Annoying Dealer experience

mondeo

Had a chat to a friend of mine about a car he bought from a Dublin dealer and said I would mention it here.

He bought a BMW 3 series on March 4th, the conditions of the sale were that a few things be fixed on it first. An elec window, front grille replaced & a knock noise coming from the AFM where a leak was detected. The day after he collected the car he was back in dealer because said fixed elec window failed again and knock noise came back from AFM. They patched up the AFM using liquid metal:rolleyes: and replaced the elec window mechanism.

Now 3 days later, he noticed that the headlights were shagged! Both of them had all their brackets broken and they appeared to be held in place with "wood screws", wiring loom and prayer. Fairly dodgy you should have seen it! Then after a little poke around we noticed the radiator was held in position with little cable ties, sure what do you think would have happened if they worked themselves loose via vibration or some other reason?:eek: The rad would be on the middle of the motorway somewhere.

There was also a bad knock coming from front suspenion on contact with ramps etc. To top it off engine light comes on. Since it's only 3 days since he had the car and was going back to the dealer for repairs for the second time! Anyways dealer agrees to fix the problems.

To recap the cars needs: Radiator properly secured
New head lights
Front suspension bushings
(engine light) AFM because of bodge repair.

The above could be sorted out in a few hours by a competant mechanic or at the most a day after job if the bushings turned out to be abit of a pig.
However these guys have the car since last wednesday morning and still don't have it sorted yet. My friend has been onto them a few times since then and today when he expressed concern about the length of time it's taking to do this work they accused him of having "attitude" issues. They hung up on him then with no clue as to when his car will be ready. He is sickened by this and feels a dealer who sold him a dodgy car should make an immediate remedy and I agree with him. He is not sure how to approach this situation, all he wants is his car back without all this silly hassle. He has other things to be doing then hanging around waiting for this fella to get back to him, a car is essential for his line of work!

Is he within his rights to reject this car?

It's funny because I am having a problem with a BMW I bought just down the road from where he bought his but thankfully my dealer is alot nicer then this crowed.

canonball5

He would be nuts to accept that car back..I would be looking for my money back!!

mickdw

canonball5 wrote: »

He would be nuts to accept that car back..I would be looking for my money back!!

I agree unless its a reasonably old car. Having said that, did he not check around it before buying? Sounds like much of the fitting around the front are just left there. Not much inspection skills required to find that.

coylemj

+1 it's obviously a crock. It's equally obvious that your friend didn't bother to look under the bonnet or have the motor checked out by an independent mechanic.

It's quite simply such a horror story that I'd almost go so far as to say that if your friend was so dumb as to pay over money for that heap of sh**e that he deserves to be screwed and it sounds like he rightly was.

mondeo

coylemj wrote: »

+1 it's obviously a crock. It's equally obvious that your friend didn't bother to look under the bonnet or have the motor checked out by an independent mechanic.

It's quite simply such a horror story that I'd almost go so far as to say that if your friend was so dumb as to pay over money for that heap of sh**e that he deserves to be screwed and it sounds like he rightly was.

Ye he bought a lemon no doubt about it...He said the damage was not obvious to him. When you pop the bonnit and look under the damage is not black and white obvious but obvious all the same. What can you do when someone buys themselves a car in good faith? It's just one of them things.
Dealer should be ashamed having it on their forecourt.

Idbatterim

Op, how old is the car? also at the least I would want a mechanic looking over, ,much more preferable would be a bmw specialist. I woudlnt touch anything whether trade or private sale, without it getting a thorough look out. The amount of money to set a wrong one right, can be insane!

mondeo

Idbatterim wrote: »

Op, how old is the car? also at the least I would want a mechanic looking over, ,much more preferable would be a bmw specialist. I woudlnt touch anything whether trade or private sale, without it getting a thorough look out. The amount of money to set a wrong one right, can be insane!

It's a fairly old 00' 3 series saloon. He did not pay hugh money for it but thought he was getting a good deal. I'd be interested to see what the car is like when he gets it back. I would hope for his sake that he will get abit of use out of it so it's not a total loss. Yes your right always get a mechanic to check a car over.

But is he within his rights to reject this car if it is not repaired properly?

mickdw

Id say your friend will struggle with this dealer. Given the age of the car, I cant see them spending any cash putting it right. Im thinking another botch on the headlights etc.

colmkc

Are you not allowed mention the car dealers name? I'm sure we would all like to know.

-Chris-

colmkc wrote: »

Are you not allowed mention the car dealers name? I'm sure we would all like to know.

Due to the risk of defamation, and the ease with which you can ruin a business's reputation by posting anonymously on the internet, we normally request that all avenues are tried with the dealer and that the poster is able to provide some sort of verifiable proof that the incidents occurred before we'd allow people to "name and shame".

dharn

he probably bought it dirt cheap and now expects a perfect car if he did not bother examining it beforehand he cannot expect a lot of sympathy here it seem like it would not pass an nct test form description does it have one ?

Satanta

Sounds to me like the car was damaged in an accident. No amount of wear and tear would have the whole front end hanging on my cable ties and wood screws (whatever they are). He should without a doubt ask for a refund. The thing sounds like a death trap.

Your friend needs to be more savvy in future.

ArphaRima

I'd say that dodgy dealership couldnt believe their luck when the car was sold.

Few questions:
Did he get it motorchecked?
Did he have it looked over by a specialist?
Did he pay near market rates for that make/model/year?

Zubeneschamali

fluffer wrote: »

Did he get it motorchecked?
Did he have it looked over by a specialist?
Did he pay near market rates for that make/model/year?

Did he even ask if it had been crashed?

Fey!

For those saying that he deserves what he got for not spotting the damage, bear in mind that not everyone is as car savvy as a large number of people here claim to be.

He was buying off a garage, which means he should be able to expect a roadworthy car. He should also not have to get it independently assessed.

Unfortunately some garages are chancers, giving them all a bad name. This happens in all industries.

If he was buying privately it would be a different matter, as he would have no comeback on the seller.

mondeo

Fey! wrote: »

For those saying that he deserves what he got for not spotting the damage, bear in mind that not everyone is as car savvy as a large number of people here claim to be.

He was buying off a garage, which means he should be able to expect a roadworthy car. He should also not have to get it independently assessed.

Unfortunately some garages are chancers, giving them all a bad name. This happens in all industries.

If he was buying privately it would be a different matter, as he would have no comeback on the seller.

Just an update on this:

Friend goes back to the dealer today fuming looking for more info on his car and dealer says
sorry it's not ready yet again. There was a conversation about the safety side of things being sold effectively a dangerous car and the dealer offers him a full refund! However he won't write him a cheque until Saturday because he needs a new cheque book? Sounds a load of boll!x to me.

He paid just under 2.5k as far as I know. Regardless of cost etc a dealer should sell a mechanically sound car and why should you not expect that? You don't mind a few little parking dings on a 00' car but structural issues rings alarm bells. He is not a tech savvy chap and unfortunately for him walked into a bad situation but it appears he is getting a refund anyways so happy days:)

dharn

ya sounds like he was unfortunate, he paid enough to expect a proper 00 bmw so i hope he gets his money back, he should post a photo of said car after he has his money in pocket (make sure to cash the check first ) just so people will know what not to buy

Zubeneschamali

mondeo wrote: »

the dealer offers him a full refund!

Result :pac:

garhjw

i wouldn't worry about the new headlights as long as he only drives during the day

coylemj

Fey! wrote: »

For those saying that he deserves what he got for not spotting the damage, bear in mind that not everyone is as car savvy as a large number of people here claim to be.

He was buying off a garage, which means he should be able to expect a roadworthy car. He should also not have to get it independently assessed.

Unfortunately some garages are chancers, giving them all a bad name. This happens in all industries.

If he was buying privately it would be a different matter, as he would have no comeback on the seller.

It's been said time and time again here - if you're buying from an independent dealer you should treat it like a private sale.

In law you may have a better comeback because there's an assumed warranty when buying from a dealer but that's just the theory. When you have to deal with aggressive thugs who tell you to f*** off when things go wrong you might have been better off buying privately, at least then you're on your guard and you don't fall into the trap that the OP's friend fell into head first - the assumption that because you're buying from a 'garage' that the car has been checked out and is mechanically kosher - not so as in this case.