Advice - bought a dodgy car

GEIRAIRD

Hello everyone,

New here so hope I am in the right section.

I purchased (2 weeks ago) a cheap Peugeot 307 (€750) and noticed when I drove it there was a hesitation in the accelerator. Mentioned this to the garage who was selling it and they put it down to the car being low on petrol.

They put in petrol and the hesitation got slightly better but was still there. He said it will be fine once given a good drive.

Took it to the Mechanic on Monday and got it back today saying they cannot fix it as they replaced the AFM, MAP Sensor, Throttle body & Lambda and the issue is still there. They also cleared the pipes where there was a massive build up of gunk (White). Their final conclusion was it may be the ECU.

I have tried ringing the man I purchased it from and he said ask the garage to ring him, my Garage did this and he never answered. Tried ringing him myself and no answer.

What are my options now? The garage removed all the parts and kindly only charged €70 for labour but my issue is with it being after Christmas I have no money for a new car and now have a car ready to break down in my drive.

Also, the Garage I purchased from is a well-established Garage in a small rural town, it's website also lists other cars for sale etc.

Thank you in advance for any help.

biko

Is sellers a real dealer of cars and not a private seller?

ArthurG

GEIRAIRD wrote: »

Also, the Garage I purchased from is a well-established Garage in a small rural town, it's website also lists other cars for sale etc.

If they’re well established you’d assume they have a reputation they want to protect. Call in, no drive in, in person, and speak to them 1 to 1. Too easy to evade by phone.

GEIRAIRD

ArthurG wrote: »

If they’re well established you’d assume they have a reputation they want to protect. Call in, no drive in, in person, and speak to them 1 to 1. Too easy to evade by phone.

Thanks for the replies!

Yeah planning on doing that this weekend but my big fear is that they will say 'You bought it as you saw it, tough ****'.

In regards to a real car dealer, I don't know, (I can't link the website as I am new) there site seems pretty legit in terms of selling cars.

porsche boy

A car at 750 from a dealer will be treated as a 'trade sale' by the garage, effectivally sold as seen, no warranty etc. Before you go in read up on consumer rights 'item being of merchantable quality' basically fit for purpose.
If your told it was a 'trade sale' politely inform them your not in 'the trade' and as such you were a retail customer buying from a reputable garage. Request a refund of your money and it can be left at that. If not you will consult citizens information and follow it up with a local solicitor in the town.
Good luck.

EDIT: dont buy another French car.

bazz26

OP it sounds like you bought a dog. Little good to you now I know but the time to have a mechanic look at a car is when your buying rather than afterwards. Buying a really cheap car from a dealer is rarely a good idea as they are cheap for a reason, usually because they took someone else's trouble off their hands and want rid of it. You really need to know what your looking at or have someone with you who does. I know you say money is tight but that means you have to be extra careful when spending it so that you don't end up in these type of situations.

I'm not sure what you can do now, maybe go back in there and ask for your money back but it does sound like these people are not going to be interested in doing that.

Another option maybe is if the car was like that when you bought it, is the small claims court where you lodge a case against them for either recouping the cost of fixing the car or a refund. Not sure how successful you would be but either the threat of doing this might spur them into doing something. Yes it's a very cheap car but if it had that issue since you bought it then to me the car was not fit for purpose and under the sale of goods act they should be obliged to either fix it or give a refund. I'm no legal expert so maybe talk to someone in the Citizen's Advice Bureau or Consumer Rights to see if you have a case. Small Claims Court only costs €25 to lodge a case so it's worth finding out if stand a chance going down this path.

bazz26

porsche boy wrote: »

EDIT: dont buy another French car without having it checked out first.

FYP.

porsche boy

bazz26 wrote:

FYP.

Five Year Plan ????

bazz26

FYP - Fixed Your Post.

colm_mcm

White gunk doesn’t sound good, where did they find that?

clfy39tzve8njq

GEIRAIRD wrote:

a cheap Peugeot 307

That's your problem right there.
Seriously though all you can do is go and talk to the seller. I wouldn't go wading in shouting about the law and what your entitlements are.
Be calm and ask him what he's going to do about sorting it out for you. As someone said already he may not want his name dragged through the mud for €750

porsche boy

bazz26 wrote:

FYP - Fixed Your Post.

I stand by my origional comment.

Toyotafanboi

Yeah, the problem is mainly that 307's are crap and cheap ones will be extra crap.

I'd ask for my money back, if they are sound they'll give it to you as it's such a small amount. If they aren't sound you're somewhat up **** creek. Sure you can drag them to SCC and all, but for €750 is it worth it? It's be easier to just get the car fixed.

Tbh I don't believe your mechanic had an AFM, MAP sensor, throttle body and o2 sensor all brand new on the shelf for a relatively obscure model, fitted them all, thus making them unreturnable and then removed them all when they didn't work. That didn't happen. Their final conclusion that it "might" be the ECU doesn't really sound that final to me. Maybe he'll have one of those brand new on the shelf too, fit it, then remove it when it doesn't fix the problem, not charge you and continue to guess at what's actually wrong with the car.

The mechanic sounds as bad as the dealer.

My advice. Ask dealer for a refund. If unsuccessful, get a new mechanic.

GEIRAIRD

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah, the problem is mainly that 307's are crap and cheap ones will be extra crap.

I'd ask for my money back, if they are sound they'll give it to you as it's such a small amount. If they aren't sound you're somewhat up **** creek. Sure you can drag them to SCC and all, but for €750 is it worth it? It's be easier to just get the car fixed.

Tbh I don't believe your mechanic had an AFM, MAP sensor, throttle body and o2 sensor all brand new on the shelf for a relatively obscure model, fitted them all, thus making them unreturnable and then removed them all when they didn't work. That didn't happen. Their final conclusion that it "might" be the ECU doesn't really sound that final to me. Maybe he'll have one of those brand new on the shelf too, fit it, then remove it when it doesn't fix the problem, not charge you and continue to guess at what's actually wrong with the car.

The mechanic sounds as bad as the dealer.

My advice. Ask dealer for a refund. If unsuccessful, get a new mechanic.

Thanks for your reply but the car was in the garage for 4 days and each day they had to order a new part in order to see if that was the issue.

GEIRAIRD

colm_mcm wrote: »

White gunk doesn’t sound good, where did they find that?

Inside one of the pipes, not sure of the actual name of the area.

Seen it myself and it looked pretty rough

clfy39tzve8njq

GEIRAIRD wrote:

Thanks for your reply but the car was in the garage for 4 days and each day they had to order a new part in order to see if that was the issue.

But that's not how to go about repairing a car. That's just throwing parts at it and hoping.

GEIRAIRD

Aitana Important Human wrote: »

But that's not how to go about repairing a car. That's just throwing parts at it and hoping.

They were replacing the parts based off the faults shown up on diagnostics, I'm no mechanic but can only go off their word. They've been around for 20+ years so I've faith in their methods

NickNickleby

I'm not a mechanic, which is probably about to become obvious

When I saw mention of 'white gunk' my first thought was Cylinder Head gasket. Water and oil mixing, and then perhaps leaking into one of the cylinder causing mis-fire.

Same symptoms in a car many, many years ago. Took all the plugs out, and cranked the engine. Load of gunk was ejected from one plughole.

However, before this, the additional symptom was also present : lots of white smoke (water vapour actually) from the exhaust .

However, I'd be surprised if a mechanic missed this. I'm also mightily surprised that a mechanic would fit a load of parts 'in the hope' of fixing the problem. Especially expensive parts. Not to mention the labour.

Edit: sorry, my reply is in fact off-topic. However, I put it here to suggest that the fault diagnosis is not brilliant, and to offer another suggestion.

I believe you won't get your money back, you'll be told you bought it as is, and were happy to take it away, even having noted the misfire. So, I'm hoping to point you in the right direction for identifying the fault. Given the amount of work involved I'd say CH gasket problems are probably expensive , as the head itself might also be damaged. In my own case it was a DIY job with advice from a mechanic. Never again....

Bandito909

Is the dealer registered with SIMI?

Can you describe in better detail what is wrong? Is it just a misfire?

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

clfy39tzve8njq

draiochtanois wrote:

This post has been deleted.

If you've nothing to contribute why post ?

Bandito909

draiochtanois wrote: »

Sorry, but what do you expect for €750? That's the price of a decent bicycle

Proper asshat thing to say, you've no idea of the OPs circumstances.

clfy39tzve8njq

Bandito909 wrote:

Proper asshat thing to say, you've no idea of the OPs circumstances.

Exactly