Garage sale issue

La Bamba

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong location for this sort of thing but some advice on this would be greatly appreciated as my knowledge of motors is quite poor.

I purchased a used car through a car dealership in Mid March (just before the lock-down). The reason I chose this dealership was the fact that they offer a complimentary 3 month post sale warranty  so I felt that  should something go wrong, I would be able to come back and get this fixed. I brought it for a drive and I experienced no issued with this so I made the decision to purchase this vehicle.

Roughly 4 weeks weeks ago I began to notice the a grinding noise coming from the back drivers side of the vehicle when I drove around roundabouts. I decided to contact the dealer to get it looked at. I sent them an email which I never got a reply to however once I managed to get in contact over the phone they told me to drop it in to take  a look at it. When I arrived the dealer got their mechanic to drive the car and they felt there was no issues with it. I asked the mechanic to come with me for a  drive and when I brought it around the roundabout apparently only I could hear noise coming from the car. I asked them whether they would take a look at it and they said that given that the sound was so intermittent, they felt it was a very minor issue and if it got any worse they would be happy to take a look.

Given their lack of concern regarding my flags, my trust in them at this stage was completely gone so I opted to bring my vehicle to a local garage for a service for piece of mind that I was not just paranoid (I mentioned nothing about any problems). The garage has now come back to me and reported multiple issues with the car, including worn brake's (front and back) and a dangerously worn rear bushing. Given the obvious risks of driving a vehicle with the above issues, I have opted to get this mechanic to replace them while its in the garage.

Given that I have driven less than 300 miles in this vehicle since purchasing, I feel there was very little time for these issues to develop in my time with the car. With this in mind, I feel  that I may have been sold a vehicle which to put it mildly was below a merchantable quality.

Would anyone have any advice regarding the above situation or have had to have dealt with something similar in the past? If so, it would be greatly appreciated as its a very stressful situation for me at the moment.

bazz26

If you get the work done elsewhere then it is very unlikely the dealer you bought it from will reimburse you for the work. You need to go back to the dealer you bought it from and ask them to address the issues, otherwise pay to get it done by the garage that serviced it and move on. How old is the car?

Del2005

La Bamba wrote: »

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong location for this sort of thing but some advice on this would be greatly appreciated as my knowledge of motors is quite poor.

I purchased a used car through a car dealership in Mid March (just before the lock-down). The reason I chose this dealership was the fact that they offer a complimentary 3 month post sale warranty  so I felt that  should something go wrong, I would be able to come back and get this fixed. I brought it for a drive and I experienced no issued with this so I made the decision to purchase this vehicle.

Roughly 4 weeks weeks ago I began to notice the a grinding noise coming from the back drivers side of the vehicle when I drove around roundabouts. I decided to contact the dealer to get it looked at. I sent them an email which I never got a reply to however once I managed to get in contact over the phone they told me to drop it in to take  a look at it. When I arrived the dealer got their mechanic to drive the car and they felt there was no issues with it. I asked the mechanic to come with me for a  drive and when I brought it around the roundabout apparently only I could hear noise coming from the car. I asked them whether they would take a look at it and they said that given that the sound was so intermittent, they felt it was a very minor issue and if it got any worse they would be happy to take a look.

Given their lack of concern regarding my flags, my trust in them at this stage was completely gone so I opted to bring my vehicle to a local garage for a service for piece of mind that I was not just paranoid (I mentioned nothing about any problems). The garage has now come back to me and reported multiple issues with the car, including worn brake's (front and back) and a dangerously worn rear bushing. Given the obvious risks of driving a vehicle with the above issues, I have opted to get this mechanic to replace them while its in the garage.

Given that I have driven less than 300 miles in this vehicle since purchasing, I feel there was very little time for these issues to develop in my time with the car. With this in mind, I feel  that I may have been sold a vehicle which to put it mildly was below a merchantable quality.

Would anyone have any advice regarding the above situation or have had to have dealt with something similar in the past? If so, it would be greatly appreciated as its a very stressful situation for me at the moment.

You've ruined any chance of getting a comeback by allowing the 2nd garage work on the car. If you'd left the car alone and sent the list of issues to the original garage then you had the protection of the "sale of goods and supply of services act" , but since you've started work on the car without giving original garage any chance you are in not in a good place to get a decent outcome

La Bamba

Thanks for your reply, folks.

Yeah, I do realise that involving another 3rd party may have damaged my hopes alright.
However, I did go to the garage in question with concerns and they felt that the vehicle was ok based upon their assessment when driving it.

The car is 8 years old and while I fully understand that a car of that age may develop issues, this garage claim that they carry out a very high detailed mechanical check prior to selling any vehicle (A reason why I chose this garage). To me, the list of issues that occurred (after such a short amount of miles) would say otherwise.

I feel that while I am in the right in saying I have been very naive in my trust of this individuals promises but justifiably aggrieved, I might have damaged any hope with the involvement of the 3rd garage from a legal perspective.

screamer

I had issues with a garage also with a car I purchased last year, but my God did they make it difficult to get fixed under their warranty. It would have been cheaper for me to just get it done myself than all the time off work and diagnostics in another garage that I had to pay for. Anyways simply to say in my opinion garage guarantees are not worth the paper they’re written on, and important to get any car checked over before you part with your money.

JustAThought

you could get in to the CCCP -competition & consumer protection agency/quango - and see what they have to say - they won’t be able to enforce anything but would say if second hand car dealerships fall within the leglislation and what merit their warrantee has. If they were covered under consumer law then you could put it in writing to the garage and ask them to refund the money you paid in the faults. If they dont reply in writing within a requested x days of time write again requesting it within x length of time, and then take it to the small claims court - cost you twenty euro and no solicitor required.Thing is, I have a suspicion second hard cars are exempt from some consumer law but that may not be the case anymore - given that it was dangerous ( brakes) you may have some comeback under
the not fit for purpose goods and services description. sorry for all the hassle you’ve had - you didn’t deserve that. Did you video the sound?

cpoh1

No matter where you buy a car you should be looking at upcoming service items and building them into the sale. Whether thats just an oil service, brakes or timing belt.

Unfortunately brake pads and discs are service items and wouldnt fall under a warranty claim. The bushes maybe but they are small money depending on the car anyway.

My advise, take the hit with your mechanic and move on, too much hassle and likely wasted effort to follow up now.

cpoh1

JustAThought wrote: »

you could get in to the CCCP

I just think thats terrible advise. Lots of effort for absolutely no outcome. This isin't a catastrophic engine failure we are talking about. Its a bushing and worn consumables on an 8 year old car...

punisher5112

These items should have been picked up pre sale.

It honestly doesn't surprise me one but though as many garages I've known over the years would occasionally service if real bad but mostly checked levels and sent car off as fully serviced....

In future op get the car checked before handing over cash or at least bring someone that knows cars..... Not going to help now I know but in future.

If still go back with receipt and have you kept old parts? If you can bring them in the boot.
I'd rock up and be looking for at least a gesture towards costs....

La Bamba

Hi, thank you all for your advice.

I think I may have to take the hit with this one.
From talking to someone offline who had a similar used car issue , the time an effort going into getting relatively small money at the end of the day is probably not worth it. Its just disappointing that you cant take someone at their word and their overall lack of shame in selling something off knowing what state the brakes were in (According to the local Mechanic, he felt they would have went entirely within the next month).

I will however, contact the Garage who sold me the car and tell them exactly what had to be done with my car however, I'm not expecting to tell me that they will cover the costs. I will be writing an objective review of my experience on their Facebook Page which will detail the facts regarding my purchase and the events I have described in this thread.

A lesson learned today at least, I will be going into my next car purchase with a much more cynical and inquisitive mindset!

Thank you again for all the advice!

FrankC21

La Bamba wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, folks.

Yeah, I do realise that involving another 3rd party may have damaged my hopes alright.
However, I did go to the garage in question with concerns and they felt that the vehicle was ok based upon their assessment when driving it.

The car is 8 years old and while I fully understand that a car of that age may develop issues, this garage claim that they carry out a very high detailed mechanical check prior to selling any vehicle (A reason why I chose this garage). To me, the list of issues that occurred (after such a short amount of miles) would say otherwise.

I feel that while I am in the right in saying I have been very naive in my trust of this individuals promises but justifiably aggrieved, I might have damaged any hope with the involvement of the 3rd garage from a legal perspective.

What car is it?

La Bamba

FrankC21 wrote: »

What car is it?

Toyota Corolla 120k Miles

Del2005

JustAThought wrote: »

you could get in to the CCCP -competition & consumer protection agency/quango - and see what they have to say - they won’t be able to enforce anything but would say if second hand car dealerships fall within the leglislation and what merit their warrantee has. If they were covered under consumer law then you could put it in writing to the garage and ask them to refund the money you paid in the faults. If they dont reply in writing within a requested x days of time write again requesting it within x length of time, and then take it to the small claims court - cost you twenty euro and no solicitor required.Thing is, I have a suspicion second hard cars are exempt from some consumer law but that may not be the case anymore - given that it was dangerous ( brakes) you may have some comeback under
the not fit for purpose goods and services description. sorry for all the hassle you’ve had - you didn’t deserve that. Did you video the sound?

The OP can't do this as they've had a different garage work on the car so the original garage can now just blame the 2nd garage for any issues. Giving them deadlines and threatening with court now is a waste of time, they OP has already lost by authorising the 2nd garage to do the work without contacting the original garage with the issues.


All sales from a business to a private person are covered by consumer law so the OP had protection till they didn't follow the correct procedure to get issues rectified.