Bought a Car and can't get my money back!

[MissCrowley]

I bought a second hand car (2010 model) from a dealership at the beginning of October and I'm still within my 30 days.
There's an issue with the power steering and it's tripping out the computer. There needs to be significant repairs carried out.
The car came with these issues. I wasn't made aware of them until I'd paid. I then turned the car engine on and the EPS light came on.
I was told to just drive the car home and see how it goes because it may just go off by itself and be OK.
Bearing in mind I live a good 100 miles away from the dealer I bought it from.

I took it to my local garage who diagnosed it with the above and quoted around £1k to fix it. The cars only worth around 2k if that.
So I doubt they will carry out that amount of work.

I'm feeling pretty anxious, as nobody will talk to me about this issue. I've been nothing but polite on the phone and I've been trying for two days to speak to a manager but I'm getting constantly fobbed off.
I acted quickly and have been in touch with CAB and got some advice off them.
I've sent an email and a recorded delivery letter stating I'm entitled to a full refund etc.

I suppose I'm on a waiting game now to see if they'll respond.
I've since been on trust pilot and it's made me feel sick to be honest. There's so many 1 star reviews and I feel so stupid not checking this out before purchasing.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you get your money back or just end up having to swallow the cost?
I'm in a position where I'm paying for a car (tax and insurance) which I can't drive because it's dangerous for me to do so. The MOT is also up in November and I don't know what to do.

Yes, l was in a similar situation.

Mine was brand new, and stopped working,

I took them to the small claims court and won. It took 9 months, and l had to buy another car. They had to give me another new car and compensation.

They were right fuckers. I’m still proud of myself now!

How did you pay for it? You may have recourse via your bank or finance provider

The law is absolutely on your side as you’re aware, actually enforcing that is another matter. You can take them to court and get a CCJ against them to find they liquidate the company and set up a new one. This happens all the time and bailiffs get nowhere. Hopefully they’re not as shitty as they seem but there are plenty of small car traders out there who just rip people off.

Can you report them to the office of fair trading at their L.A.?

Thank you for your replies.
I'm afraid this one doesn't look to be very reputable from the amount of complaints on trust pilot. I feel so stupid not checking these things first.

Im pleased to hear you got your money back though.
We're lucky that we do have another vehicle. But it's just so frustrating.
Also the MOT runs out in November, I'm not supposed to be driving it so do I still need to get it MOT'd? Do I still pay road tax. I've paid a years insurance on it already.
I feel like such a fucking idiot.

I haven't looked into that @covilha but I certainly will do tomorrow.

I paid via bank transfer so I'll ring the bank as well and see what happens

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow I'm so glad you got your money back! You're right to feel proud of yourself, I hope my situation goes as well as yours.

I had paid some of the payment via credit card to protect myself and got all of my money back through them.
The dealers were awful and dealing with them was stressful so I left it all to my credit card company.
Any purchase over a hundred pounds you should at least part pay on your credit card to protect yourself in this way.
And yes, you are fully within your rights to reject the vehicle and the burden of proof is on them to prove the fault was not there within the first 6 months of your purchase.
Good luck it's an absolute nightmare when something like this happens and I sympathize. I did check out reviews etc but they were all positive.
It was only after it happened to me other people started posting similar experiences so don't beat yourself up too much but use the experience to be more cautious next time.

Thanks @longtimelurkerfirsttimeposter I'll definitely be more aware next time.
I don't have a credit card as I'm a bit shit at controlling myself unfortunately (ADHD thing) and end up in lots of debt.

I rang the DVLA this morning as I wanted to SORN my vehicle, unfortunately I don't have a drive so couldn't do it. However I've been informed that my MOT doesn't run out until Nov 1st next year so at least I don't need to worry about that!