Small claims court or solicitor?

kinselm25

Hi, I'm very new to all this and I'll try keep this as brief as possible.

Basically I bought a 4x4 in late December. I found the ad online and the vehicle seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. My mechanic could not come with me to view the vehicle because it was too far away, so I set off and brought a friend from the area with me.

Over the course of the test drive, in a nutshell, I was told when I questioned the car dealer specifically, that 1)the vehicle had been serviced regularly and comes fully serviced, 2) had 4 nearly new tyres that were 'safe', 3) had no major work done to it, ever, and 4) came with a 3 month warranty, which I was told as I signed the contract didn't include the injectors, I know nothing of cars so I asked what condition the injectors were in and were told they were 'perfect'.

Since I have the car I brought it to my mechanic to have a check and get it serviced as I felt it was a little rough. A little while after I dropped it off my mechanic rang me and explained that the filters in the car were in a dire condition and clearly the car hadn't been serviced in a few years. He said the tyres were not 'nearly new', actually they were showing to be very old, with cracks, the car is an '06, there was an '07 engine in it, and the 3rd injector was leaking, and had been for sometime (he knew this by the build up of tar where the leak is).

I explained all this to the dealer, and was told he could bring my mechanic to court for making false statement. The dealer made it very clear he was going to do nothing to fix the issues I outlined. I made a formal complaint. Nothing. So I looked into bringing him to the small claims court.

Today the car died, and failed to restart. I was about 50km away from home, so I have to pay towing costs. A near by garage had a quick look to see if it was something simple, it was not, and my mechanic said to bring it back and he would work on it.

I explained this to the dealer, he now says the warranty covers 'internal lubricated parts of the engine and gearbox' (if anyone can explain what the difference between that and the whole engine and gearbox I would love to know!!) and he will not cover towing the vehicle to him, 2 and 1/2 hours away.

I know when it comes to all this car buying I have been pretty naive, but I think he completely misrepresented the car and I want my money back (ideally), I don't think €2000 max claim of the small claims court will sort all the issues and I don't want to start getting the problems fixed if they go over that amount. So, do I have enough of a claim to actually bring him to court over? I have the original ad which contain some of the original claims he made, my friend was witness to all the verbal claims, and my mechanic will stand by what he said, he even kept the filters he took out of the car.

Mr. Incognito

Caveat emptor

You dont have much comeback on a private sale

Chalk it down to inexperience, learn and move on

cerastes

He said it was from a car dealer, how much was the car op?

Pat Mustard

kinselm25 wrote: »

Over the course of the test drive, in a nutshell, I was told when I questioned the car dealer specifically, that 1)the vehicle had been serviced regularly and comes fully serviced, 2) had 4 nearly new tyres that were 'safe', 3) had no major work done to it, ever, and 4) came with a 3 month warranty, which I was told as I signed the contract didn't include the injectors, I know nothing of cars so I asked what condition the injectors were in and were told they were 'perfect'. .

I assume that the vehicle cost significantly more than €2k. It would be important to know the cost of the vehicle.

If you were told the above details about the condition of the vehicle and if you are prepared to get into a witness box and swear up to that effect, then see a solicitor. You will have to be prepared to fork out for a motor assessor's report which should cost in the region of €300 plus VAT.

A motor assessor's report is key in a car repair case.

kinselm25

Car was €4500, not a massive amount, but i saved for a long time to get it.

I am fully prepared to swear to what he said, it's true, he told me about some other faults with the car that I have no problem with because I knew about them.

Think I will have a chat with my solicitor anyway, and see what she think.

Thank you!!

timetogo

This site has some info on what to do when you've bought a car from a dealer.

http://www.consumerhelp.ie/cars-rights-wrong
The last section looks interesting.

You said you questioned the dealer. Is there anything in writing? e.g. 3 month warranty?
I don't know how much worth your swearing is? (I'm not in anyway legal). I'd guess the dealer would just swear he didn't say what he did.