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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To try and fight for a refund for my car? Or am I as unreasonable as the dealer says I am?

90 replies

OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:22

Got a skoda with 6 months 'warranty'. I say 'warranty' because he wrote in his hand writing '6 months warranty' and I wonder if its worth nothing.

As soon as I get it, there are faults. Major problems with the central locking and lights coming up on the dash.

They (the car dealer and his tosser mechanic) tell me non stop that the locking system is 'just VW and normal' and the light coming on is nothing to worry about ans switch it off.

Ive also had problems with the seat belt and hand break.

I finally persuaded them to look for a fault in the door with the central locking, and by jove they found the fault. Like I kept saying, it WAS a fault and not normal.

Today it went in again with the light on, I begged them to not just switch it off. My 'warranty' runs out in 6 weeks. The light takes about 6 weeks until it comes on again.

So now Ive been given a choice, the dealer says he will swap the car for another. But in the same breath says all his cars have lights coming up on them, and they are all fine. And he'll have no problem selling my car with the light coming on. Hmm

I could take it to a Skoda dealer, but cant do so untilthe light comes on again by which time my warranty has gone.

I want a refund. He told me in a threatening tone that I 'dont want to do that. You will be fighting me for 18 months.'

Will I? Is the warranty bs?

Have I just bought 2.1k of faulty crap?

What do I do?

I found this scroll to the bottom for the bit about warranty

OP posts:
ballinacup · 23/09/2013 16:26

I don't know the ins and outs as it's not my area of expertise, but when my mum was sold a dodgy car, she was advised by Trading Standards to take it to a reputable garage and have them write up a list of every fault and approximate cost to repair.

She was then told to park it up, and not touch it again and to take the dealer to small claims court for the cost of repairing the various faults. It meant she couldn't use the car for six months, so she had to buy a £500 car in the interim. The cost of this went onto her claim as well. She won, and was awarded the full cost of the repairs and the cost of the cheapie runabout as well.

DuckworthLewis · 23/09/2013 16:31

Have a read here

If you need any further help, contact the CAB and they will write the letters for you - its really a lot less stressful than taking it on yourself.

Also, don't pay too much attention to this '6 month warranty' nonsense - this is just what the salesman has said and it has no standing in law at all. You have statutory rights which the salesman can't just magic away with a handwritten scrawl just because they are a bit inconvenient for him.

Good luck!

Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:32

Bloody hell, I dont have any money at all to buy a banger and dont know if I could go 6 months without a car.

OP posts:
Amateurish · 23/09/2013 16:35

What's the light? Is it the "check engine light"? If so, it is a problem and the seller should sort it out. If they don't sort it, you should get a refund. Don't let them fob you off by saying "they all do that".

NeverGetTheBestOfMe · 23/09/2013 16:35

Yes I think you should take him on otherwise he will continue to get away with this sort of thing time after time.

I bought a second hand car (a VW) once, had it one month and broke down 100 miles from home and had to be towed home. I took it back to the dealer who took it in to be "fixed" (they said when they sold it they would fixed it up to a certain amount) then after 6 weeks of hearing nothing my dp went in and the dealer told him a load of old tosh about things that had gone wrong on it which would cost way over the amount they agreed to fix it under. So my dp took the car and said he would get it fixed elsewhere (my dp had a mechanic mate) so he took it to his mate who said the dealer had made things wrong with car so he could "fix" them and charge us over what the warranty said would pay up to.

So don't let them get away with it. Go to CAB for advice if you are unsure.

Damnautocorrect · 23/09/2013 16:38

I second, what's the light? If they clear the fault, it must be logging a fault code. Ask what the fault code was. Unfortunately as they cleared it, it won't be in the ecu. Ask the dealer to extend the warranty.

littlemisswise · 23/09/2013 16:40

That link says "the vehicle should be fit for use on the road, in a condition which reflects it's age and price and is reliable", so if you took them to court they could argue that £2.1k is not a lot to spend on a car and at that price (and I guess it is quite old) age things are going to start going wrong.

We had a very new car have a persistent fault. Trading Standards told us to put everything in writing when dealing with the garage, and we had to give them 4 or 5 opportunities to fix it. I think TS used some phrase like "reasonable opportunity" (might be wrong). They couldn't fix it, and we did get a new car out of them but it took around 7 or 8 months.

Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:40

The light can mean several things, its Electric Engine Management, they gave me the code though and it
means this

OP posts:
Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:41

littlemiss so its ok to buy a car with plentiful faults from the second you own it? Id beg to differ.

OP posts:
DameDeepRedBetty · 23/09/2013 16:44

yanbu and best of luck!

PractialJoke · 23/09/2013 16:44

It sounds like a rotten situation to be in but if you buy a car for 2100 isn't it usual to expect that it won't be perfect. Obviously needs to go and be roadworthy but it's presumably quite a few years odd so niggles with things like central locking are to be expected, aren't they?

Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:49

2.1k is a hell of a lot of money to me!!

My first car was £900 and had no faults when I bought it. It got some niggles later but not for over a year.

I bought that car with all these faults.

OP posts:
littlemisswise · 23/09/2013 16:50

No it's not, but if you are going to pull bits out of that link then you can bet your last 10p then so will they.

You haven't bought a new car you've bought quite an old one and old ones do develop faults. That's a fact of life.

Why have you not asked for a refund sooner?

ballinacup · 23/09/2013 16:53

littlemiss, I don't think £2.1k is quite 'banger hobbling through it's death throes' money. DP's friend just bought a 56 plate Vectra with 60k miles on the clock for not much more than that, hardly an old car! I certainly would expect plenty of miles left in the car for that sort of price.

PractialJoke · 23/09/2013 16:56

£2100 is a lot money to me - doesnt mean i could buy a decent car with it. Fwiw I've recently sold a car with similar and more faults to a dealer for £1800. He was aware of the faults and thought it a good price for what he was buying, presumably because there was a profit in it for him.

The car hasn't let you down and seems like a reasonable buy for the money imo

Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:57

duckworth I missed your post, sorry. I will look at that link, thank you.

And also going back to CAB tomorrow. I tried this morning but they were too busy to see me.

OP posts:
Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 16:58

It chugs and chokes sometimes, probably should have mentioned that above.

Id genuinely forgotten that it does that though. Blush

OP posts:
littlemisswise · 23/09/2013 17:03

ballinacup we got rid of an 06 plate car because it was starting to get niggly faults. It had many more miles in it, but that is the age IME that that is the age on a car, like a Vauxhall(which it was) that the central locking, electric windows etc will start playing up.

£2k is a lot of money, but it doesn't mean that you can buy a decent car with it, like PracticalJoker says.

amicissimma · 23/09/2013 17:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Methe · 23/09/2013 17:04

Is it an old shape (pre 07 I think) skoda fabia?

If it is they are phone to problems with the central locking and also the electric windows. I had one for a year and I had to rev it at traffic lights otherwise the lights dimmed and I had the engine management light on for a year and the power steering light used to come on intermittently.

I did quite a lot of research when I had mine and these are known problems. Mine was x reg though and only cost £600. it sounds as if yours is newer and for 2k I'd not be happy with lights coming on. Take it back and swap it.

Methe · 23/09/2013 17:07

Mine chugged too. Garage said it was something to do with a valve in the exhaust and what was amusing the EM light.

Damnautocorrect · 23/09/2013 17:22

Ahh air flow sensors very common on VAG's.
Have you a friendly mechanic you could get to look at it? Get a run down on exactly what's wrong then you know if your talking £50 or £500. £50 and your happy with the car, I'd pay it and be done.
But no, there's something wrong if its coming on and keeps coming on.

petalsandstars · 23/09/2013 17:25

We had similar OP from what I remember I think DH contacted Vosa and we were going to go down the county court route due to sale of goods act and it not being fit for purpose. Garage caved and fixed the problem in the end.

Original poster
OHforDUCKScake · 23/09/2013 17:28

ExDP just went to the dealer. The dealer fed him with fresh BS, stuff he never told me, said something about it needed a part that would be £1100. Shock

Said he'd go twos on it. Shock

Is he fucking kidding me?

The thing is, that doesnt match up with what the fault code says.

So we are starting with fixing the MAF sensor ourselves, go to CAB as well and consider taking it to the Skoda dealer if the light comes up again to get proper diagnoses.

OP posts:
BoneyBackJefferson · 23/09/2013 19:06

you can get a code reader fairly cheaply. they are just plug and play.
here

If there is a fault code it maybe that there is more than one fault.

An MAF can be anywhere from £20 to £200 Depending on the model and it may not be the fault.