Car BHP not as advertised

ifElseThen

Hi,
My mate bought a car believing it was a more sought after, rarer model of that particular car, shelling out 25k for it, thinking it was the more sought after, rarer, model.
He's since found out that the car he bought is not the model advertised by the SIMI dealer.
E.g, no cruise control, 30BHP less than advertised.
Should he be looking for some money back by way of compensation or can he return it for the full refund?

Thanks in advance...

Chimaera

He'll need to prove that the car was mis-advertised. If he can then the dealer hasn't a leg to stand on.

bucketybuck

ifElseThen wrote: »

Hi,
My mate bought a car believing it was a more sought after, rarer model of that particular car, shelling out 25k for it, thinking it was the more sought after, rarer, model.
He's since found out that the car he bought is not the model advertised by the SIMI dealer.
E.g, no cruise control, 30BHP less than advertised.
Should he be looking for some money back by way of compensation or can he return it for the full refund?

Thanks in advance...

How did he not spot any of this on a road test? Cruise control for example, how did he not know the car didn't have it?

bazz26

He would have been in a stronger position prior to buying it rather than afterwards.

Caliden

The BHP could be something that he could go on, cruise control not so much as it's apparent once you sit in the driver's seat.

How does he know the BHP is 30 less than advertised? If it's an old car it's normal to lose some power over the years if not maintained properly.

Alanstrainor

Caliden wrote: »

The BHP could be something that he could go on, cruise control not so much as it's apparent once you sit in the driver's seat.

How does he know the BHP is 30 less than advertised? If it's an old car it's normal to lose some power over the years if not maintained properly.

We're talking about advertised power from the factory, not what the dyno says...

OP, do you have a link to the ad online? Or any ad that indicates that the car is the higher model? If you do, take a screenshot and email it to yourself. This will help greatly.

emeldc

Would the 'rare' model have sold for a lot more than €25k. Perhaps the advert had a typo. If there was a vast difference in price, maybe it should have been obvious that the car your mate was buying wasn't the 'rare' one. Also surely there would be more differences than cruise control and 30bhp.

MuppetCheck

I'm guessing a VAG diesel of some sorts?

ifElseThen

It's a 2012 VAG diesel. The price he paid would be around the price for the higher spec model he was looking for. He copped the lower BHP when he got the logbook in the post.
He managed to find a cached version of the original ad so suppose he'll just have to see what the dealer offers.
The dealer isn't contesting the issue that it's not the model he advertised. He just hasn't come back with anything in the form of compensation.
The cruise control is not important to my mate, that was just something he saw on the ad it's more that it's just not the model he was looking for.

YbFocus

It's impossibly hilarious that you were correct muppetcheck

Alanstrainor

ifElseThen wrote: »

It's a 2012 VAG diesel. The price he paid would be around the price for the higher spec model he was looking for. He copped the lower BHP when he got the logbook in the post.
He managed to find a cached version of the original ad so suppose he'll just have to see what the dealer offers.
The dealer isn't contesting the issue that it's not the model he advertised. He just hasn't come back with anything in the form of compensation.
The cruise control is not important to my mate, that was just something he saw on the ad it's more that it's just not the model he was looking for.

Save the cached ad, and just see what happens from now. Could have been an honest mistake. But I would think there should money compensated given that he would have paid above what would have been expected for the lower model.

mloc123

Is it comfortline vs highline or something? Probably comfortline vs trendline if it doesn't even have cruise control.

bazz26

MuppetCheck wrote: »

I'm guessing a VAG diesel of some sorts?

+1.

If your talking about 2.0 TDi 140bhp v 2.0 TDi (170bhp) then there really is not a massive difference when it comes to second hand prices. 1.9 TDi (105bhp) v 2.0 TDi (140bhp) is a different matter though as there would be a noticeable difference in second hand values between the old and new engines.

To put things into perspective the car I recently bought wasn't advertised as having some of the extras it had either. Dealer didn't even realize it had factory sat nav until I was collecting it and asked about updating the maps.

MarkR

Exactly the same as what I was thinking. Was thinking maybe a fake octavia vrs!

MuppetCheck

What model is it? The cruise can be added to most of them. If he didn't miss the power and likes the car get a cruise retrofit and a service or two. Unless it's a fake VRS I can't see it making much of a difference to the value in the future.

ninty9er

Did he not think to check the details before spending €25k on an almost new car? Lots of dealers just have someone in an office updating carzone and they'll often reuse old text for similar vehicles without knowing.

I think everything apart from that gas been covered.

colm_mcm

You'd think you'd notice 30 bhp missing, ie before the logbook came out?

Also, easy to be wise now, but did your mate not do a history check?