Discovered my 'new' car is not actually all that new - what should I do?
My wife bought a new Vauxhall Ampera in 2014 from a main dealer. We knew the Ampera was at the end of the production line but nothing was said to indicate that it was not a new car. In the course of getting its several faults corrected I was told that my car was older than I thought.
That prompted me to check the VIN which showed that ours was a 2013 car manufactured in August 2012. We believe it should have been a 2014 model year car, even if manufactured in 2013. The 2014 model year manual is readily available from the Vauxhall site and shows that one at least of the faulty mechanisms has been modified (the more major faults were with matters not treated in the manual, e.g. main motor bearing).
We have raised the matter with the dealer who is 'looking in to it', but that has been going on since before Christmas. In your opinion, what sort of remedy would it be reasonable to expect?
That prompted me to check the VIN which showed that ours was a 2013 car manufactured in August 2012. We believe it should have been a 2014 model year car, even if manufactured in 2013. The 2014 model year manual is readily available from the Vauxhall site and shows that one at least of the faulty mechanisms has been modified (the more major faults were with matters not treated in the manual, e.g. main motor bearing).
We have raised the matter with the dealer who is 'looking in to it', but that has been going on since before Christmas. In your opinion, what sort of remedy would it be reasonable to expect?
Asked on 8 February 2016 by JeremyCB
Answered by
Honest John
This is something buyers of used Amperas need to look out for. Quite a lot of 2012 Amperas remained unsold and were sold off 'as new', presumably at considerable discounts in 2014. Obviously if you paid full list price for the car in October 2014, then you should be entitled to money back to compensate for the fact it was old stock.
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