shafted by a dealer

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gurthang1536

New Member
Posts
5
Evenin' all,

having just joined the forum and bought my first landy (2.5 N/A 89' 90 pickup) i thought i'd share the nightmare of what happened after it left the traders forecourt.

i bought the 90 from farnham carriage company in farnham (funnily enough) and when i inspected it, there were a few problems - a few lights in the dash didnt work, the door panels were a but wonky and the rear o/s lights were a bit knackered, but it had a really clean chassis so i went for it.

the asking price was 2695 but i managed to haggle the guy down to 2050, which was a pretty good price i thought.

anyway, two mates went to pick the thing up a couple of days later as i was at work, and drove it about 30 miles down the road towards heathrow, when it conked out and wouldnt start again. i ended up getting the AA to bring it back to my house in north london on the back of a flatbead.

i called the seller up and asked what the hell was going on, and he basically said sod you, theres nothing im doing about it! luckily a have a friend who is a barristar and there are a few things which might surprise everyone to know:

under the 1979 sale of goods act, a buyer is entitled to a full refund of the cost of the vehicle if a major fault occurs a reasonable time after purchase. this reasonable time is a grey area, but in my case 30 miles from the forecourt before the vehicle even got home definitely qualifies a a reasonable time. i have since been advised that its about a week in some circumstances.

it is a criminal offence for any trader to use the term sold as seen. this has absolutely no legal value and cannot be used as a defence against selling defective goods.

anyway, the guy agreed to take the landy back and inspected it and it looks like the starter motor cable was loose so there was no life when the key turned. in addition, the fuel solenoid cable which goes through the loom burned out, cutting off the fuel supply, which caused it to stall. i'm not sure exactly how much it's gonna be to check the loom and repair any other melted wires, but the guy who sold it to me wasn't having any of it and even after i offered to go halves on the cost of the repair still no luck.

i'm seriously ****ed off at the moment seeing as i've spent 2 grand on a car and not even driven it, so i'm taking the seller to the small claims court, to get him to pay the cost of repairs which will return the vehicle to the condition it was in when i bought it,

i dont think its fair that i should have to pay another 500 odd quid on top of the original price of the car, to get it into a drivable condition, considering it was advertised as a fully roadworthy vehicle.

i might be being seriously naive here, but i thought i'd share the tale of woe with everyone here to get your thoughts. please dont pull any punches and if i'm being a precious arse, then let me know!

cheers,

ollie
 
You aren't the first and you won't be the last. The whole second hand car trade(and the main dealers selling new stuff come to think of it) are a bunch of chancers. Very few of them know anything about landies, just seeing them as a popular motor that they'll be able to charge silly money for compared to most old cars. They will take your money ready enough but any problems after that might eat into their profit so they'll do anything to avoid any kind of after sales service that a buyer might reasonably expect.
 
call consumer direct all trade cars have 6 month statutory warranty, they will help you write a letter
 
Evenin' all,

having just joined the forum and bought my first landy (2.5 N/A 89' 90 pickup) i thought i'd share the nightmare of what happened after it left the traders forecourt.

i bought the 90 from farnham carriage company in farnham (funnily enough) and when i inspected it, there were a few problems - a few lights in the dash didnt work, the door panels were a but wonky and the rear o/s lights were a bit knackered, but it had a really clean chassis so i went for it.

the asking price was 2695 but i managed to haggle the guy down to 2050, which was a pretty good price i thought.

anyway, two mates went to pick the thing up a couple of days later as i was at work, and drove it about 30 miles down the road towards heathrow, when it conked out and wouldnt start again. i ended up getting the AA to bring it back to my house in north london on the back of a flatbead.

i called the seller up and asked what the hell was going on, and he basically said sod you, theres nothing im doing about it! luckily a have a friend who is a barristar and there are a few things which might surprise everyone to know:

under the 1979 sale of goods act, a buyer is entitled to a full refund of the cost of the vehicle if a major fault occurs a reasonable time after purchase. this reasonable time is a grey area, but in my case 30 miles from the forecourt before the vehicle even got home definitely qualifies a a reasonable time. i have since been advised that its about a week in some circumstances.

it is a criminal offence for any trader to use the term sold as seen. this has absolutely no legal value and cannot be used as a defence against selling defective goods.

anyway, the guy agreed to take the landy back and inspected it and it looks like the starter motor cable was loose so there was no life when the key turned. in addition, the fuel solenoid cable which goes through the loom burned out, cutting off the fuel supply, which caused it to stall. i'm not sure exactly how much it's gonna be to check the loom and repair any other melted wires, but the guy who sold it to me wasn't having any of it and even after i offered to go halves on the cost of the repair still no luck.

i'm seriously ****ed off at the moment seeing as i've spent 2 grand on a car and not even driven it, so i'm taking the seller to the small claims court, to get him to pay the cost of repairs which will return the vehicle to the condition it was in when i bought it,

i dont think its fair that i should have to pay another 500 odd quid on top of the original price of the car, to get it into a drivable condition, considering it was advertised as a fully roadworthy vehicle.

i might be being seriously naive here, but i thought i'd share the tale of woe with everyone here to get your thoughts. please dont pull any punches and if i'm being a precious arse, then let me know!

cheers,

ollie

if your friend is a barrister surely he is in a better position to answer your questions.can he not send him a nice letter telling the dealer about the sale of goods act you previously mentioned.:confused:
 
Doesn't sound like the trader did it malisciously.

Could have been worse, but yes, he should give you your money back.

£2.6k to £2k!? That's a helluva discount... perhaps he couldn't wait to be rid.
 
You've been a little unlucky with this one mate, the worry is tho why did the solenoid wire burn out, if you are repairing it you need to find the cause BEFORE you rewire anything, if i was you i'd fight for your mony back, didn't pay on a credit card by any chance?
 
i'm currently waiting for the courts to serve him with a summons, and with any luck, it should be refund central when the judge realises what a tosser this guy's been.

kooky, do you know what paper that article was in? i think an info ops campaign against the dealership might persuade him to settle, but at least it'll make me feel better. i've been on the blower to trading standards since this all started, and written 4 letters, but the guy's just not having any of it.

does anyone have an idea of how much itll be to repair the thing (the higher the better as he's paying for it), bearing in mind that the whole loom might be shagged...?

cheers
 
i'm currently waiting for the courts to serve him with a summons, and with any luck, it should be refund central when the judge realises what a tosser this guy's been.

kooky, do you know what paper that article was in? i think an info ops campaign against the dealership might persuade him to settle, but at least it'll make me feel better. i've been on the blower to trading standards since this all started, and written 4 letters, but the guy's just not having any of it.

does anyone have an idea of how much itll be to repair the thing (the higher the better as he's paying for it), bearing in mind that the whole loom might be shagged...?

cheers

Pretty sure it was the Alton Herald. I may be wrong about the dealer name though - it was a while ago. Seem to recall it was an Audi that immediately required a new engine.
 
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