Help!!! Car we bought today is damaged! Will the dealership cover the cost??

[HappyToSeeYou1]

Today, DH picked up our new car. It's 2nd hand and we had been to view it and test driven it. There were a few small scratches which were all repaired for us collecting today.

When we viewed the cars, there were stickers on the headlights (which DH told me were for driving the car abroad). They hadn't been removed yet as the car was yet to be serviced/cleaned.

Anyway, DH has collected the car today and we have just noticed the headlights are cracked beneath where the stickers were. It looks so obvious in the pictures but we didn't notice to begin with as it's harder to see with the sun light shining on them.

Will the dealership sort this for us do you think or will it be our responsibility now that we have paid for it?

I'm gutted and just hoping we won't need to foot the repair bill.

It's a Peugeot garage, if that makes any odds.

Check your paperwork and see if there is any kind of cooling off period.
If not it’s still worth taking in on Monday and complaining. Garages rely on their reputation and wouldn’t want a poor review on social media from you.

Thanks for replying. I'll check the paperwork but I have a feeling there's no cooling off period. I'm upset because whoever removed the stickers must have seen the cracks. They also serviced & MOT'd the car. Surely this would have been noticed 😩

This seems like a big fuss about nothing. What exactly is your concern here?

It’s a minor issue. You can probably get replacement lights on eBay cheap

When we bought a secondhand mondeo (5 years ago), after a week the motor for the windows started playing up. I called them up and they told me it was out of warranty and was a coincidence! I gave them a load of grief over it and they replaced it free of charge.

Since you bought it from a dealer you should have some sort of warranty. As soon as you can, phone them and give them a chance to sort it out. The chances are it will be fine. The reason you get dodgy car dealers pretending to be private sellers is that the customer has more rights when buying from a business.

Probably a silly question but are these definately cracks or could it be residue from where the stickers were?

I agree with Ronsters. From the photos it looks like the marks would clean or polish off.

When you run your fingers along you can feel each and every crack. DH thought they would wipe off when I first spotted them but when he looked closer and felt them, they are definitely cracks.

What is your warranty with them?

Our used car developed a fault with brake/indicator lights 4 weeks after we collected it. DH thought it was the bulbs so replaced them but when the fault remained, the garage found it was an electrical issue inside the headlights. As it was an issue that must have been caused over time and not just within the 4 weeks we had owned the car, the dealership agreed to repair it.

VW dealer btw

i wonder if they have used something to get the stickers off and been careless...maybe heat or chemical??

Def go back and make a fuss.

You should be covered.

I got a second hand car from a ford garage and when I got it home I noticed a 5p size bit of paint missing and a bit of rust, car was only 3 years old. They sorted it out.

Two months later the heated windscreen button stopped working and they fixed that.

I don’t drive so I’m not sure how serious it is. Citizens advice website has a section on it

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

Alright,

Yes the lens are cracked, looks like it could be from heat. It's possible a previous owner retrofitted a HID kit for that to happen.

For the ladies saying 'hurgh durgh just needs new lens and they're cheap" that's incorrect. For years headlight lens have been bonded to the unit, so you will require 2 new headlights which typically go for £100+ each.

Take it back to the dealer as it is a defect that they should remedy as it will eventually lead to an MOT failure when it gets worse and distorts the beam pattern.

The previous owner has probably used the wrong kind of stickers to deflect headlights for driving abroad and never bothered to take them off. (Or just used them for way too long, they're designed for short holidays). The use of the lights over time with the stickers on causes the glass to heat to a level it wouldn't usually.

Aghhh how annoying

Have you worked out roughly how much to replace?

Thanks for the reply. I'm having a bit of a nightmare.

I called to speak to the salesman we bought the car from but he was on leave.

I sent him an email including images of the damage. He then replied saying "I recall the stickers still being on the car when your husband collected it so did this happen when you tried to remove them?". I have replied saying "you must be mistaken. The stickers were removed when my husband collected the car. They were, however, on the car when we viewed it initially, hence us not seeing any damage at that time."

He hasn't got back to me and isn't returning my calls.

We live an hour away from the dealership and I don't drive. Only DH drives and he is completely snowed under at work just now. If I could drive, I'd jump in the car and discuss with the dealership face to face.

I'm feeling very frustrated at the fact it's been implied we are lying about the stickers when in fact the salesman is 😩

Is the car on finance? If so contact your finance company aswell.

Is it a main dealer garage? Or a little family owned thing?

It's a Peugeot garage. We paid for the car by taking out a personal loan, so not on finance unfortunately.

Main dealer garage, I'd contact the sales manager aswell as their head office.

It's tricky as it's not been a distance sale so you can't reject the car. But it's definitely a warranty job.

You could always argue the fact they where most likely took off for MOT so the beam pattern was correct for the UK. Cause if they weren't taken off for MOT you could them you will be in coontact with the DVSA about them passing the car with incorrect beam patterns.

If they're on Twitter or Facebook, post the pics & details on there - companies don't like complaints on social media where prospective customers might see them....

Good point made by LizB62A - they would have had to remove the stickers for the car to undergo the MOT test they gave it. Therefore they must have been aware of any damage to headlight glass?

Check the Peugeot website. If it was an approved used car from a main dealer then they are standard have a 30 day/1,000 mile exchange program and a 12 month warranty.

It is something they should sort, even if they are trying to get out it it.