Dealer sold 2nd hand car in unsafe condition

bongi69

I recently purchased a used car from a dealer that'll remain nameless.
Anyways the car is in for servicing, and the mechanic pointed out to me that the bolts holding on the sub frame at the front of the car were extremely loose, and that there was no way that they would come loose in normal operation, unless they were never tightened in the 1st place. If the bolts had completely failed, the engine would have dropped out the front of the car.

He also reckons that the car might have been in a accident at some stage, and again the dealer never told me about this.

I have also had problems getting the dealer to repair the car under the warranty he gave. The engine management light came on, and I took the car in, only for them to reset the light, and inform me to come back in if the light came back on. It did, so I took the car back in to be given the excuse that the mechanic was on holidays, and the earliest the car could be in would be in 4 weeks.

4 weeks later, he has the car for 4 days, (4 days for an oxygen sensor, I think not!). I get the car back, and 2 weeks later, the light is back on. I took it back, and it was booked in. Again, he had it for 2 days and kept on fobbing me off, right up to the point where I stormed back and demanded my car back. I haven't been back since.

Can anyone advise me of any remedies that I can take to rectify the situation? I know you accept an 2nd hand car with its faults, but lets be totally honest, you do expect the dealer to have enough cop on to bolt the subframe back on properly. Also, do they not have to tell you the cars history (I asked about it and told it was fine.) Cartell report also showed no accidents in cars history

mickdw

You stormed back and demanded your car back.

This is what they wanted you to do I feel.
This has possibly weakened your position abit. They can now argue that they were doing there best to repair the car but you wanted it back.
I would write to them detailing the faults reported, the various attempted they have made to fix (recording dates etc)also stating that they have been given reasonable opportunity to fix the car. See what response they come back with. Im sure a legal person would say that having given them sufficient opportunity and they having proved unable to carry out the repair, you are entitled to have the work carried out at a competent garage and charged to your supplying dealer

Victor

bongi69 wrote: »

I asked about it and told it was fine.

Well it isn't fine. Tell them you want you money back or you are going to a solicitor.

Is it an SIMI garage?

bongi69

Victor wrote: »

Well it isn't fine. Tell them you want you money back or you are going to a solicitor.

Is it an SIMI garage?

As far as I know. They did have a SIMI sticker in the window of the showroom. Now this wasn't some backhole dealer, they look pretty proper with a proper show room etc.

I know that if they're a SIMI dealer you can go through SIMI to get a resolution, but worst case scenario they're not/pretending to be a member, what happens then?

cloneslad

My mate bought an audi of a garage and got a warranty with it, had nothing but problems with it. It kept losing power when accelerating, and various other issues occured with it in the first few months.

Everytime he took it back the garage owner was nice to him and told him he would fix it, this went on for about 3 months but the problems never resolved themselves.

So one day my mate went into him after it lost power for the upteenth time (this guy is a bit of a psycho when things mess up on him) walked straight up to the garage owner and stared him right in the eyes and told him if he didn't give him back his money or replace the car with a different one he was going to rip his head off his shoulders.

Needless to say if someone who is over 6ft, weighs 17stone, is an mma fighter and hasn't an ounce of fat on his body tells you something, you go right ahead and do it.

Personally I would go with the friendly approach and just tell them you want your money back as you are unhappy with the car, or perhaps that you want a replacement. Garages will prefer to replace your car and save the money the have and the negative publicity they may receive if you tell people how bad they were to deal with. But if all else fails, I will give you my mates number

Bonito

SIMI wont do a dam thing for you! Check this post and ask KBANNON

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=63792141

Heard of a similar story with my dad's friend, garage wouldn't fix something on the car that was covered under the warranty so he drove up, parked his car right on the forecourt, walked into the office, gave they keys to whoever was in the office and said that car better be fixed when I get back later because i'll have my solicitor with me and he'll be carrying a letter. He returned with a solicitor, car was fixed

Darragh29

bongi69 wrote: »

I recently purchased a used car from a dealer that'll remain nameless.
Anyways the car is in for servicing, and the mechanic pointed out to me that the bolts holding on the sub frame at the front of the car were extremely loose, and that there was no way that they would come loose in normal operation, unless they were never tightened in the 1st place. If the bolts had completely failed, the engine would have dropped out the front of the car.

He also reckons that the car might have been in a accident at some stage, and again the dealer never told me about this.

I have also had problems getting the dealer to repair the car under the warranty he gave. The engine management light came on, and I took the car in, only for them to reset the light, and inform me to come back in if the light came back on. It did, so I took the car back in to be given the excuse that the mechanic was on holidays, and the earliest the car could be in would be in 4 weeks.

4 weeks later, he has the car for 4 days, (4 days for an oxygen sensor, I think not!). I get the car back, and 2 weeks later, the light is back on. I took it back, and it was booked in. Again, he had it for 2 days and kept on fobbing me off, right up to the point where I stormed back and demanded my car back. I haven't been back since.

Can anyone advise me of any remedies that I can take to rectify the situation? I know you accept an 2nd hand car with its faults, but lets be totally honest, you do expect the dealer to have enough cop on to bolt the subframe back on properly. Also, do they not have to tell you the cars history (I asked about it and told it was fine.) Cartell report also showed no accidents in cars history

(1) Any comments that are made to you regarding a challenge to the road worthiness of your vehicle, ask for them to be made in writing on company letterheaded paper.

Darragh29

mickdw wrote: »

You are entitled to have the work carried out at a competent garage and charged to your supplying dealer

No you're not, at least not in the first instance. You have an obligation to return the car to where you bought it and outline your issue proferably in writing and give them the opportunity to remedy any issues you have.

Darragh29

bongi69 wrote: »

I know you accept an 2nd hand car with its faults, but lets be totally honest, you do expect the dealer to have enough cop on to bolt the subframe back on properly.

Not true, you do not buy as a retailer from a dealer and accept that faults exist on a used car, unless the car is "sold as seen". You are entitled to buy a used car free from defects from a trade seller. Equally where a problem becomes apparent, the dealer is entitled to due procedure and must be afforded the opportunity to be notified of the problem and allowed the opportunity to remedy any issues that have arisen.

All this should happen in writing, with your issues being presented in writing and the dealers considerations of your issues being responded to in writing. I'm assuming its a ford Mondeo you bought and the subframe was dropped maybe to replace a clutch or something like that...

My advice to you is to commit your issues to paper and return the car with your letter to the dealer and ask for a written undertaking that the car is in roadworthy condition before you take the car back...

bongi69

Darragh29 wrote: »

I'm assuming its a ford Mondeo you bought and the subframe was dropped maybe to replace a clutch or something like that...

Nope its a Seat Ibiza, and trust me, you don't have to drop the subframe to replace the clutch

mickdw

Darragh29 wrote: »

No you're not, at least not in the first instance. You have an obligation to return the car to where you bought it and outline your issue proferably in writing and give them the opportunity to remedy any issues you have.

In all fairness Darragh, you only quoted part of my response. I said that having gone down the route of recording the whole thing in writing & reading their response & having given them sufficient opportunity to fix the car which they didnt manage, you would be in a position to take the car to a competent garage.
We are hardly in 'first instance' teritory here now

bongi69

Result:
Full refund from dealer, after threatening to report the matter to the gardai and get a solicitor

EPM

bongi69 wrote: »

Result:
Full refund from dealer, after threatening to report the matter to the gardai and get a solicitor

Good stuff:D

You did well there

vonney

Had problems with my mini over Xmas and had to bring it to my local garage to be repaired, while they were fixing the problem they said that the car was previously crashed, badly! my mini is one colour and they pointed out lots of places where you can see that the current bonet and passenger door is really a diff colour, and that its a really bad paint job. Also there are lots of loose wires, wires taped together and they said the gearbox house was v loose and thats dangerous. Anyway I paid over the market value for this car at the time and was told it was in prefect condition - only have it over 6 months. It was a 4 year old mini. Has anyone else had any joy going back to the dealer with this type of scenario. Ideally I want to give it back and buy a mini which is the real thing.

biko

Did you get a warranty with the mini? Was there any declaration of the car?
Get a statement from the mechanic and present this to the dealer?

vonney

Magnus wrote: »

Did you get a warranty with the mini? Was there any declaration of the car?
Get a statement from the mechanic and present this to the dealer?

I got a warranty for 6 months but that is up now. I did a check on the car online before I bought it and there was no mention of a crash, but it was previously a UK car so maybe it happened there, need to check the UK reg and see.

COYW

I was under the impression that you must declare if a car has been crashed when you are trading it in and the dealer must inform any new buyer of same.

Am I correct or is this just one of these laws that is ignored?

bongi69

vonney wrote: »

I got a warranty for 6 months but that is up now. I did a check on the car online before I bought it and there was no mention of a crash, but it was previously a UK car so maybe it happened there, need to check the UK reg and see.

Contact the dealer, like I did, by writing a letter detailing everything that has been found to be wrong with the car, and see if the garage it was in with recently will give you their opinion on their company paper. Include a copy of this with the letter to the dealer that sold you the car.

Before you do this however, do contact the National Consumer Agency for their advice, as I did. They were very helpful.

They informed me that the Gardai should be informed of the matter, but I didn't do this, I just left it as an option should the situation not be resolved on 1st contact with the dealer, and mentioned this in my letter.

Give the dealer a deadline before taking further action (I gave 7 days from receiveing the letter), and send it by registered post.

If no joy from this, you will need to get a solicitor on board, and take any action that the NCA recommend

COYW

COYW wrote: »

I was under the impression that you must declare if a car has been crashed when you are trading it in and the dealer must inform any new buyer of same.

Am I correct or is this just one of these laws that is ignored?

True, but if the dealer wasn't told, or the seller wasn't told by whoever he bought it off. Very wasy for this not to be past on.