Faulty used car, dealer refusing refund, WWYD?

[Anon501178]

We have had a pain of a situation over the past couple of months...
Purchased a bigger car in January as 3rd baby is on the way in May.
Unfortunately within days, we identified issues with the car.Dealer (independent car sales) was initially fine about taking it back for inspection/repair, however did not agree after with the issues we had raised being present.
We then got an inspection done at an independent garage which found multiple issues.The dealer agreed to look at it a second time but dismissed the issues once again.
Got a SECOND inspection done including photographic evidence, at another garage last week, which suprise suprise found the same issues present again.
Emailed dealer and forwarded this evidence, stating that it is obvious and incontestable that these faults are present, and were at point of sale, and having given them two chances to fix them without success, so we want to return the car for a full refund or progress with legal action to small claims court.
The company manager emailed back today refusing a return for a refund and dismissing the issues again, basically stating it is a 10 year old car so what do we expect.

We feel stuck between a rock and a hard place now....our baby is due in 8 weeks and we need a safe car with enough space.
Which means we either need to get it fixed to a safe standard (although due to the complexity of the issues DH thinks this would be a very stressful and expensive process costing thousands)
OR we sell it to say 'we buy any car' and get something else on finance.Issue with that is we would be losing several thousand as the price they would pay us so low.

With either option, citizens advice have told us the legal small claims court process could be jeopardised if it is either fixed or sold, but we don't really have a choice but to do one or the other.The claims process could take many months and can't have the car sitting around, and need to either be using it or clawing back at least some money from it to put into something else!

WWYD?

No need to sink to there level. Stick to the facts and truth.

lies will always come out

I understand your point, but the key thing here is that both OP and I were legally entitled to a refund.

In my case, I had reported the fault within days and had already given the dealer opportunities to repair it, so I’d done everything “by the book.” The issue was that they weren’t acting on their legal obligations.

Mentioning the Ombudsman simply prompted them to take the situation seriously and resolve it quickly; which they did with a full refund.

Of course, OP can go directly to the Ombudsman if needed, but sometimes a nudge that makes a company engage properly can save a lot of time and stress.

Wishing you well Op. I know how stressful this feels.

The onbudsman contact the dealership directly to investigate any case they are assigned. Your dealer knew the ombudsmen hadn’t it investigated the case

So what do you do when they refuse? How do you “get on with it” when they won’t do anything?

That’s not actually how it works. The Ombudsman doesn’t contact a business immediately, there’s usually a process and some delay before a case is formally taken on and investigated.

Either way, the key point is that once a fault is reported early, the customer has clear rights; and that’s what OP should focus on.

You have this right, but if the dealer refuses to accept the car back, you will have to sue them and that takes time. The important thing is to unequivocally exercise your right to permanently reject the car within the 6m. There is a question mark unfortunately then as to whether you can continue to use the car between rejecting it and succeeding in your court claim to force them to take it back.

I had the same problem and as I needed to use a car and didn’t have money to buy a second one without getting the money back from the first one, instead of rejecting it I kept it and am suing for the difference in value between a car which worked properly when I bought it, and the car I actually got.

believe me I know how it works 🤣 the ombudsman sent me all the correspondence and their policies. You wait (average 9 months) for them to assign a case handler then then case handler contacts the dealership to inform them a case has been opened against them.

they don’t do anything- including looking at your case- until a case handler is assigned.

This is correct

my case was different as the car was (towed) to the dealership. It stayed there (but with me as owner so they couldn’t sell it) until the legal process completed.

you absolutely have to be very clear, in writing, I am rejecting the car under the CRA. List the reasons why. Use chat gpt for a court ready letter to send them.

We had a Citroen c4 grand Picasso from 2009 from new, and it was a nightmare vehicle. In the end the lease company took it back. It keep losing power on the motorway, suspension issues and problems with the electronic gear shift. Luckily it was a company car. I then had a 2 year you pool car (VW Tiguan with 50k on the clock) which had no issues at all for 3 years. No way would I entertain a Citroen again.