Bought a car which is now broken...

[David072]

Long story short, bought a car 2 weeks ago for £6,750 from a small dealer and yesterday it broke down on the motorway. Cut out and wouldn't start again. Breakdown took me home and today I had it taken to specialist VW garage (it's a Skoda) who've given me the good news that the repairs will be £4k! Essentially the fuel pump disintegrated so they've said, and not only will that need replacing (a £1k part apparently) but the injectors need sorting, fuel tank needs complete cleaning because of contamination etc. Basically, a huge repair job.

Having only had it 2 weeks obviously I want to return it to the dealer. I know this will be a massive pain, I called earlier before I had it taken to a garage and they said the guy I need to speak to isn't in until Friday. I expect they won't want to take the car back or give a refund or anything!

What should I do in this situation? If I claim on insurance (can I even do this? I'm fully comp) I expect they'll write the car off. I paid with a debit card. Really don't think the people I bought it off will be forthcoming at all, and annoyingly I really need a car right now - I still have the bike fortunately but I bought this as my gf goes back to work in a couple of weeks and I need a car to drive our daughter to her nans when she's at work.

Any thoughts or help in this situation would be much appreciated!

[Minty]

Is it on finance? If so ring them and discuss.

Any legal assistance as part of your home insurance? Have a check.

Citizens Advice.

My car broke after 13days from a dealer couple of months back. Solicitor told me not fit for purpose as has not lasted a reasonable amount of time. To be fair dealer was excellent and I ended up with a much better car.
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My fingers smell of your mum.

[Itchy]

I think you can try the car not fit for purpose route under the Sale of goods act 1979. Which kind of says it's supposed to do what cars do for a reasonable period.


IIRC as it isn't a car that costs beer money you can reasonably expect it to do car type things for a reasonable period.

[arry]

That prognosis report reads like you told them it's a new buy from a dealer with a warranty and they're angling for the work. Seriously?

[David072]

Wouldn't say they're angling for the work, the green flag guy said he suspected fuel pump issue too and couldn't work it out himself as no fault codes came up on his machine. The garage it's been taken to is one I trust, a friend has had his VWs services by them for years and recommended.

Paid in full on debit card so no finance or credit card company to talk to.

Given the response from the dealer so far, ie guy to talk to away until Friday, I don't imagine they'll be very forthcoming with helping out! Even if I go down the sales of good act how will they actually be made to pay up? Expect it'll be a very long process too

[P.]

Get dealer to pick up. Get refund. Buy a private car, non Skoda, Civic Type R or S2000. Would never buy a car from a dealer due to working in one and seeing the bodgery that goes on.

[DieselASFC]

Try sort it out amicably with the dealer. If not, reject the car.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-rejecting-a-second-hand-car-bought-from-a-dealer

[arry]

Do bear in mind any car you buy second hand isn't going to be new and could do with some cash spent on it.

Cleaning fuel tank for contamination sounds like a belter. Why? What's contaminated it?

A grand for a fuel pump alone itself? I'd be highly surprised - can I ask which car this is?

[David072]

[chris-red]

[bugeye_bob]

as asked, what contaminated the tank?
If you have put petrol in the pump would die as the diesel lubricated it, if this is the case the garage will laugh at you.

[David072]

[Pete.]

[Islander]

Fuel pump or injector pump?

[David072]

[arry]

[David072]

I guess my overriding question is, given the guy on the phone was no help and said the person to speak to isn't there until Friday, I assume I will have problems returning the car and getting a refund amicably if at all. Car is at garage now, what do I actually do with it from here? Can't just leave it there And assume they won't talk or collect it until Friday if at all.

[P.]

Get it dropped onto their forecourt with " 2 weeks in and it broke, still waiting for refund " posters all over it.

[andys675]

try watchdog, you can report it online

if no joy with dealer, court then sheriffs
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Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

[Wonko The Sane]

Step back just a moment,

it's August and many people are away,

For a small dealership it may be that the decision is usually made by one person who happens to be on holiday / mum is in hospital / just had a baby or any other reason for being off.

As he's back in on Friday they've chosen to ask you (hopefully politely) to wait until Friday to speak with him as he's got more options (within the company) to resolve it for you.

I've got a customer at work who I asked on Friday to wait until tomorrow (tuesday) as my manager is back in from her holidays as bad planning meant the two manager's holidays overlapped on friday and monday.

Unfortunately this leaves you without a car unlike my customer who's without his letterheads.

If things don't go smoothly on Friday then it's pitchfork time.
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[owl10]

But Diesel does do about 6 MPG more than petrol, so the added complexity of high pressure fuel pumps etc is worth it.. right?

Unless you're doing more than 20k a year petrol is often the better choice.

Anyway, and now that's out of the way, Sale of Goods Act all the way.

SOGA means it has to be of satisfactory quality and fit for the purpose intended, Given you've spent the best part of 7k you'd expect it to work.


One important thing though -

SOGA isnt about simply getting financial compensation, it doesn't work like that.

You need to give the seller reasonable time to respond and react, from a read of your post i got the impression you had someone else diagnose the issues - who then told you the bill is 4k?

If you've gone and got someone else to work on it without informing the seller, they are within their rights to tell you to jog on , and certainly If the garage do offer to have it back and repair it, they don't have to pay (although they might) for any of the diagnosis youve had done elsewhere;

I mean you wouldn't buy a telly from Currys, find it broke, let Argos have a crack at fixing it then take it back to Currys would you.
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DanceLikeAMonkey says: "An infinte amount of web pages available
Yet I still end up reading crap like that"

[MattEMulsion]

I think that you have to give the dealer a chance to fix the fault before you can reject the vehicle. That said if I were you I would arrange to get the car towed to the dealers premises asap so by the time Friday comes along they will know you mean business. If you go at them all guns blazing then you may get their backs up, be a little more diplomatic but firm and they may just treat you right.
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[owl10]

[Ben90]

Don't you normally get a 3 month warranty as an absolute minimum when bought from a dealer? They commonly get around this when selling the car as 'spares and repairs' even though it's a runner, I doubt they'd do this with a 2010 car though.

The lift pump posted above is cheap and probably fine. Sounds like it's the high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) which has shat itself and is possibly the most expensive part of the entire car.

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=286380

I'm glad I bought an old PD lump.

[P.]