Massive headache with N4 Cars

ironclaw

@Dublin Mum19, what is the car and what is the problem? I ask as it largely depends on if the garage is responsible e.g A car with 300k km on it and the turbo fails is not the fault of the garage, likewise a brake pads / clutch wearing out (Unless they were sold as being serviced in Sept. 2015) is not a reasonable issue for the garage to address.

Did you not go back to the garage in Oct 2015? If you did, was any action taken? Did the car come with a warranty?

shietpilot

"N4 Car Sales" is the correct registered business name. If you're looking for the company name, I am not sure. You might have to ring the Company Registrations Office.

Dublin Mum19

shietpilot Thank you thats very helpful

glic71rods46t0

There are 2 registered names "N4 Car Sales"
first business name is owned by Terence McGovern with an address of 23 Finnstown Hall apartments Haydens lane Lucan Co Dublin

the second business name is owned by TMCH Holdings Ltd with an address of 925 Ladycastle The K Club Straffan Co Kildare. This company has no assets and is owned by............................................................................................................................................. yes, you've guessed it Terence McGovern, now with an address of 925 Ladycastle The K Club Straffan Co Kildare

Dublin Mum19

@Fencer if I end up going further on this which one should I use in putting the complaint to the registered name or the TMCH Holding Ltd?

ironclaw

@Dublin Mum19, I got your PM and as regards content, I see no objection to posting it publicly, but I will leave it up to you.

The chain of events however is:

- Warranty for 3 months
- Minor problem in Nov, N4 Cars mechanic sorted this.

What I don't understand is when you had the larger problems, Dec to now, did you rectify them and with whom?

At the end of the day, the warranty was for 3 months (Which is an absolute red flag btw) so after December, they are effectively off the hook in terms of paying for the repair. What you will need to do now is prove the car was defective in the first place, almost 7 months after the sale. This is going to be incredibly hard to do, if not impossible. You'll need to show that you brought the car back within a time frame, that you gave ample opportunity for the car to be fixed and failing that, reports from independent and verifiable garages that the car needed significant repairs only a short time after the sale i.e. You couldn't say a report from Feb 2016 reflected the state of the car in August 2015.

My personal advice is fix the car as best you can, get it roadworthy, and sell it. The chances of you winning a case against any car dealer is slim with a large expense and time effort to do so. Cars, on the whole, are filled with consumable items. Its a grey area to say how long a certain part should last i.e. How long is a seller on the hook for a clutch? Pads or brakes? It would be quite different based on the driver i.e. A taxi driver might do a set of pads in 3 months, an old dear going to mass might take 3 years. Another example might be 'long term' parts such as coil packs or turbos, these eventually go based on use but it might only be once in the lifetime of the car. Is the seller obliged to account for these things? Or is the buyer supposed to have done their homework and understand 'Yes, this car is known to need coilpacks at X miles' Its not cut and dry. You can't strictly apply the standard consumer sale acts as you just can't compare a household good to a car.

I'd like to state, I'm absolutely on your side in terms of justice for a fair price for a fair car, and I have zero connection to the trade, I'm just warning you that brass necks are extra thick in the car game and you're unlikely to see a cent of the money or effort you put in.

Dublin Mum19

This is the exact reason Why I did not go back in Dec. My warranty run out on fist week of Dec and last week in Dec engine light went on. So he will just tell me im out of warranty.

Thats why I said to myself get it fix maybe its just some thing small I did not mind paying for it . But Now That I got a full report from the Brand Maker This will cost me near to a thousand maybe more aside from the 500 euro i have spend so far.

All I did is 3500 Miles since I got the car can that make Breakpads 90% gone and Break disk to be replace after 3 months of driving? If it serviced and Check before it was given to me? Problem of the gear stick still remains but as per the brand maker this just need to extract the oil and clean and change the oil surely this should have been done when they service the car before it was given to me.

Im a mum of two and work parttime I havent got much money to fix a car every little things in the car. So im trying to concentrate on fixing the big problem for months. For the same reason why I bought this car in Sept thinking if I bought a car from a garage it will be NCT , serviced , all in good conditioned as promised because it will save me more time and money but its NOT. Just end up costing me more money and time wasted.

This is my 4th Car every time i bought the Car in the garage. I never had any of this kind of problem with other garage in the past. Never had a breakdown or service required after 3 months of buying a car from the other garage.
I thought there is more security in buying Cars from a garage. Until now:(

Shocking to see that im not the only one with this problem with N4 Cars there seems to be a good amount of people has complaint about this garage. My car still in the Mechanic until now since Im left with no choice but to pay for it my self.
There must be a way to report this garage as its just not fair that people who workhard to save money to pay for a good car! believing its a good car has to suffer just not fair.

savagethegoat

as regards brakepads, there is nothing at all wrong with pads 90% gone. They wouldn't need replacing at a service with that wear.

If you buy a used car, you have to accept that many items will be worn and will need replacement at some stage, maybe almost straight away. That's why you should get a mechanic to check out a car, so that you know exactly how used it is.

Dublin Mum19

Break pads are the lease of My Concern but break disk need to be change and Engine problem ???

ironclaw

Dublin Mum19 wrote: »

Break pads are the lease of My Concern but break disk need to be change and Engine problem ???

Discs are once again consumables. They will not be changed in the course of a normal service. 'Service' is a very broad term. Most garages, its an oil change and filters. Nothing more. You certainly would not change pads, discs or other more expensive consumables unless they were needed. Its part and parcel of buying a car, these need to be checked. If they have not been done, and their is no documented history of them being done, and the mileage suggests they should be done, then this should be factored in the car.

That however, as you said, is the least of your worries. The engine problem needs a full diagnosis of what exactly is wrong. Remember, the issue you saw in Dec may have been fixed or be masking a deeper problem. As an example, a faulty MAF Sensor may actually be a breathing hose issue or perhaps a turbo leak. Cars are complex machines unfortunately.

The ultimately reality is, the car could have had an underlying fault that the dealer may have had no knowledge of. For example, I bought a car off a gent here on Boards and a few months later it needed the entire breather / air tubing system replaced. There's no way this could have been spotted when buying and its a common fault with the car in question. These things can and do happen. I don't hold any ill will at all, there is no way either of us would have been able to foresee the fault when we did the deal.

From what you have described, unless I'm missing something, I do believe the dealer acted in good faith and sold the car truthfully. I think you were just unlucky with an underlying fault. My personal advice is to cut your losses and run. Get the car roadworthy and sell it on.

porsche boy

savagethegoat wrote:

as regards brakepads, there is nothing at all wrong with pads 90% gone.

Are you being sarcastic?

savagethegoat

porsche boy wrote: »

Are you being sarcastic?

why would you think that? Brake pads 90% worn work just the same as new ones.

mickdw

savagethegoat wrote: »

why would you think that? Brake pads 90% worn work just the same as new ones.

Yes they do however it is expected that one will change items that won't reach next service. So if you take say 40k miles from a set of pads, that last 10 percent will only do 4k miles even if you can wear them right to the metal and they are all worn even.
Pads 90 percent worn are finished.

savagethegoat

they are 90% worn now, who knows how worn they were at the last service, which was months ago by all accounts. 3500 miles done, so they would have been around 80% at the service.....

pajo1981

Was thinking of buying a GS450 they have. Prob give them a miss now. Thanks for heads up.

shietpilot

I looked at a car there once and it didn't leave a positive vibe

Das Reich

I bought a skoda octavia 2008 more than an year ago. Car is great and I had no problem with. But you belive or not after days I brought the car home I did realized it came without the step tyre.

Truckermal

pajo1981 wrote: »

Was thinking of buying a GS450 they have. Prob give them a miss now. Thanks for heads up.

Ha Ha they still have it!