Heres the details...
July 27 take delivery of new TVR Tuscan Speed Six. £6400 deposit, the rest on finance
July 28 Notice paint chipping off bonnet (not stone chips) - Inform dealer and get a response of "they all do that sir"
July 30 Trim drops - "they all do that sir"
August 2 More paint issues, I notice overspray and inform the dealer - You've guessed it "they all do that sir"
August 2 - 15 More general trim problems, glue spilling out of joints, trim dropping off etc. etc.
August 16 - It rains and the car gets wet and so doesn't idle causing it to cut out at random - "they all do that sir, the plugs are wet"
This continues until last friday when white smoke poured out of the back of the car whilst it was coughing and spluttering in the rain.
On saturday morning (it was hot) the car failed to even start. AA called. AA report says the car is undriveable and cuts out at random.
September 1 Monday Morning (today) - Call manager of dealership and reject car. I was told "no you can't reject it since the sale of goods act says that not everything can be guaranteed to be perfect"
I then called the owner of the garage and he seemed much more on my side and said he would call me back. He didn't
The manager called me back and said that by law they had to be allowed to attempt to repair it.
I contacted a solicitor who told me that the sale of goods act has changed and now the consumer has the right to demand a repair or a replacement or a refund.
I told the manager this and he said that was wrong (surprise surprise).
I'm after my £6400 back plus the first payment that I made of £700 including the acceptance fee.
So, any ideas ?
Thanks in advance,
Ashley
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You've spoken to your solicitor.
Tell the dealer you'll be calling Trading Standards, get their advice, and be issuing proceedings against him if he doesn't refund your money.
Then do it.
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Thanks.
Would that work for sure ? My solicitor seems to think that I have a pretty cut and dried case (but then they need the business as well don't they !)
Has anyone got any concrete advice on this (if there is such a thing)
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I would say there are no absolute certaintys in civil law. ( from past experience)
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Try checking you motor and household insurances. They often include a free legal advice line. I used one of these once and received accurate advice. Or try Citizens Advice Bureau.
FWIW (and I'm no legal-eagle) your solicitor is right. The vehicle is not of merchantable quality and you should reject it if you are not happy with it. Don't let them try to fix it if you want shot of it.
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Have you tried talking to TVR themselves? They may have a different attitude and might lean on the dealer to be reasonable. If the dealer had been helpful and tried to repair the car would you still want to reject it or would you be happy with having it repaired and some other compensation eg free services to make up for the inconvenience? You have had the car for over a month so rejecting the car may become harder after this time but you might have a better chance in insisting on an identical replacement (preferably with the odd upgrade thrown in) as this car is clearly troublesome.
teabelly
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I didn't think that time was an issue. Especially since I have alerted the dealer to each problem every step of the way and I still haven't had anything sorted.
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A word of encouragement...
I bought a 2.5 year old VW Golf from a non-franchised dealer on 1 April this year (2 days after legislation changed). In the next two months, it went back (via dealer) to VW four times, due to a 'flat spot' in the rev range at about 2,500 rpm once the engine was warm. After the forth time, when I had again been assured that it was fixed, and once again it wasn't, I got a letter from VW saying it still wasn't right, and got all but £150 of the purchase price back. Tips woudld be:
Use Trading Standards - they may have something on the dealer already, and I cc'd all correspondecne to dealer to a named person at Trading Standards
Put everything in writing - seems officious, but helps
Get a 3rd party to look at car - VW dealer helped me get my money back by saying that their service department couldn't fix it!
Negotiate on what you will accept in return - once it was clear I was going to get my money back, I was happy to have a discussion about how much I should get for the car. They will claim 'use of a car' is worth something - counter with all the costs of taxis, lost business appointments, hassle, on-going hassle, anything else you can think of....
Good luck
Jono
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Try posting your problem on: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/default.asp?h=0
There are a lot of TVR people on there who may be able to give specialist advice. I am a bit worried about the amount of time that has elapsed from your delivery date and now. However the law has changed in your favour but it's probably too early to say how it's going to work out in practice. Don't whatever you do at this stage accept repairs as it will prejudice your chances of rejecting the car. Trading Standards will give you some advice but unless the trader has broken the Trading Standards law that is all they will do. Good Luck!
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Your rights at Law:
tinyurl.com/8if0 (May take time to load- an explanation)
tinyurl.com/8i9r (Act of Parliament)
DVD
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do not listen to a word the garage says, of course they dont want you to reject it, the sales of goods act states the goods must be fit for the purpose for which they are intended,
i.e, kettle to boil water, car to drive etc etc.
your car wasnt from what you've said, write to the dealer and
state under the sale of goods act 1979 (i think thats the date) that you are rejecting the car.
The problem with my first beetle was no where near this serious, i could still drive it but it was back firing all over the place, and they firstly said to me a couldnt reject it, RUBBISH, one properly worded letter later and they took it back.....
good luck
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It might be worth having a muck about with the 'they all do that, sir' comment - this implies that TVR dealers are selling products which they know have inherent faults, thus removing any responsibility from you to prove that the faults were there at the time of purchase... ;)
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If you bought it on finance, then you may actually have bought the car from the finance company, not the dealer. If you are going to reject the car, you would notify the finance company. They then have to sort it our with the dealer. What sort of finance did you arrange, was it an hp agreement or a personal loan?
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Its a three year PCP with Capital Bank, who I believe are TVR's finance company.
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If the dealer feels there is nothing wrong with the car get them to buy it back, then sue them in small claims court for the outstanding balance. A colleague did this on a 206 cc which leaked and was successful in getting their money back.
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In general you have around 30 days or a few hundred miles to reject a car. You have gone slightly over that but not by much, I think you're probably still within your rights, especially if you haven't driven it far.
As you have bought the car on finance the finance company is jointly liable regarding any problems you have with the car.
Do what all the above posters have said and DO NOT DELAY.
You do not have long before your rights expire.
Mike
I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.
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