Bought car with warranty autobox failed blaming me

[Rich44]

Hi any advice desperately needed:

 

Bought a automatic car recently, it came with 1 month/1000 mile warranty for nearly £3000. Immediately after collection became apparent there were a number of problems:

 

airbag light on

Squealing noise when accelerator more than half down

Slight oil leak

Transfer shift does not work (to put in 4wd, 2wd, 4wd low etc)

Stalling when engine hot when pulling up at junctions (like it was staying in gear and trying to drive off)

 

I contacted the garage and we arranged for it to go to his garage on a Tuesday, he then cancelled it saying his guy couldn't look at it until a few days later so rearranged to take it in on Thursday.

 

In the meantime we were driving along on Wednesday and the car made the most horrific noise i've ever heard and the engine died, when trying to restart just made a horrendous banging noise. Recovery guys recovered it and delivered to the garage on the back of a lorry NOT towed.

 

Had a call from the garage today saying his garage are saying the torque converter has failed in such a way that it's from either being driven at high speed in 4wd - 4wd wasn't working anyway and i'm sure the car is capable of doing 50mph in 4wd anyway?

 

The other thing he said was it was damage caused by towing which it categorically has NOT been.

 

I don't see how a little back room countryside garage has the ability to analyse an autobox that has got 154,000 miles on it and say the damage has been caused exclusively in the last 200 miles that i've owned the car which is what they're claiming.

 

Fortunately the car we were selling we still have so have a car to use but the dealer that sold the car wants me to go over to look at the torque converter, I don't see the point as I don't know what one looks like let alone what the damage would look like.

 

I've driven automatics many times before so I know the do's and don'ts, I checked all the oil levels every day so I know they were right. I suppose this is going to need some kind of independant investigation but I really don't have much in the way of money to pay for one. I've explained all the symptoms to the garage this afternoon and he's going to go talk to the mechanics he uses who have made this claim to see what they say to that.

 

If anyone has any advice at all I'd be really really grateful, i'm really ill with 2 neurological conditions and i'm so distressed about all of this now it's making me physically sick.

[Conniff]

Because of the stalling, this tends to lean towards the clutch, but the clutch didn't go within 200 miles.

You say you checked the oil daily, can you remember what the transmission fluid looked like ie colour, was if a nice clear red or dark brown ?

 

There are a few reasons why the clutch may have failed, general wear and tear of needle roller bearings or seals or it could have been a solenoid problem.

 

This is the sellers responsibility.

 

You say 'bought recently', can you put a date on it and a date on when you first noticed the problem and reported it back to the seller ?

[Bazooka Boo]

The warranty was a waste of money IMO.

 

Your statutory rights far exceed anything a warranty ever will.

 

You should be, ''should be'', entitled to a full refund or repair, doubt they can replace this? under SOGA, get in touch with your local trading standards

too, sounds like you're going to need them with this!

[Rich44]

Transmission fluid was bang on in the middle when hot & running & cherry red. Warranty is 1000 mile or 1 month we're inside both.

[Bazooka Boo]

Transmission fluid was bang on in the middle when hot & running & cherry red. Warranty is 1000 mile or 1 month we're inside both.

 

Cherry red good description......

 

Like I say, the warranty is in addition to your statutory rights which give you up to six years, however I fail to see how the garage can refuse

to repair this, I doubt the warranty gave you anything else above and beyond your stat rights anyway. (less for a hole in your pocket and bulging profit pocket for them!)

[Rich44]

It's not a bought warranty it's from the vendor

[Conniff]

Transmission fluid was bang on in the middle when hot & running & cherry red. Warranty is 1000 mile or 1 month we're inside both.

 

It still doesn't really tell a tale. It could have been changed before sale because it was showing signs of advanced wear.

 

The warranty does not legally come into it at all, but can be used. If they should try and drag it out and then say the warranty has expired, it makes not the slightest difference, it is their responsibility either way and you just make your claim under the Sale of Goods Act.

[Rich44]

That's true hadn't discounted anything by that.

[Conniff]

You haven't said so, but are they saying you must pay for the repair ?

 

What was the actual date of purchase ?

[Rich44]

Sorry if it wasn't clear in the first post. Yes their garage is claiming the torque converter has been damaged in such a way that they are adamant that it has been caused by me driving too fast in 4wd or by having the vehicle towed.

 

Green Flag are happily writing me a report to say they didn't tow it they just put it on the back of a lorry and delivered it to the vendors forecourt. I have checked and there is no speed limit on driving in 4WD mode anyway plus of course as above 4WD wasn't working and was on the list of warranty work to be done when the car was booked in. The vendor wants me to drive over there to see the damage which I don't really see the point as they could show me pretty much anything and I wouldn't know what I was looking at and it's quite a journey just to go "have a look"

 

Purchase date was 24th June I let him know about the airbag light was on and the oil leak 2 days later and the other faults became apparent as time progressed

[Conniff]

Irrespective of what they claim, the law says it is up to them to 'prove' that the problem wasn't there at the time of purchase. To do that, they will have to show that it was you and it will take more than a hammy type car salesman to show that.

[Rich44]

Thanks will forward on the letter from GF when I get that along with listing all the faults again and write something along the lines of it categorically wasn't my fault and they need to either repair or refund the total purchase price?

[Conniff]

You might be better rejecting and asking for a full refund. If the TC is in that state, what is the gearbox condition.

 

Check the MoT history - https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history-vehicle to see if the mileage tallies with what's on the clock.

[Rich44]

Yes mileage tallies up ok. GF are emailing me the letter now so I think i'll print that off and write a letter rejecting the car and send it recorded delivery later today. I don't suppose anyone has any pointers on what to put which parts of SOGA to quote etc?

 

Thanks again for all the replies. I'm very ill all the time and stress makes things so much worse as it causes 24-48 hours of non stop vomiting it's been a real relief to get the replies i've had.

[Hammy1962]

Please explain what a 'hammy type car salesman' is?

 

Hammy

[Bazooka Boo]

Please explain what a 'hammy type car salesman' is?

 

A rogue........we all know who they are.

[Rich44]

Well had an email again today saying he wants us to go look at the faulty part with his mechanic who will presumably go on about how it can only be my fault it has broken etc etc. I need to go collect personal stuff anyway plus I put a proper size battery in because the one that was fitted was not up to the job (way too small) so I want to collect that too as I have the other one to give back.

 

I'll listen to what they say then come home & send rejection letter demanding a full refund within 14 days. Presumably if after that I've not got my money back I file via mcol against the company?

 

I'm down on other stuff too like fuel in the car now, oil I've had to put in, aircon recharge etc I'm not worried about those bits tho just want our money back on a car that was faulty within 24 hours of collection (I can prove this as have emails to him telling him)

 

If I can just get the money back I'll be happy, hopefully I can keep my health together to deal with it & attend court if need be.

 

Thanks all

[Conniff]

You seem to have had a lot done in a very short period, when did you get time for all these things ?

[Rich44]

Aircon was 1 hour whilst wife was at hospital, battery took under 10 mins that's all I've had done, had to top up oil, rest is fuel

 

Anyway as I said not bothered about those bits juSt the nearly £3k on purchase price

[Bazooka Boo]

Hopefully they will see sense and realise you're not going to be fobbed off.

 

As for the mechanic showing you the damaged part, unless it's an independent mechanic, then he might as well show you how to baptise a cat,

as it will have the same effect!

[Conniff]

Keep in mind Unfair Trading Regulations which says he must not give false information or withhold information.

 

His mechanic, that's a laugh, he is bound to back him up or get fired.

 

If you haven't already sent a letter of rejection, then take it with you and if you don't want to give it to him in person, then post it in his box and video yourself doing it. Don't forget to include photo copies of any proof like it can be towed or there is no speed restriction in 4wd in your rejection letter.

[Rich44]

Thanks everyone. Vendor is mailing my stuff to me as I said I could only do today and his mech has been away all weekend and isn't back until late this afternoon (bearing in mind I had that one before when I tried to book a day to return car for repairs).

 

Once I have my stuff back I will start properly there's a security fob to the caravan storage place we use so once I have that back i'll be happier.

 

Letter of rejection already written and ready to go, started outlining POC for small claims court if necessary, printed out all the emails to and fro where the day after I collected the vehicle I made him aware of the faults and the emails where I was put off due to mech being away.

 

His mech isn't employed by him it's a normal MOT/repair garage but he puts all of his MOTs and repairs through that garage so vested interest in backing a big customer?!!?

 

Instead of a face to face he's now agreed to put it in writing with photos, that way at least I can show it to one of my local guys to comment on (will upload here too for feedback) but like I said earlier even if it does show damage caused by towing/4wd being used etc there's still no proof that has happened in the past few hundred miles or whether it happened before previous owner got rid, I can't see anything other than a professional analysis by metalurgist/gearbox specialist that'd be able to age the damage and even then I don't think it's going to be easy.

 

Don't think much to his mech because was due to collect and the oil pressure switch failed (common problem apparently) so he changed that then I collected at that point his mech has handed a vehicle back with airbag warning light on AND an oil leak, you'd think a decent garage would say look there's some other faults we've found we'd better sort them out too.

 

Anyway am rambling a bit now, so sorry about that. Will update further once I have anything to add. I will just say that thanks to this site and everyone's comments I feel a LOT less stressed and more confident that it'll get sorted than I did before, thank you again.

[Conniff]

His mech isn't employed by him it's a normal MOT/repair garage but he puts all of his MOTs and repairs through that garage so vested interest in backing a big customer?!!?

 

Not necessarily. Most MoT stations guard their MoT license with great vigour as it is MoT's that bring in most work. Someone who uses a certain station for his test is very likely to return there for servicing and repairs.

A used car lot will want the job done on the cheap and then only the basic that will get it sold.

[Rich44]

I'm not saying they've done anything wrong MOT wise, it did fail it's MOT and those items were put right (well I was TOLD they were) they would probably know they'd get no business from me as i'm not local (it's a little garage in a village about 50 miles away). Appreciate what you're saying but given their relationship and the fact he repaired the car then returned to the dealer knowing there were 2 faults on it and the dealer then gave it to me again knowing (im assuming he noticed oil stains on his forecourt) that says to me either he's not a very good mech or he ignored the faults or he told the dealer and the dealer just told him to not bother.

 

Either way it doesn't look great on them as I have emails showing that the airbag warning light was on the moment I picked up the vehicle and I warned him about the oil leak the very next day.

 

Anyway what i'm getting at is the mech has regular work from his local trader who puts regular money his way so there's the "possibility" that he would be prejudiced against the purchaser in this kind of scenario. Not on MOT work as you've got DVSA you can go to over it and i'm in no way saying it's a dodgy MOT centre just that it's pretty likely he's going to want to keep getting his nice regular repairs and MOTs from his mate up the road. Oh just realised I never got a receipt for the MOT repairs just the MOT certificate, so don't "really" know MOT work was done and should have a copy as MOT repairs would be warrantied by garage.

 

Anyway not that it really matters in the grand scheme because not dealing with the repairer, fortunately.

[Rich44]

Sent the letter and have heard nothing at all from the dealer no denial etc just nothing, he still hasn't sent me this "report" either. Sending LBA now as going away next week, once we get back if the money isn't back I will start at MCOL.