Car purchase

[Cakietea]

Can anyone advise me on the following.

Teenage Son purchased a car last May for £3000 and took out finance arranged by the garage. The car had a "full service history" and a 3 month warranty.

Basically my son was ripped off and stupidly did not ask anyone with knowledge of cars to check it out with him. The finance is quite uncompetitive but manageable monthly payments.

Now in February the engine has blown up, on repair the cam belt was exceedingly worn which caused the engine to go, and the clutch went.

This has cost £2700 to repair. The car could not be scrapped due to finance being owed.

Do we stand anywhere in approaching the garage which sold it, as clearly the car did not have a full service history, and ask them to contribute to this,or do we just have to suck it up?

[VivienneWestwoodsKnickers]

Does the service history state that the cam belt had been replaced recently? If not, then I'm afraid I'd expect it to be buyer beware, as they are something which needs to be changed periodically.

Clutches are also consumables. Could your son's driving style have contributed to this? I used to ride the clutch and burned one out in an old car.

How old is the car and the mileage? Make and model?

[OddShoe]

Did he see the service history at all?

Unfortunately cam belts can just go. My sisters car is regularly serviced and hers went last month. She actually had a new cam belt fitted a few years ago, she was just unlucky. A massive pita but it happens.

[prh47bridge]

As he has owned the car for more than 6 months he would have to prove that the faults were present when he bought the car. To prove that he would need to get an engineer's report. The question is whether the cam belt, clutch, etc. were in reasonable condition given the car's age and mileage. If they were not your son can ask the garage to repair or replace the car - they would almost certainly choose to repair it.

[Rainmaker1]

Not a chance!

[Wishiwasmoiradingle2017]

Do some research on voluntary termination of the finance agreement. . If you have paid over half you can surrender the vehicle. . It does not affect your credit rating. There is a specific procedure to go through. Lots of advice on Legal Beagles online.

[specialsubject]

Service history does not necessarily mean anything has been done, and thr cam belt wont have been replaced early. Clutches are consumables.

Finance on a £3000 car was not smart, and I speak as one who drives a car that cost half that.

Sorry. Lessons to learn.

[user1489601978]

If the car is on finance and the dealership are not prepared to look at it, contact the finance company.

I work for a car finance company and they will have complaint procedures in place with regards to faulty vehicles and will sometimes contribute to the cost of repairs if any needed. In some cases I've seen every monthly repayment refunded and the car sent back to the dealership.

Hope this helps

[Icequeen01]

I feel for your DS but doubt you would get any where legally. My teenage DS recently bought himself an oldish second hand car but it was bought privately for around the same amount as your DS paid. We had the service history but couldn't see anywhere that the cam belt had been changed so we paid out the £400 and got it done straightaway.

I really do feel for your DS as I know how we would feel if our DS was ripped off like that. Sadly it sounds as though it's going to be one of life's hard lessons.