Bought van off dealership, constant breakdowns & problems, WHAT DO I DO????

user2012

Hi All,

Looking for advice on behalf of my other half. He bought a vw transporter about three months ago. Since he brought it home it has been giving constant problems. Has broken down twice, three times if you count this morning, & has been back in the garage twice.

Basically where does he stand with the garage?

At this stage I would be looking for a straight swap for the same vehicle or to be provided with a van that is in actual working order. Am I wrong in thinking this?

I dont know what warranty he got with it & I dont know the problems with it except it breaks down & is hard to start on a very regular basis.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Gone Drinking

user2012 wrote: »

I dont know what warranty he got with it

Start here, find out what warranty he got with it..

user2012

Gone Drinking wrote: »

Start here, find out what warranty he got with it..

I think six months.

user2012

Any advice anyone???

robot7080

The fact that it's still in warranty is good. I'm pretty certain that they're only obliged to fix it and that it would be very unlikely that they'd replace the van!

Anan1

user2012 wrote: »

I dont know what warranty he got with it & I dont know the problems with it except it breaks down & is hard to start on a very regular basis.

You'll get no useful advice without this critical information, find out and get back to us.

user2012

Anan1 wrote: »

You'll get no useful advice without this critical information, find out and get back to us.

As you can imagine the humour isnt great so asking questions over the phone wouldnt be advisable right now

Six months warranty. And it hasnt ran properly since the week after it arrived. I know well he is sick to the back teeth of it at this stage & hes losing out on work over it, so the mood isn't good at all. If I knew we had some kind of comeback with the garage or some kind of rights then I would ring them & discuss it with them to try to come to some arrangement.

We were sold a pup basically & I don't want this to drag on with problem after problem & before we know the warranty is out & the dealership doesnt want to know us.

What normally happens in a situation like this?

Anan1

Like I said, you need to find out what's wrong with it!

Henry Ford III

Document everything. Breakdowns, dates, downtime, warranty etc.

Write to dealer saying you are unhappy with the vehicle and despite (enter number of attempts to repair it here) attempts, the vehicle is still not up to scratch.

Tell them that you'll give them 1 more chance to go over the vehicle fully, and that if it breaks down again you'll reject it as not being of merchantable quality under S.O.G.A. and return it for a full refund.

p.s. Check out the relevant consumer legislation thoroughly, and familiarise yourself with how to make a claim in the Small Claims Court also.

user2012

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Document everything. Breakdowns, dates, downtime, warranty etc.

Write to dealer saying you are unhappy with the vehicle and despite (enter number of attempts to repair it here) attempts, the vehicle is still not up to scratch.

Tell them that you'll give them 1 more chance to go over the vehicle fully, and that if it breaks down again you'll reject it as not being of merchantable quality under S.O.G.A. and return it for a full refund.

p.s. Check out the relevant consumer legislation thoroughly, and familiarise yourself with how to make a claim in the Small Claims Court also.

Thanks, I would prefer not to go down the legal route to be honest. That would be a last resort if all other options failed.
I know sweet fa about cars but even I know this is unacceptable & there is obviously a serious enough fault that it keeps breaking down.

@Anan1, I dont know what the fault/ faults are. Van is very slow to start, turn the key & it starts ticking over for a few seconds but doesn't start. This can happen a few times before it will start. Then it just breaks down at the side of the road, I assume the engine cuts out. Anyway I'm not looking for a diagnosis but I don't know the facts so the above is just to give you an idea of what its doing, or rather not doing.

Henry Ford III

user2012 wrote: »

Thanks, I would prefer not to go down the legal route to be honest. That would be a last resort if all other options failed.
I know sweet fa about cars but even I know this is unacceptable & there is obviously a serious enough fault that it keeps breaking down.

@Anan1, I dont know what the fault/ faults are. Van is very slow to start, turn the key & it starts ticking over for a few seconds but doesn't start. This can happen a few times before it will start. Then it just breaks down at the side of the road, I assume the engine cuts out. Anyway I'm not looking for a diagnosis but I don't know the facts so the above is just to give you an idea of what its doing, or rather not doing.

To fix an issue it has to be diagnosed properly and fully first. If the suppling dealer can't/won't fix it you need to find someone else who can/will.

If you end up going down this route you might not have any option but to seek some form of legal redress.

dharn

Mercantisable quality etc usually refers to new cars etc, even with a new car you would have a battle on your hands to reject it, so you will just have to keep after them to fix the faults as they come along, hard starting could be glow plugs, cutting out i dont know, but at the end of the day it should be fixable and the seller should be able to do so

Anan1

user2012 wrote: »

@Anan1, I dont know what the fault/ faults are. Van is very slow to start, turn the key & it starts ticking over for a few seconds but doesn't start. This can happen a few times before it will start. Then it just breaks down at the side of the road, I assume the engine cuts out. Anyway I'm not looking for a diagnosis but I don't know the facts so the above is just to give you an idea of what its doing, or rather not doing.

That could be as simple as a battery, for example. I'm not trying to be difficult, but you really need to get as much information as possible before deciding on the best course of action.

mdebets

There is some information missing.

Did he buy the van as a business, if yes, none of the normal consumer rights apply, as it was a B2B sale, and he has to look, what the contract and T&Cs states.

How much did he pay for the van? If it is more than 2K, he can't go to the small claims court if he wants his money back (could go for payments for repairs, if they are less than 2k).

Did he had to pay for the repairs of the 2 previous break down or was the dealer paying for it (if the dealer is not charging him for it, he has very good proof, that the breakdowns fall under some sort of warranty).
If this is the case, and he is covered by normal consumer rights (if it is not a B2B sale), it depends if the breakdowns were all caused by the same parts. If they were, he can now insist for replacement or refund, as a fix has to be permanent. If however it was caused by different parts (e.g. breaks the first time, fuel injection the second time), he has to go for another repair (if following the letter of the law), but probably would have a good cause to argue in front of a judge for a refund or replacement.