Faulty car

[Carprob]

Hello, I bought a car last week from a main dealership. Less than 5 thousand miles on the clock and it had a service the day I took ownership.

Today, I have had a warning light come on .. there is a fault within the fuel injection system. I am waiting for the RAC.

I have called the dealership to reject the car..they have refused. Said the fault wasn’t there last week and I need to let them fix it under warranty.

Can anyone confirm my rights please?

Thank you

Can I also where you have been purchasing your fuel?? My big car had issues with fuel injectors and car mad dh discovered it is because cheaper supermarket fuel doesn't contain the ingredients needed to keep the injectors clean +functioning. If they fix it under warranty its free anyway but you need to use decent fuel in future or it will happen again.

As you bought the car less than 30 days ago you have the right to reject it and receive a full refund. Remind them of the Consumer Rights Act. They can argue that the fault was not there when you purchased the car but, as you have owned the car for less than 6 months, it is up to them to prove that the fault is due to misuse or normal wear and tear. In my view they will not be able convince the courts that they are not liable for a fault that has occurred within 2 weeks of purchase.

Tell them that, under the Consumer Rights Act, you do NOT need to let them fix the fault under warranty and that you are exercising your right to reject the car as it is clearly faulty. Demand a full refund. If they refuse, send them a letter giving them a reasonable deadline to return your money and saying you will take legal action if they don't pay up. This is known as a letter before action. If they still don't pay you can take them to court.

If you paid for the car using some form of credit the credit provider is jointly liable provided it cost less than £30,000. You may be able to get your money back from them if the dealer refuses.

Oh, and the previous poster is wrong. Contrary to popular belief, supermarket fuel has to meet the same standards as other fuel. Around half the fuel used in UK cars comes from supermarkets. If they lacked necessary ingredients a lot of cars would have problems.

I’ve only had the car 6 days, filled it up twice from non supermarket garages.

The RAC have just checked it ..it’s showing 7 faults on their computer and needs to go in. They are offering a courtesy car, refusing to let me reject it.

I part exchanged my old car and paid the rest on a debit card.

I will mention the Consumer Rights Act again. When I mentioned my rights they said no, they only needed to fix it under the warranty.

They are wrong. They are either deliberately trying to mislead you or they don't understand the legislation. You have the absolute right to reject. Be clear that you are rejecting the car under Section 20 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (you don't need to specify this but quoting the legislation might make the dealer take notice). Do not allow them to fix the vehicle. If they refuse to provide a refund make it clear that they will face legal action which they will lose then send them a letter before action as per my previous post.

Thank you ever so much. I am heading in there now and will update later.

How do I stand with part ex. If they still have my old car could they give me that back, with the cash or can I request an equivalent vehicle to the one I purchased last week? That would be my preference.

Do you want your old car back? If not, I would refuse to accept it and insist on them giving you the full price you paid, including the notional value of the old car.

If you had owned the car for more than 30 days you would be entitled to a repair or replacement but the dealer could choose which to give you. If you ask for a replacement now the dealer might use that to insist on repairing this car. I would insist on a refund. If they have another car that would suit you, I'm sure they would be happy to sell it to you if the price was right.

Hi Prh47bridge (unsure how to do links)

Just wanted to say I am very grateful for your advice.

I spent a long evening at the dealership. They repeatedly insisted that my interpretation of the Consumer Rights Act was wrong and said the whole point of the warranty is in case of faults, such as this. They said the car was fine last week so I must accept a repair.

I stuck to my guns and refused to budge from the garage and refused to accept a repair.

They eventually relented and I am now in possession of the equivalent car/spec/mileage so am happy.

Thank you.

Well done.

It annoys me when car dealers (and other traders, but car dealers seem to be the worst) think a warranty somehow replaces your rights under the Consumer Rights Act. It doesn't. If the car is not in satisfactory quality given its age and mileage you have the right to reject. If it was an old car with 100,000 miles on the clock they may have had a point. But a car with less than 5,000 miles on the clock should not have this kind of fault.

Hello Prh47

you will not believe it ...the same thing has happened to the new car. I have a 4 hour slot for the breakdown cover.

Unbelievable. I am really annoyed and upset.

I know there is no way they will let me reject this car and have a full refund.

How long does it normally take to resolve in court if I send a letter before action tomorrow?

Thanks

As you say, unbelievable.

I am assuming that the fault is again something that would not be expected in a car of this age and mileage.

When you send your letter before action you will need to give them a week or two to respond. If they don't you can start legal action. How long it will take depends on their response. They may fold when they realise you are determined, in which case it will be over quickly. However, if they dispute the claim and it has to go to a hearing it may take up to 6 months.

If you used credit for some of the price it may be quicker to get your money back from your credit provider rather than go through the courts.

Many thanks for your further response.

It’s the exact same model and spec as the other one. RAC did a diagnostic report and the faults were exactly the same but this car has additional faults. I can attach copies of both reports if it helps?

Due to snow, there was another 5 hour wait for a recovery truck, so brought it home and have been asked to take it to the dealership (a different, more local one) and leave it there tomorrow and get a courtesy car.

I just want a refund at this point.

RAC engineer rang his manager as it was so strange to have this happen twice in 2 days on two different cars...these cars aren’t known for their faults. All they can think of is it’s a fault with the internal computer. When there is one fault, never mind multiple, the car goes into safe mode, loses power and should be driven at less than ten miles/hour to enable me to stop safely.

What’s happened is on busy roads I have nearly had several cars go into the back of me and I, or they could have been injured.

RAC asked if I was using supermarket fuel ...I said no as I haven’t.

I asked them if the cold/snow would affect the cars like this - they said no.

I am going to dig out my home insurance as have legal expense insurance.

I have not managed to speak to anyone in the dealership I bought it from - I have left a message and sent them the RAC report.

I am also very unhappy as I have had to cancel all my meetings for today and tomorrow and book time off to sort it out. Similar happened on Monday.

Update - dealership rang and said they think the internal computer needs resetting as it’s been sat on the forecourt. Hmmm.