the car was straightened. The headlight is facing the wrong way so would be dangerous as it would blind oncoming traffic. It would also fail on a worn ball joint. This is the car that when we bought had done 100 miles since the MOT and 400 miles at this inspection. We were told by the our garage that we were covered to drive it home but that once we got it home not to drive it anymore as it is unroadworthy. We then called the garage with this information and they said we will find you another car and will start looking for one next week. We reminded them that the owner had said that we could not have a replacement car until he got his money back for our one and that we would not be able to get it checked by our mechanic so this was not satisfactory. We said we wanted our money back and that we had reported them to consumer direct who will pass the information on to trading standards and at that point they said they would only deal with us in writing through their solicitors and put the phone down. We have since had a further inspection of the car and a failed MOT certificate. We now have two written reports detailing all the problems with the car and a failed MOT certificate. We have contacted VOSA regarding the MOT but as it is more than a month ago they said they could not help. But our mechanic said there is no way that car could have passed an MOT three months ago. We are at the stage where we have written and rejected the car and asked them to come and collect it. I have found this forum very helpful. We are so frustrated as we have no car and have to deal with people who clearly have no care for peoples safety or anything else. We have tried to talk to the bank about a chargeback as we paid for part of it via debit card. They said unless we return the car they cannot take it on as we still have the goods. We have asked them to collect it but cannot return it ourselves as we would be breaking the law to drive it. I will check this with visa as I am sure this can't be right. We will take this through the courts if necessary but we have a car we can't use and our money tied up until this is sorted. GRRRRRRRRR! very angry. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks