A dealer manually cleared fault codes from a faulty car I purchased - does he now have to accept my refund request?

I purchased a 2007 Citroen C4 Picasso on December 1 2017. I quickly found the car would judder, hesitate on pulling away and cut out on me. I informed the garage of this, and they said that was normal for an automatic. Two weeks after purchase I had a black box fitted for my insurance, this showed up three fault codes (P0115, P0170, P0171). I had a mechanic look at the car and he said there was no water in the header tank, he filled it up and said to contact the garage I had purchased it from. I let the garage know, they collected the car and kept it for a week. They returned the car and said there was no fault codes, I got my insurance company to check the black box and they said the faults were still there. Fast forward a week and another code showed up (P0597). I contacted my insurance to check on the other codes and they confirmed the codes were still on the car but the garage had manually removed them, leaving me with a faulty car - I have a report to confirm this.
So, I then emailed the company to reject the car and request a refund. They said they wanted the car back to have a look, I declined explaining the above to them, they declined to comment on the removal of the codes and said they would not refund but would repair or replace. Again I have declined and insisted on a refund. I have all the emails and sent letters by recorded delivery, outlining my intentions to take this to court, I am currently waiting on a reply. The SOGA is very clear on this matter so I'm confused as to why the garage is declining my request.

Asked on 6 January 2018 by PinkRhino

Answered by Honest John
You can't reject the car while retaining possession of it. So send a letter to the dealer formally rejecting it and stating your willingness to deliver it to back him. State that if he does not accept this within 14 days you will institute Small Claims proceedings against him for full return of the amount you paid. Send this by Post Office Special Delivery, keep a copy and staple the certificate of posting to the copy so it becomes a matter of record. Law here: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/

Small Claims link here: www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

If you get a Small Claims ruling in your favour, immediately pay for a High Court Sheriff's Enforcement Order and just hope that the dealer has some assets that can be seized.
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