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Bought used car, serious problem
shortyknickers
Posts: 2,488 Forum Member
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I hope someone can advise me how to handle this. Apologies, its quite long.
I bought a second hand car from a used car dealer in early June, a 2006 Chevrolet Matiz with 29,000 on the clock, full service history, 12 months MOT, all the old MOT certificates, did an HPI check, everything seemed in order. I talked the dealer into a 6 month warranty.
I bought it on behalf of my son, his first car he saved hard for it.
6 weeks in the alternator went - fair enough, covered by the warranty, no problem.
Last week the brakes went while he was using it, luckily he was not going fast and was able to stop using the handbrake, thank God it didn't happen a bit earlier on the motorway.
The problem was the brake calliper rubbing on the brake shoe or something like that, causing friction, heat, brake fluid evaporated hence no brakes. Green Flag took it to a local garage i trust.
When they attempted to take the front wheels off to replace the calliper a they discovered that in each front wheel there were only 3 proper wheel nuts/studs, the fourth had been home made and welded in. One fell apart completely as they got the wheel off.
They can do the work needed on the brakes/calliper and the warranty will cover that but they say the car will not be roadworthy because of these home made studs.
Both front wheels need complete new hub units and bearings and the total cost including labour and VAT will be £372.
Where do we stand legally re the dealer we got the car from? The garage who have it now say they are sure he had it done to avoid forking out for the new parts and should pay. I don't want him near the car again or doing any of the work as I dont trust him.
My hope is that I can insist he pay the £372 plus pay for a full AA inspection as we are now very worried what the hell else he may have bodged
Any advice gratefully received, both on how to approach him and where we stand legally.
I bought a second hand car from a used car dealer in early June, a 2006 Chevrolet Matiz with 29,000 on the clock, full service history, 12 months MOT, all the old MOT certificates, did an HPI check, everything seemed in order. I talked the dealer into a 6 month warranty.
I bought it on behalf of my son, his first car he saved hard for it.
6 weeks in the alternator went - fair enough, covered by the warranty, no problem.
Last week the brakes went while he was using it, luckily he was not going fast and was able to stop using the handbrake, thank God it didn't happen a bit earlier on the motorway.
The problem was the brake calliper rubbing on the brake shoe or something like that, causing friction, heat, brake fluid evaporated hence no brakes. Green Flag took it to a local garage i trust.
When they attempted to take the front wheels off to replace the calliper a they discovered that in each front wheel there were only 3 proper wheel nuts/studs, the fourth had been home made and welded in. One fell apart completely as they got the wheel off.
They can do the work needed on the brakes/calliper and the warranty will cover that but they say the car will not be roadworthy because of these home made studs.
Both front wheels need complete new hub units and bearings and the total cost including labour and VAT will be £372.
Where do we stand legally re the dealer we got the car from? The garage who have it now say they are sure he had it done to avoid forking out for the new parts and should pay. I don't want him near the car again or doing any of the work as I dont trust him.
My hope is that I can insist he pay the £372 plus pay for a full AA inspection as we are now very worried what the hell else he may have bodged
Any advice gratefully received, both on how to approach him and where we stand legally.
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Comments
Couldn't the garage include the hub units and bearings in a warranty claim?
It has had two previous owners, the dealer said they were an old man and his sister.
Should it have passed the MOT with these home made bolts?
↑ i`d wonder where i`d gone wrong if i had a child like this. ↑
As the faults presented within six months of purchase the sale of goods act requires the seller to prove these faults did not exist at time of sale, which is clearly impossible. I'd ensure pictures of the faulty parts are taken in case you need to make a county court claim to recover the cost of the repairs from the seller.
Yes, MOT testers don't remove wheels as part of the test and I also take it the bodge wasn't even visible with hub caps on?
With the type and age of the car you may do better to get replacement hubs from a car salvage centre rather than new parts. It may bring the price of the job down somewhat.
Cheers everyone.
The MOT tester isn't allowed to dismantle anything during the test, it's purely inspection only. If he can't visibly see something which could possibly be a problem then he has to give the benefit of doubt and allow a pass.
The way car brakes work I would be very surprised if it was a complete loss of the braking system. I would also have expected some other symptoms would have occurred prior to a loss of brakes such as a noticeable grinding sound or rough feeling throug the brake pedal I would also have hoped the brake warning light to have been on.
I would consider contacting you local trading standards office with you complaint to see if it's something they would be interested in investigating.
You should be lucky to have parents buy your first car, not all can afford to, I saved up to buy my own back then.. what an ungrateful t&?# you are!
OP should be thankful they don't have a child like you, Jeeez!
Do you remember being 17/18? Now imagine driving a Matiz at that age. Poor kid.
Lots of cars run stud and nut conversions in place of wheel bolts, they are safe, it sounds as if the garage damaged it or it was seized. I doubt it simply fell apart on removal.
i would get the work done for the sake of £300 and chalk it up to experience....
it isnt worth the aggro, run it for 6 months and then think about getting shut..
Yeah I do, since it was a little over 12/13 years ago... A cars a car, from A to B, it's pretty pathetic imo to get so hung up on makes and models etc, but mainly when it's a gift, be grateful or get booted would be a fair response! ;-)
Make sure the garage who has the car now isn't ripping you off too..
I got a Mini 1275 gt for my first car, in 1986 that was pretty awesome
I'd have the AA inspection done, and discuss the results with the selling garage.
The dealer is not paying out anything on the warranty. He paid for the warranty in the first place (from memory approx £60). Its the warranty company, a completely separate entity, who are paying out on the claims.
It is certainly a possibility that the garage doing the repairs are also exaggerating things, I would like to think they aren't but I am beginning to wonder if we can trust anyone.
My son has now spoken to the previous owner. He IS very old and did buy the car from his sister, the only other previous owner. He had the car from 2012 and is pretty confused but says he did have to have both front wheels off at some point, he cannot remember why.
The dealer we bought the car from had had a new clutch put in just before we bought it, I have the receipt. My googling suggests that to put a new clutch in a Matiz you have to take the wheels off. Can anyone confirm this?
Thanks again.
Yes! Absolutely!
I was chatting with my mate who is my mot guy, he reminded me how difficult a job it is to replace the hubs and wheel bearings on the Matiz...I remembered after he mentioned it...they are a very difficult and expensive job, therefore the cost is justified.
With a car like that, a bill of £400-odd accounts for a substantial chunk of the car's overall value so it's a bitter pill to swallow when, if you have the skills and the tools (or know somebody who has them) you could probably pick up the required parts from a breakers yard for £100 and then fit them at home.