In November 2017, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreic and I bought a car from a local garage, subject to service and a 3 month warranty. Yesterday, at a County Court hearing, we obtained judgement in full against the garage (and Nationwide Building Society). I don't think I've ever been in a court building before, and certainly have never represented myself before a judge (against a Real Lawyer). I thought you might be interested in what went on. This is a bit of a lengthy tale, so I've split it into parts. This sequence of posts are public, so I've filed enough serial numbers of the names of people involved (hopefully). Please bear this in mind if you link to these posts.
In November of 2017,atreic and I wanted to replace our car for a newer model; a local garage had one for sale at a reasonable price, so we went to look. We took it for a test drive, it seemed OK. So we negotiated a price (including p/x for our old car), which included a service before sale and the garage's 3-month warranty. They also offered a 6-month warranty with a third party for a fee, but it ran alongside their warranty, so we decided it wasn't worth it. A week later (allowing time for them to service it), we returned to the garage and bought the car, using our Nationwide credit card.
We don't drive often, but it nonetheless rapidly became apparent that the cruise control was faulty - you'd be driving along (typically on a motorway) and it would suddenly cut out, which mean that you'd start slowing down. This was a bit alarming! It would then refuse to engage for a while. By Christmas, we were clear there was a problem (the first couple of times you wonder if you touched the brake or something).
atreic phoned the garage early in January (2018) to explain the problem; they asked for an email, which was then ignored. After chasing, they said she should bring it in, then sent her to a mechanic down the road who said he couldn't fix it as he didn't do electrical problems; then asked her to drive back to them to take her details (again!) and promised an appointment with an electrician would be arranged. Tumbleweed. atreic chased, to be told "oh, the warranty only covers engine and gearbox".
By this point, we were rather less happy about the garage's behaviour, and starting to worry about the state of the car they'd sold us. The car's MOT was due just after the 3 month warranty period expired, but we decided to get it MOT tested a bit early, becauseatreic had some driving coming up, and so that if the MOT found anything we could get it fixed under the warranty. Hollow laughter. The car failed the MOT - both front tyres were dangerous (down to the cords, cracked inner sidewalls), a bit of the suspension was knackered, and there were advisories on the state of the rear brakes "brake pads extremely low and almost worn out." So the car was stuck with the MOT-garage, who were at least content to store it for a little while while we worked out what to do - we didn't want to just fix it without speaking to the garage, since they might well say "we'll repair under the warranty, but only if our staff do the work".
There then follows several rounds of BS from the garage - they started with a "only engine and gearbox" line, but I suggested that a) no T&Cs had been provided b) they'd sold us an unroadworthy car, at which point they asked for an email and promised a rapid response. This was not forthcoming - we were given a series of "oh, you need to speak to Peter, they're in tomorrow"; "oh, no, try this evening"; "Oh, no, he's in Lanzarote" and similar. Eventually, after giving due warning, we get MOT-garage to fix the faults (except the cruise control).
We write to the garage, saying we want reimbursing for the repairs, and saying that we also want the cruise control fixed, and if they don't get back to us by [date] we'll also get the cruise control repaired, and send them the bill. We get a letter back from some lawyers saying they dispute liability for the repairs already done (and saying nothing of the cruise control). MOT-garage fix the cruise control (by replacing the switch gear in the steering wheel).
So by this point, it's late March, and we're about £1.3k out of pocket. We are Unimpressed.
atreic and I bought a car from a local garage, subject to service and a 3 month warranty. Yesterday, at a County Court hearing, we obtained judgement in full against the garage (and Nationwide Building Society). I don't think I've ever been in a court building before, and certainly have never represented myself before a judge (against a Real Lawyer). I thought you might be interested in what went on. This is a bit of a lengthy tale, so I've split it into parts. This sequence of posts are public, so I've filed enough serial numbers of the names of people involved (hopefully). Please bear this in mind if you link to these posts.In November of 2017,
atreic and I wanted to replace our car for a newer model; a local garage had one for sale at a reasonable price, so we went to look. We took it for a test drive, it seemed OK. So we negotiated a price (including p/x for our old car), which included a service before sale and the garage's 3-month warranty. They also offered a 6-month warranty with a third party for a fee, but it ran alongside their warranty, so we decided it wasn't worth it. A week later (allowing time for them to service it), we returned to the garage and bought the car, using our Nationwide credit card.We don't drive often, but it nonetheless rapidly became apparent that the cruise control was faulty - you'd be driving along (typically on a motorway) and it would suddenly cut out, which mean that you'd start slowing down. This was a bit alarming! It would then refuse to engage for a while. By Christmas, we were clear there was a problem (the first couple of times you wonder if you touched the brake or something).
atreic phoned the garage early in January (2018) to explain the problem; they asked for an email, which was then ignored. After chasing, they said she should bring it in, then sent her to a mechanic down the road who said he couldn't fix it as he didn't do electrical problems; then asked her to drive back to them to take her details (again!) and promised an appointment with an electrician would be arranged. Tumbleweed. atreic chased, to be told "oh, the warranty only covers engine and gearbox".By this point, we were rather less happy about the garage's behaviour, and starting to worry about the state of the car they'd sold us. The car's MOT was due just after the 3 month warranty period expired, but we decided to get it MOT tested a bit early, because
atreic had some driving coming up, and so that if the MOT found anything we could get it fixed under the warranty. Hollow laughter. The car failed the MOT - both front tyres were dangerous (down to the cords, cracked inner sidewalls), a bit of the suspension was knackered, and there were advisories on the state of the rear brakes "brake pads extremely low and almost worn out." So the car was stuck with the MOT-garage, who were at least content to store it for a little while while we worked out what to do - we didn't want to just fix it without speaking to the garage, since they might well say "we'll repair under the warranty, but only if our staff do the work".There then follows several rounds of BS from the garage - they started with a "only engine and gearbox" line, but I suggested that a) no T&Cs had been provided b) they'd sold us an unroadworthy car, at which point they asked for an email and promised a rapid response. This was not forthcoming - we were given a series of "oh, you need to speak to Peter, they're in tomorrow"; "oh, no, try this evening"; "Oh, no, he's in Lanzarote" and similar. Eventually, after giving due warning, we get MOT-garage to fix the faults (except the cruise control).
We write to the garage, saying we want reimbursing for the repairs, and saying that we also want the cruise control fixed, and if they don't get back to us by [date] we'll also get the cruise control repaired, and send them the bill. We get a letter back from some lawyers saying they dispute liability for the repairs already done (and saying nothing of the cruise control). MOT-garage fix the cruise control (by replacing the switch gear in the steering wheel).
So by this point, it's late March, and we're about £1.3k out of pocket. We are Unimpressed.