i bought a renault clio yesterday

lisaloo

and when i was driving it last night it was really hard to change it into second gear. then it was slipping into reverse on its own. i really dont know what to do. its my first car. not really a good start.
do i have any come back? any help please

Seth Brundle

where did you buy it? Garage or privately? If garage sale then go back. If private sale then get ready to pay your mechanic!

lisaloo

yeah i bought it from buy and sell. he didnt tell me anything about this when i took it for a test drive.

Seth Brundle

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it was 'sold as seen' and you have no comeback. You will need to pay to have it looked at/repaired.

bazz26

lisaloo wrote:

yeah i bought it from buy and sell. he didnt tell me anything about this when i took it for a test drive.

Well it is really up to the buyer to spot these things especially when buying private. Unfortunately you will have no comeback, I know it is of little comfort now but it is always best to have a mechanic check the car out before buying, if the seller is genuine and has nothing to hide then they will have no problem with you doing this.

But that is all water under the bridge now. Best thing to do is bring it to a mechanic and have them check it out. Don't bother with a main dealer either unless you have no choice as they will overcharge at any opportunity. Surely you have a friend or family member that brings their car to an independant mechanic as they will be alot cheaper.

ambro25

Hang on, hang on a sec...

Did you explicitly ask the seller if there was any problem with the car?

And (if that is the case) did the seller explicitly tell you that there wasn't any (or listed problems but omitted the gearbox one)?

If 'yes' both answers, that is a classic "misdescription of article for sale" (or somesuch under Irish Statutes, I am more familiar with UK ones ) and should be actionable in Court, private 'sale-as-seen' or not.

It all depends on what was said.

bmoferrall

A friend who's uncle is a car dealer told me that even private sales of this type come with an implicit 3 month guarantee: something to the effect that the goods sold must be as described or 'fit for purpose'. Apparently, he knows a couple of people who've been successfully compensated on this basis.
Might be worth contacting the consumer association (http://www.consumerassociation.ie/)

kluivert

'Sold as seen' applies to contracts, if you could convince a judge in a small claims court that the car was not 'sold as seen' then you may get your money back. From what i have read, you should always get a receipt for when buying a private second hand car. If this receipt does not state sold as seen by the seller then they left themselves open to some come back by you, otherwise its your word against his or do you have any witnesses with you at the time.

To be serious, your probably stuck with the car because i know someone will comment on the above statement. Its probably the gear linkage, is it an oldish car. Does the gear stick shake a good bit, this is a sign that it is worn. i have a '94 clio sitting outside the house, there this yr now, good cars but have to be regularly maintened.

lomb

could be the linkage or it needs a newgearbox, factor in 500 to do it cheaply if the latter.

drdre

it might be that a new gearbox is needed or new clutch as this happened to me and i brougt it back to a garage and he got a new gearbox for my vw golf. it cost him 600 yoyos to install as i seen the recipt.

so get ready to pay. you should always buy from a cheap garage as you u have back up where as buy and sell there is mostly a problem in the car thats why they sell them cheap and theres no warranty.
anyway good luck

lisaloo

Did you explicitly ask the seller if there was any problem with the car?

And (if that is the case) did the seller explicitly tell you that there wasn't any (or listed problems but omitted the gearbox one)?

i did ask if there were any problems with the car and indeed he did tell me there was not. he actually told me that he changed the gear box in the last month.

Seth Brundle

lisaloo wrote:

i did ask if there were any problems with the car and indeed he did tell me there was not. he actually told me that he changed the gear box in the last month.

did you or a professional examine the g/b then? When you test drove it, what was it like?
Is the g/b under warranty? Who changed it?

Saruman

Not to be smart or anything but a clio has one of them funky lift a catch slightly on the gear stick to reverse things. So are you absolutly positive you are not accidently lifting that up when you are driving? You might not realise it.

Probably is a fault but just try to be certain its not you causing it.