Used car purchase, v stressful situation

[MiMiChuna]

Super stressed. I need help in the form of advice or experience in best way to takie this forward ... possibly as a formal complaint now rather than trying to resolve informally...?

Bought a used car from a main dealer.

Issue 1. Collection. At 1st viewing on a Sat (garage not local, had to travel) was told car could be ready by following Fri. Paid deposit on the Mon. Was now told car be ready Weds the following wk. OK. However when the week progressed this moved to Thursday (nrly a wk later than I'd originally been told) but fine. After the longer wait i could see the MOT was still not done the afternoon before collection. Rang dealer to query, got told it'd be ready. Morning of collection, it's still showing no MOT. Rang dealer, told in a tone almost making light of it that 'someone' had messed up & it wouldn't be ready until the following day. Note that had I not queried it I'd have travelled to collect for nothing. I'd even alerted them to the issue the previous day but they'd dismissed my query rather than check. I had to rearrange the insurance, & my plans for the Fri completely due to their faults. No apology beyond a flippant comment type has been made.

1. Missing documents. The car has been handed over without a car manual. I noticed before leaving & asked for it but was told they couldn't get one right then. I had also asked for paperwork confirming all the prep work the car had had done, ie full service, dealer multi point check, new brakes, something with the aircon. It wasn't provided.

1. Agreed work not completed. The car had a number of scratches I was concerned about. I was assured they'd be easy to sort & wouldn't be noticeable once I bought. Unfortunately it was pouring when I collected so impossible to check this but the salesman raised this himself saying it'd been done. When it dried, I could see by looking back on photos I'd taken, no change at all. He's since Saif to me it was probably forgotten due to the issues with the MOT not being booked in properly & them having to squeeze in my car to get ready a day late.

1. Misled about features. I was told the car had an alarm. The salesman said this several times & I queried it cos of declaring it for insurance quotes, he said it had a Thatcham alarm & immobiliser. I asked him to demo the alarm operation at pick up. He tried but it didn't go off, he said it was cos it takes 15 mins to set. I thought that was a bit odd but I've never had an alarm before so accepted his expert knowledge in the circumstances. I've since looked into it & found out it has NO alarm & I was blatantly lied to, missold a car without a significant feature.

I've now had the car 4 days. I was going to return to let them sort the scratches & collect a manual, rang to discuss & was told to drop in rather than book in as it'd only take 15-20 min to do. Now on the back of everything else this is indicating to me its not being taken seriously & I'm being fobbed off. Also the petrol & time cost to return to fix something they didn't do falls to me. And the new knowledge gleamed late yest about the alarm has tipped the whole experience into complaint territory I feel. They've been incompetent & I'm paying for it.

Has anyone had experience handling a complaint like this? If it was clothing etc you could return it. I feel stuck with this car, and this has been such a horrible experience I already feel negative about my new car which has cost me most of my savings. I'm so upset.

I paid about 60% on a credit card. Not sure in section 75 can help. The information about the alarm was given multiple times, but verbally.

Please help me handle this to get the best outcome, I could cry at the money spent here to be treated like this & being taken advantage of. What's my best course of action / approach? What do I need to make sure I do?

Some cars keep all their paperwork and manual digitally now. I haven't have any paperwork from VW for a few years, it's all held on their internal system.

@MiMiChuna Ours was also verbal - the door of our car was leaking and he said ‘yeah yeah we’ll fix it’ and then they didn’t. I kept getting in touch saying the footwell was filling with water and they were like ‘oh that’s sad for you isn’t it’. They weren’t doing anything about it, so I wrote to the regional manager, explained that I’d had verbal assurances that had clearly not been acted upon, said I was quite happy to take them to court over it and then all of a sudden I had a courtesy car, they took mine in for repair and fixed it.

I think you're being a bit precious. The car is 6 years old, not new so will have little scratches on it. It won't feel new because it isnt. I'd drive it for a bit, in sure it'll soon start to feel like your car.

@MiMiChuna I sent the dealer a letter via email with a read receipt before I drove back there. If you'd like a copy, DM me. I paid with debit card, but still got full refund as I was within 14 days.

It was a Mercedes B-Class I returned. Ended up buying a Seat Leon ST elsewhere which is even nicer than the Mercedes. I love it.

@IchWill DM sent, thanks 😊

@RedHelenB have you seen the cost of used cars at the moment? I've seen cars selling for more now with higher mileage & older than they were being sold for 2 years ago. There's nearly new cars being sold for more than brand new as ppl don't want to wait 9 months for delivery. I've paid over £11k cash. I expect it polished if we've discussed it, agreed it & I've been told it's done. I've run my new car thru part ex quotes out of interest & they state quotes are dependent on the paintwork in immaculate condition for top valuation, so I equally expect it immaculate when i collect it. I don't think that's unreasonable. I few years ago my car would probably have been more like £8k, and I'd likely have been a bit more forgiving (maybe). But not at the current state of the market. This is an investment to me.
Also if the salesman volunteers that the car has a feature which adds value yo the car, ie alarm, I want that feature as it'll help me by adding value at resale. If it's not got it I want money taken off in lieu as no one else will agree to pay me for it at my next trade in.
It's all changed the past few yrs, the market is mental. Iys fair enough if they raise prices, we expect raised standards I say.

so I equally expect it immaculate when i collect it. I don't think that's unreasonable

That’s extremely unreasonable. No main dealer is going to go to those lengths to prep a 6 year old £11k car so that it’s immaculate. It should be clean, but there will be signs of wear and tear. I’d expect some stone chips to be touched in though but that’s about it. Even if you spent a whole day machine polishing it there would still be marks that wouldn’t come out.

All used cars have signs of being used, I don’t think you are being reasonable expecting it to be immaculate. It’s been on the road for years!

I did return a car to a dealer last year. It took months and months of back and forward, constant emails back and forwards, threats of court and so much hassle. No dealer will accept a car back easily, I would honestly try and avoid this road if you can.

@Shade17 @Retrain12345 I'm expecting what they agreed to do. If it was unreasonable they could've said from the start & not agreed to sort them. They've not even tried. They agreed to polish them so they weren't visible or barely visible (salesmans word) but have done nothing. How is that fair?

@Retrain12345 was were your grounds for return & how long post-purchase when it was raised? It seems the buyer has far more rights in the 1st 30 days. I'm on day 5 or 6 depending if u count the day of purchase.

@MiMiChuna mine had a mechanical fault within about 2 days of purchase. In hindsight I should have demanded a refund but instead I accepted repair as it had taken me ages to find the car- probably a mistake as I had to give them reasonable time to repair it. This rolled into months of backwards and forwards before they admitted the car was a write off and did give me my money back. I think it took around 6 months in total including them having the car for months at a time. Apparently they were reasonable as they had given me a (terrible) courtesy car.

From speaking to various advisors (CAB etc) it is actually really hard to reject a car. They take into account whats reasonable for the age and mileage, whether you have allowed the dealer to attempt to resolve the situation and the problem itself. It’s not as simple as just saying no thanks as I very sadly found out!

First outing of the summer hols today & car showed a new issue.

Sensors on the rear seats for the seatbelts were alarming with no one sat in them. Had to buckle the empty seats to stop it.

Spoken with CAB who said if I want a full refund I have to stop using the car immediately. The garage have 14 days to respond to my letter plus another 14 days to refund once they have the car back. Potentially 28 days without transport, longer if they argue the request.
We have no other transport & no one local to run us about so this could be the tipping factor to force me down repair route instead. I wanted to decide after I knew what they'd offer for me to keep it as I'm on the fence what's best to do as there's no other cars I've seen which suit my needs anywhere near us.

Has anyone successfully ever got a partial refund (for missing alarm) and repair (for faulty sensors & scratches) on a car?

Also shocked to learn, the date the clock ticks from for 30 days of giving notice etc goes from first deposit. Not when you collect the car. There was 2 weeks difference between them for me as the dealer kept putting collection later. Now I know why.

Sensors on the rear seats for the seatbelts were alarming with no one sat in them. Had to buckle the empty seats to stop it.

Did you have anything on the seat? Normally a small bag is enough to trigger the occupancy sensor.

@MiMiChuna I was compensated for mine for the duration I was without it. I had X months of loan payment plus £500 for depreciation. I believe it’s down to the individual retailer though.

Also shocked to learn, the date the clock ticks from for 30 days of giving notice etc goes from first deposit. Not when you collect the car. There was 2 weeks difference between them for me as the dealer kept putting collection later. Now I know why.

Also, who told you this?

Nothing

@Shade17 citizens advice advisor told me

Hoped you weren’t going to say that! That’s not the case at all, the CRA 2015 states very clearly that it starts on delivery.

Here’s the wording BTW, kind of concerning that someone advising the public can’t understand something so clear:

3)The time limit for exercising the short-term right to reject (unless subsection (4) applies) is the end of 30 days beginning with the first day after these have all happened—

(a)ownership or (in the case of a contract for the hire of goods, a hire-purchase agreement or a conditional sales contract) possession of the goods has been transferred to the consumer,

(b)the goods have been delivered, and

(c)where the contract requires the trader to install the goods or take other action to enable the consumer to use them, the trader has notified the consumer that the action has been taken.

(4)If any of the goods are of a kind that can reasonably be expected to perish after a shorter period, the time limit for exercising the short-term right to reject in relation to those goods is the end of that shorter period (but without affecting the time limit in relation to goods that are not of that kind).

OP, I've had some bad experience with this so I can safely say that you have rights here. You can return the car for a full refund at this point. Please read the consumer rights act 2015 in relation to a secondhand car. If you've had the car less than 30 days you have more rights than after 30 days.
You can also reject the car based on mis-sale given you were told it had features it doesn't.

Why pay so much? You could have gotten a smaller one brand new for that price!! Red flags should have been when it wasn't ready to drive away in 48 hours. No way would I pay that much for a second hand car that took two weeks to be ready/ fixed, with scratches. Probably a company car that's been ramped up n down the motorway every day. Did you say you didn't even get a user manual? Do you have the full service history? I think they saw you coming!! Good luck they will just say you did the scratches and your kids must have been playing with the seatbelts. You have nothing in writing either

The dealer may have a money back guarantee period eg https://www.marshall.co.uk/site/money-back-guarantee/
What dealer is it?

Out of curiosity what car is it OP?

What a shambles or a dealership. Is it a main dealer or a franchise type place?

@MiMiChuna I pm'd you.

Update!
Sent the letter detailing all the many issues.
Dealer manager got in touch, straight off no quibbles offered a full immediate refund if I returned car, or have them do repairs (but said he didn't think I'd ever feel confident the car now which is probably true) or exchange (but their cheapest alternative is £2.5k more, way above my budget).
So i'm probably going to get the full refund tm.
Just worried in the interim we have no car & there's nothingfor sale locally which ticks my boxes. And now I won't beable to travel to view anything out of our small town. Grrr.
However, really plsd to have had choices & I'm very grateful for all the good advice on here. Thanks foe the support lovely people!