Sold a faulty car HELP ME!

[KellyHJ]

Long story short (not really short!)

I purchased a car from a local garage for £3400 November 23. The car came with 3 months AA lite warranty. From the very start, I could smell burning coming from the car after it had been running for a while. Along with this, a very loud humming noise was coming from the engine area, and the heating failed to work. I put a claim in with the AA in Feb, which I understand is longer than I should have waited but my partner had advised that maybe the smell of burning was due to the car sitting around in their garage for a while and just needed a good run around, and well.. life! I have a 6 year old and a 5 month old at the time and life just got in my way.
Anyway, the car got booked in with a local garage recommended by the AA, who confirmed that there was indeed faults with the car - leaking thermostat and then water pump was not circulating hence the smell of burning, loud noise and lack of heating. The AA agreed to partially cover the costs of fixing these which I was happy with, and the work, I was told, would be done the same day.
Upon further inspection, they found that there was sever rusting on the head gasket, cylinder head from the leak which they said had been leaking for quite some time due to how bad the corrosion was, and that they couldn't carry out the work as they couldn't get to the parts they needed to fix due to the rust and corrosion and that a new head gasket would be required. The AA were not willing to cover with so the garage sent me a personal quote which totalled just over £1532 ALONE!
I felt that I shouldn't have to pay that as the works alone on the car due to the faults totalled around £2000 which is almost as much as I purchased the car for and it was evident I was sold a faulty car, which the garage agreed with, and kindly wrote me up a report stating all of the faults and that it had been leaking for some time which indicates it would have been faulty upon purchase. Additionally, they sent me a photo of the corroded area to show how bad it was.

After back and forth from the garage I purchased the car from, they are not willing to take ANY responsibility for this and kept stressing I should have taken it back to them (although I followed the AA warranty that they had explained to me upon sale if there were to be any problems and that if there was a fault with the car upon purchase then I wouldn't have been able to drive the car away from them.

I told them I would be going through a small claims court. I have also been in contact with a motor ombudsman but they are unable to help as the garage is not accredited to them.

A few people said I may be wasting my time and money taking them to a small claims as even if I win, they might not pay, which I will then have to escalate it, costing me more money etc.

It is so upsetting as my car has been in the garage for over 1 month now, I have 2 children, and this has happened to other customers from reading the sales garage reviews ( 2 of which were to do with problems with the head gasket) and they are obviously just getting away with selling faulty cars to people and not taking any accountability.

Can anyone please advise? It is really affecting my mental health due to the time its been dragging on for and I just don't know where or who to turn too.

Thanks in advance!

Hannah

OP, you definitely should take it further. You say that...

Upon further inspection, they found that there was sever rusting on the head gasket, cylinder head from the leak which they said had been leaking for quite some time due to how bad the corrosion was, and that they couldn't carry out the work as they couldn't get to the parts they needed to fix due to the rust and corrosion and that a new head gasket would be required.

Head gaskets don't rust and corrode in a few weeks. That fault must have been there when you bought it so consumer law applies.

I have not read the full thread, but I can see that it starts with a number of incorrect responses.

As you have had the car less than 6 months, the courts assume that the fault was there when you bought the car. It is up to the garage to prove otherwise if they want to argue that you have caused the problems or made them worse. Those who think you have to prove the faults were there at the time of purchase are wrong. They may be able to argue that you have made things worse by continuing to drive the car, but I doubt they will convince the courts that there were no faults when you bought it.

You can insist that the garage that sold the car to you repairs or replaces the vehicle - they can choose which. If the repair or replacement fails, you can then reject the car and receive a refund. This won't be a full refund - the garage is entitled to deduct something to take account of the use you have had of the car.

By the way, the warranty is irrelevant. It does not affect your rights.

If the garage refuses to do anything, your only route forward is through the courts. As you already have a good engineer's report, you are in a strong position. It is true that the garage may fail to pay, meaning you have to go back to court to send the bailiffs in, but your court costs and bailiffs costs can be added to your claim. Unless they fold the company, you should be able to get your money.

Thank you to everyone who responded. I will not reply to LemonFawn directly. However, I will recap a few points.

As stated, the car was well within the warranty, and the reason that the head gasket was not covered until the warranty was NOT because it was out of the time frame, it was due to it not being covered by the warranty, which is not a problem. The problem is, that between me and the AA, we’d be paying out around £2000 which is almost as much as the car.

Again, the garage has also said that the corrosion is a result of a long standing problem. I have a report and photos to proof that. As someone had said, severe doesn’t just happen overnight, nor 2 months.

Yes I did test drive it but the noise and smelled only occurred after a long distance of driving, so no, I did not notice it upon test driving.

I did assume the noise could be normal to that car, maybe the engine trying to cool down. I’m not a mechanic or car expert.

Thanks again to everyone, there are some very good points from both sides but definitely given me a bit of hope. The garage seems to think I have a good case.

Hi OP.

Please dont listen those PP's who are being negative and just want to make you feel worse. In fact you should have sought proper advice instead of MN - are you not a member of AA or RAC or Green Flag, for instance? They'd advise you in a phonecall.

I bought a 2nd car from a dealer, just over 2 months later the head gasket blew. They fixed it albeit I had to be VERY insistent with them, and remind them that I knew my rights. Which I did, because I sought advice in the right places.

Added to that there are 3 people posting on here that all sound like the same person. Or maybe its 2 of same person
WTF...

hope you come back and update

the garage is optimistic you have a case? the same garage that is unregulated by the
Motor Ombudsman

This.

I get it's inconvenient not to have your car but you can't prove it was as faulty on sale and the garages explanation only proves it could have been faulty for longer not that their was any obvious evidence of this at point of sale.

Garage sound dodgy though

To repeat myself, the law is that any fault that emerges within six months of purchase is assumed to have been present at the time of purchase. OP does not have to prove the car was faulty at the time of sale. The garage has to prove that it wasn't if they want to make that argument.

The garage that is optimistic OP has a case is the one that has inspected the car. The garage that is unregulated by the Motor Ombudsman is the one that sold the car to OP.

has the op clarified what action she will be taking?

I've had this, i was sold an absolute turkey of a car. Sell it to webuyanycar and move on

It’s sad to say but this might be the path of least cost/hassle. Some of these scumbag dealers get away with murder and even if you get a court verdict in your favour it can be good money after bad trying to enforce it.

I was sold the car by a Phoenix dealer (constantly changing company name etc) and the company was labelled as RAC approved (falsely). RAC did nothing to help and I thought rather than continue to insure it i was better off getting rid. Webuyanycar will even buy a non runner, just to get it off your hands and put it behind you.

I was sold the car by a Phoenix dealer (constantly changing company name etc) and the company was labelled as RAC approved (falsely). RAC did nothing to help and I thought rather than continue to insure it i was better off getting rid. Webuyanycar will even buy a non runner, just to get it off your hands and put it behind you.