Second hand car/warranty

Stephanie3t3

I purchased a 06 low mileage car from a dealer in August of last year, within 4 days the electrics failed. I returned to the dealer and he informed me he repaired the problem and gave me a replacement car. In December the same problem occurred. This time he took the car but did not give me a replacement car. I told him I didn't want the car back as it was unreliable and completely dangerous...when your electrics fail you don't have any power at all i.e. no Hazzard lights. He said he would try and sell it but couldn't afford to buy it off me. After a few weeks he asked me for my second key as he apparently had an interested buyer..

I gave him the second key but the car didn't sell. In the end i took back the car on the 23rd of FEB. He refused to return it himself so I had to organise a lift up to his house, where he works from, to collect it. He actually refused to come out of his home when i collected it as he was apparently 'sick'. Anyway when I got it back there was no second key, a low tyre and the drivers door controls for the passenger window could no longer open the passenger window and the inside lights weren't working properly....

However these problems have repaired themselves. In addition I have been contacting him looking for my second key. I text him every day last week and rang him twice but he has refused to answer the phone. I rang him today off a different number and he started raising his voice and directed me to contact me off my own number..he said the key was somewhere in his house, and he had nothing more to do with me. I also pointed out to him I have a warrantee until August at which point he hung up...do I have a legal leg to stand on? The car is actually going fine but I want my key back and if the car goes again I want to get rid of it..any advise?

pushpop

I had a similar-ish saga with my own dealer who i bought a car off two months ago. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it can be very difficult to get your money back off these cowboys, as the sale of goods and services act gives them the option of repair, refund or replacement. It really depends on how much money you're willing to pay compared to how expensive the car was, because if you go the legal route, you could end up spending a considerable sum on solicitors ,and if the dealer says they have no money to pay you back, then it's often a waste of time.

If you don't want to use a solicitor you could try and use the small claims court, where you can make a consumer claim up to 2 grand in value, for 25 euros. However, even if you get a judgement awarded against the dealer, there's still no guarantee you'll get any money back if the respondent says they haven't got the money.

My dealer sold me a car with a very noisy timing chain and was leaking water into the driver's foot well. I brought it back to him and told him I didn't want it repaired, as it wasn't fit for purpose and that I wanted a refund. He said he'd get his mechanic to check it out and if there was a problem he'd write me a cheque.

After two weeks of delaying tactics on his part, he rang me and told me the car was fixed (against my wishes), so I re-iterated that I didn't want a repair and I wanted a refund. He said that he didn't have the money to refund me and that he offered and carried out a repair, so I sent a solicitor's letter in demanding a refund, to which they replied by dropping the car back outside my house unannounced while nobody was home!!

At that point I had to cut my losses because I saw the thick headed type of scumbag I was dealing with, and could pursue them for the money and end up spending more! It turns out, as expected, that they didn't actually repair the car - there was a failing seal and a crack in the brake servo that was causing water that normally runs off the windshield and down through the grille behind the bonnet to leak in under the driver's feet. I've since had the leak repaired and had the car mechanically assessed, and it seems to be sound enough, so I've decided to hang on to it for the time being.

There is a gaping hole in Irish consumer law though which allows these chancers to get away with selling dodgy second hand cars, and the fact that most people aren't mechanics means that they have to take the word of the dealer or a mechanic they get to check the car out beforehand. Even then, the problems I had with my car didn't show up in a test drive, so you can only mitigate some of the risk. It's always a lottery to some degree, unfortunately. I'd be very interested in knowing who your dealer was, as a matter of interest.