Major hastle with a second hand car

[Thankyou1973]

Hi all, this is a long story but I am so frustrated that im not sleeeping too good and this has been going on just shy of 6 months. Any help or advice gratefully received.

 

Purchased a used BMW at the end of February from a second hand dealer, not a BMW dealer though. Car was £10,500 which was over my budget but my dream car so borrowed a bit and got it. Its 2005 and was described as superb condition with comprehensive warranty.

 

Got a train to get it and drove it the 300 miles home and all was good but 3-4 days after an error message came on the dash with a suspension warning. i phoned the dealer and he said dont worry it just needs resetting.

 

Phoned a local independent who had a look and reset it and was very helpful and all was ok for a few days until the dreaded light came on.

 

Phoned the dealer again and he said was probably the compressor and that there was one on ebay for £100 and was worth a try so I should buy it and if it fixed it he would refund the money if it didnt he would have it as a spare and give me the money anyway. I also chased up the warranty paperwork which had not arrived.

 

Got the compressor and the independent fitted it and all was well for a few days. (at this point I had him look at an anoying squeak that was there and the rear bushes were pulled apart and deemed dangerous even though it had 12months MOT and the dealer paid for this to be rectified)

 

The warning light came back on again and I contacted the dealer again. He said to book it into the main dealer as they would diagnose it straight away. I contacted the main dealer and explained what had happened and who had looked at it and they said there was no point in using them as the independant used to work there and was very experienced and also had all the same diagnostics. I relayed this to the dealer and was told to hang on to claim on the warranty as there was a 30 day no claim period.

 

Waranty arrived and I read through it it has a £500 individual claim limit and doesnt cover the suspension which is what the error is with. Contacted dealer and he said dont worry he would sort it. Book it in and he would pay. So to miss out loads of unneccesary bits took it to the dealer loads of times and he tried many parts and didnt charge me for any that didnt fix it and didnt charge me for much labour.

 

Dealer was kept informed and towards the end of the second month said he would collect the car and refund the money. I said that as I had travelled up to get the car and had a tracker fitted I would rather try once more to fix it. Dealer said he would give me £11,000 back £10,500 spent on car and £500 for tracker etc. He also told me to tell the independent to lie on the warranty claim and claim loads of small bits to make up any parts which I told him I wouldnt ask as he had saved so much money on the job and it was not fair to ask that of him and not right.

 

Eventually a part was put on that made the light stay off over 5 days when usually it came on after about 3. I phoned the dealer and said I had paid for the part and it was approx £460, I was told he is a business and cant keep spending money out and he would go halves, I said not good enough and he said tough. I told him I need time to think and I would phone in a few days.

 

Eventually I though OK if its fixed keep it get the major bill refunded, loose the £100 for ebay part and enjoy the car. I called him back and asked if he had thought any further about refunding the repair cost and he said half or nothing. I then told him if he did not pay it I would claim it of my credit card (put £1000 on credit card) he swore at me and told me if he ever sees me I shoudl cross the road and that he would pay on receiving a letter stating I except any further faults with the car. I didnt want to do this so said I would write asking for a contribution of £300 towards the part to which he replied fine. i though it better to loose £130 than sign something I didnt want to so sent the letter and waited for the cheque which never turned up

 

a week or so after this the error message came back anyway so I contacted the dealer and said I had had enough it was messing up my head and I was having sleepless nights so forget the cheque, come and pick it up and give me the £11000 he had promised. I was told he would check his book for the guide price, I did say why would you do that, knowing full well what was coming. He then said he would give me £8000 as that was the trade in price, I told him I didnt want to trade it in I wanted the refund he had promised he said he couldnt I said your taking the p**s and he said I will terminate the call for being abusive.

 

So I got of the phone and sent him a recorded letter saying that he had 7 days to reply and I was rejecting the vehicle under sale of goods act, this wasnt answered but after 8 days a £300 cheque came in the post with the date written as 2 weeks before but no response to the rejection letter. I kept the post marked envelope and cheque and went to see a solicitor.

 

Solicitor wrote giving him 28days, he didnt reply so solicitor phoned and he was away for 2 weeks so he was given an extension, finally a letter came stating that he has been trying to fix it and been there every step of the way and I was delighted getting a car advertised at £12995 for £10500 but I have a copy of the ad for £11000. Upshot is that the dealer wanted to take it away 300 miles and book it into a main dealer which I didnt want him doing so I have it booked in locally for Tuesday as the solicitor said we have to give him a chance.

 

My main worry now is if its not fixed which Im pretty sure it wont be my solicitor has sent me a letter with terms and conditions etc and it has scared the life out of me saying if I loose I will have to pay his costs and even if I win I might still have to pay my costs, now I really cant sleep. what do you guys reckon?

 

Points to note are my gf noticed the dealer when he filled in the sales invoice that he slid the top copy over and put the value on his copy as £8000 before sliding it back before giving it me to sign.

 

Also have a receipt from 3 months before I got the car for the dealer I got it off having suspension parts replaced on the car. He had the car as a personal car for about a year before I got it and my suspicion is he got it cheap with the fauly used it then got it repaired to try and sell but light came on so he had it reset and sold it to me.

 

HELP!!

[dx100uk]

http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome/forcustomers

 

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer1_cars_and_other_vehicles_e/cars_buying_a_secondhand_car_e.htm

 

nothing to do with any warranty!

 

dx

[Thankyou1973]

Its the solicitor saying I probably wont get all my costs back even if I win and I may loose etc thats worrying me sick, just wanted some experienced opinions to try and make the right decision

 

Thanks for your reply

[irenelola]

hi, this sounds like my old bmw x5 i managed after 8 months to get the finance company to take it back trading standards was also involved , i wish you the best of luck getting back your money, i got all my money back plus costs this was refunded by the finance company it is very stressful and upsetting . best of luck its not as easy as everyone thinks but this car was that bad and i had lots of evidence that the garage could not argue . again i hope you get a resolution soon

[Thankyou1973]

Just an update:

 

As requested by the dealer I booked it into the local Main dealer who have diagnosed it and said it needs a new control unit with a quote for £920. This is one of the parts teh independent has replaced already but the warning came back on so he removed it so not to charge me for it. My solicitor is now saying if I dont let him take the car away and try and fix it if it did go to court he would say I didnt let him try. I have tried for 3 moths to fix it all as per his instructions already which seems so unfair.

 

Is there a number for trading standards as oposed to consumer direct?

 

Thanks again

[irenelola]

hi, it would have been better to let him try and fix it first , i know it was a long way from where you live but now other garages have touched your car they could blame them for any faults regardless. if he told you to take it to another garage and he would pay for costs. go to trading standards near you and take everything with you eg. proof of ebay purchase all reciepts proof of what you paid for the car tell them about the invoice discrepency, get copys of phone bills l to prove you have tried to resolve issue do not keep driving the car you are rejecting it, get detailed report on car and take photos if you are giving them the chance to fix it , get everything together and go to trading standards hope this helps.

[Thankyou1973]

He told me to get it fixed down here since that first instance and he has admitted that the fault is there and is not blaming anyone else he just wont do anything about it and I do not trust him taking my car away, wouldnt put it ast him saying he refunded me in cash and keeping the car. I would love to go to trading standards but dont know how to contact them. I have no choice but to drive it as I am self employed and need transport to work and have all my money tied up in this car and teh repairs so far!

[irenelola]

i dont know where u live to give you a number google trading standards and put your area in it will come up, i no its hard not to drive your car but the more mileage you put on it the more it looks like you are quite happy to drive it , in my situation i leased a car then bought a cheap runaround , do you just want it to be fixed? if so bite the bullet and do this then add all your costs up and send them the bill, if you have house insurance you can use their legal protection insurance service free and they will get you a lawyer and it wont cost you anything

[Thankyou1973]

Ok I treid calling trading standards but they cant take a case direct it has to be refered by consumer direct or who ever it is now and I did log teh case with them months ago before I sent my first letter but havent been intouch since as they are not much better than a bit of research on the internet. I have just called them and they said they cant refer it to trading standards as its not something they are interested in. This is beyond belief as what exactly are tehy interested in?

[irenelola]

hi, ask to speak to an enforcement officer about the wrong interpretation of the ad, and about the invoice that is different to yours they have the power to go into the garage and check all paperwork tell the enforcement officer everything that has happened, the dealer has to prove the car was fit for purpose for up to six months then after that timescale it is up to you maybe he is stalling things until the 6mnths has passed i dont know but anything is possible. the garage previously offered you a refund that is more than most people get, i know you are stressed and angry but i would follow what the garage has asked you to do put it into the main dealer i know tech said the part they have diagnosed as the problem is not because you have already tried it so put into writing that you are willing to give them one last chance to resolve problem and if the car still has the fault after it has been fixed by their recommended garage then they should take the car back and give you a full refund . maybe others can help you more , the dealer can not keep your car that is theft try and get a courtesy car from them whilst you are waiting for yours to be fixed and return it when you get yours back.these things take alot of time and money ,stress and anger sometimes clouds better judgement . good luck