Purchased car, no warranty, now having problems?

judi

Hi,
I recently (one week ago) bought a car from a dealer in Dublin. The car looked in good condition, low mileage, clean (only valeted) and running good. When we went to view the car it was great, and the first thing we commented on was the cleanliness of it, but it had been just valeted. We took it for a short test drive (around the block) and it seemed great. So I decided to buy. The car is a Skoda Fabia 2002 and only had 66000 miles. I don't know much about cars but my old one was giving in and I really needed a car so I bought it, at €2200, €50 knocked off as NCT due in January.
Over the course of the weekend the windows were full of condensation and the smell of dampness got really sickening. I put this down to the valet as seats weren't fully dry at that stage. However as the week went on the problem got worse. Took it to a Skoda Garage and they pointed out to me that the seals on the back door were both gone and showed me where they were leaking, lots of water!!
Looking back on the day of the viewing the car had been running for a good while when we went to see it and the valet was obviously to cover up the damp smell - very deceitful of the sales guy. He knew about the issue. Especially as he told me they used to be the main Skoda dealer and this is apparently a known problems with the older Skodas. I got a quote and it will cost €300 to rectify. Its a big problem as it really affects visibility when driving and we've a very close call already because of this.
Any advice on what to do would really be appreciated!

corktina

in what way have you no warranty? Was it sold "trade" or did you just buy it ? because if it is the latter, lack of a Warranty doesn't affect your consumer rights. Did you take it back to the seller?

bazz26

€2150 for a nearly 12 year old Fabia with no warranty and NCT due in January. Sorry OP, probably not very helpful I know to your query but you were mugged imo.

hibble

Door seals leaking on these cars are well known pity you didn't do a search to know what to look out for. You can fix them yourself with a couple of tubes of sealer once you get the trim off. Do a search on you tube or check out the Briskoda site - loads of info. Also you should check the condition of the pollen filter and that the drains by the scuttle are clear as these can also contribute towards water ingress.

porsche boy

Go back to the garage and request the car is either repaired or a refund given. Cars sold by garages must, by law have a warranty supplied and be of merchantable quality. A garage can only sell a car as 'trade' to a trader with a TAN number.

porsche boy

Go back to the garage and request the car is either repaired or a refund given. Cars sold by garages must, by law have a warranty supplied and be of merchantable quality. A garage can only sell a car as 'trade' to a trader with a TAN number.

Kaiser D

Jesus, sorry to say OP but that was crazy money for a 12 y/o Fabia.

Might be worth going back to see if they will sort something out?

Del2005

porsche boy wrote: »

Go back to the garage and request the car is either repaired or a refund given. Cars sold by garages must, by law have a warranty supplied and be of merchantable quality. A garage can only sell a car as 'trade' to a trader with a TAN number.

Garages don't have to give warranties and can sell cars "trade" to the public. We have a very powerful consumer protection law, the sale of goods and supply of services act 1980, which means that no matter what a dealer says you have protection which supercedes warranties or anything else a business offers when selling to the public.

Henry Ford III

porsche boy wrote: »

...Cars sold by garages must, by law have a warranty supplied....

That's totally incorrect, and is an urban myth.

Scortho

porsche boy wrote: »

Go back to the garage and request the car is either repaired or a refund given. Cars sold by garages must, by law have a warranty supplied and be of merchantable quality. A garage can only sell a car as 'trade' to a trader with a TAN number.

So because I'm not a trader I can't buy a car of a garage as a trade sale, even if I want too?

Marcusm

Scortho wrote: »

So because I'm not a trader I can't buy a car of a garage as a trade sale, even if I want too?

You can agree to buy it on whatever basis you and he agree but as a consumer you have the right to an implied condition of merchantable quality and fit for purpose even if you agree not to. This is consumer protection, you can't contract out of it!

Del2005

Scortho wrote: »

So because I'm not a trader I can't buy a car of a garage as a trade sale, even if I want too?

Yes. The garage can put sold as seen, no warranty, trade sale or anything else they want on the receipt it makes no difference once it's sold to a private buying the act I posted earlier supercedes everything. The only way for a garage to avoid consumer law is "sold for parts*, " not for road use "*, or list what wrong on the receipt.

*not sure of this.

A few things to be aware of. Most garages that knowingly sell dodgy motors know these laws, which is why a lot of them change their business name regularly. Even if you do get a judgement against the company it'll take more of your time and money to get your money back if they haven't already dumped the company name you bought from.

Consumer law and warranties rely on companies playing fair a small minority don't.