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Usedless car warranty

I recently bought a 2001 BMW for £3,900 from an independent dealer, which came with the standard 3-month warranty. After a few days driving I have noticed that the handbrake cable needs tightening, that only 3 of the 6 speakers for the stereo work and that the aircon system blows hot air on the drivers side no matter what is set on the dashboard. Should both of these be covered by warranty? Or is it mechanical components only.

Asked on 14 February 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
All these are the responsibility of the trader who sold you the car, not the warranty insurer, and remain his responsibility for 6 months from date of sale because they are pre-existent faults. Since he sold you the car with a warranty, it cannot have been a ‘trade sale’ where he would not be liable for faults. Warranty insurers are not liable to fix faults that were present when the car was sold. However, it could be argued that because the car was 8 years old on the date of sale it could not reasonably be expected to be 100% fault-free and the radio speaker faults are too trivial to expect the dealer to fix them.
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