Mis-sold car - what are my rights?

[Iamclearlyamug]

Will try to keep this as short as possible.

Bought a new (to me) car on 19/01 from an AA approved dealer using a credit card. 10 months MOT with no advisories and a recent service, low mileage for age. I'm a total novice with cars but I did test drive it and seemed fine. Was given a 1000 mile warranty for engine/gearbox problems.

Paid £4600 and took the car. 17 days later (05/02) car had a catastrophic breakdown whereby the entire rear axle snapped as i was driving. Managed to limp it to my mechanic a mile away who examined it the following day and told me about the axle plus the fact that the entire underneath of the car was completely rusted out and corroded away. He called it a deathtrap and told me to insist on a full refund, and to threaten the dealer with trading standards and even VOSA since the corrosion absolutely should have been flagged on the MOT.

Email sent yesterday and the only response so far has been to request a photo of the odometer. Not sure why that's relevant (I've done approx 800 miles so still within their warranty) but the photo has been sent.

But I don't want the car anymore, it's dangerous, not fit for purpose and my mechanic says even if they fixed the axle it would still be dangerous because of the corrosion!

Has anyone been through this before and can share experiences/tips or even whether I'm entitled to a refund or not!

Take plenty of photos ask your mechanic to write a report and start small claims process.
10 months mot should not show corrosion like this. Did their garage put the mot on?

The odometer reading is to try and wriggle out of it saying you’ve done too many miles.

Who did the MOT?

Within 30 days you’re entitled to a full refund. Get your credit card company on the case as well if the dealer starts being difficult.

You have 30 days to return without giving a reason. Get it on a flatbed truck and take it back. You can ask for your money back in full. Email with all reports pointing out the faults and say you will contact trading standards. Just take it back and demand a full refund. If they try to charge you for the miles you did say you are going to trading standards

In pretty much the same situation now

I bought a car & 2 weeks later it developed a fault (nowhere near as bad as this OP). I asked the dealer to pay for the repair & they ignored me so I issued a small claims court claim & it was paid within 2 weeks.

there are lots of consumer rights on your side.

Under the Consumer Rights Act you are entitled to a full refund. The law is on your side. Also, your credit card provider is jointly liable so, if the dealer refuses a refund, you can go to them to get your money back.

Thank you so much everyone so far, I'll try to answer some questions

@VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji @windyarse I believe the MOT was done before the dealer had the car, and my mechanic firmly believes that the corrosion absolutely should have at the very least been an advisory which it wasn't.

@Shade17 we have started the chargeback process but were hoping they might settle the issue properly themselves, clearly not :(

@purpledalmation do I really need to take it back to them? I was hoping they'd be liable to collect it themselves if it can't be safely driven.

@MrsMorton I really hope it can be sorted quickly as I have no car in the meantime and can't replace until I get this money back :(

@prh47bridge thank you so much, I'd hoped the dealer would be better about it but Barclaycard are already aware so hopefully it won't take long to sort out.

In the meantime I've had an update - the dealers have said that since the car has a valid MOT and health check (whatever that is, I haven't seen any paperwork for this) this indicates that the fault developed after the sale. No shit sherlock, I wouldn't have bought it if the axle was dragging along the road would I 🙄and I doubt this kind of corrosion happens in the 17 days I owned the car! They have said according to their refund policy (which we were never told about or given a copy of) that if we want a refund they will deduct £1 PER MILE that I've driven (so £867 bill) and that if we refuse this then feel free to contact their solicitors! So they seem to basically be saying "haha see you in court!" HELP!

Now I know nothing about cars, but this is the photo my mechanic sent me and even I can see its an absolute rust bucket 😞

I went through Barclaycard and got all my money refunded.
This was 5 months after I bought the car and had numerous issues.
You have many rights on your side up to 6 months. The burden of proof is on them to prove the car was NOT faulty when they sold it to you.
Call citizens advice bureau and they will tell you exactly what to write to the dealer.
They automatically report to trading standards and I got a call from trading standards not long after I called citizens advice.
However it was Barclaycard who paid me back.
You are protected under consumer law. Use it.

Good luck. The sheer hassle was so stressful. And leave reviews on the dealer everywhere.

this indicates that the fault developed after the sale

They are trying to argue that they aren't responsible, as they only have to provide a refund if the car was faulty when delivered. However, the law assumes that any fault that develops within 6 months of delivery was due to the car being faulty when delivered. It is up to the dealer to prove otherwise if they want to argue that the fault was not their responsibility. Looking at the photo, they will have a hard job convincing the courts that all that corrosion has happened within a month of delivery.

Distance selling regulations I think, are if the goods are faulty and returned for that reason, the seller pays postage (so presumably return costs??). If you return because (eg wrong size) you pay the postage/return costs.

This does make sense but I'm not 100% sure. You should be able to claim it back but definitely don't drive it.

I've been in a similar situation, even got a ccj against the garage. They still ignored and ultimately I lost the money

@Perfect28 christ I hope that isn't the case for me - I'll lose my job, won't be able to take my daughter to school or anything! I need that money back to buy another car!

You can have a ccj enforced I think?

Happens all the time with dodgy dealers. They “phoenix” the company (cease trading and open up a new company) and the CCJ dies with the old company.

An MOT is merely proof that a car has an MOT. It does not indicate that a car is (a) roadworthy or (b) fit for sale.

I've know dealers that put 4 decent tyres on a car. Got the MOT, put 4 bald ones on, and sold it that afternoon.

Dodgy car dealers ? Say it ain't so.

Proved impossible to enforce, especially with them ignoring it. The law is utterly useless.

Sorry OP. I hope it doesn't happen to you

Did you go back to court for enforcement? That is the next step if the dealer ignores the order. Also, if you paid by credit card, even if you only paid part of the amount that way, you could have recovered your money from your credit card provider.

Not quite correct - the short term right to reject is for faults, you can’t just reject for no reason unless it’s a distance sale (and different rules apply for these).

If rejecting within 30 days, there needs to be a reason - which there clearly is in this case.
Just worth clearing up so people don’t think they can return anything for any reason within 30 days!

I returned a car within 30 days of purchase. Small garage and I gave them a chance to fix it. They kept delaying obviously to say I was outside the 30 days, but it runs from when you notified them of the fault. Mine was an ignition fault. It kept failing to start when out shopping, on school run etc and car was quite expensive. The fault was even worse after the so called repair.

They then told me it had to go back to a main dealership out of town and they did not do courtesy cars leaving me stranded in a remote rural area. I decided to refuse and ask for my money back even though my issue was nowhere near as serious as yours op.

When I turned up, they told me to get in another car. I refused and went into the office and they actually tried to stop me going in. I refused to leave until they gave me my money back. The owner was very aggressive and demanded he knocked £500 off the price because I had had it ten days. Unsurprisingly, the business folded not long after but I did get my money back.

I do hope you get sorted soon op. Follow the advice of pr47bridge.