How old is the car you purchased?

Reg?

The speedo not working is usually the failure of an ABS sensot as tony g suggests. It can sometimes be due to failure of the actual ABS control unit. The sensors are about £30 so not expensive. It usually causes the ABS and traction control lights to illuminate as well.

With the PAS, it is worth checking the fluid level isn't simply low to start with.

To be honest, I'd get shot. I think it will be a struggle to get your money back and I'd bung it on ebay with all the faults listed or put it in your local car auciton. You'll lose money but it sounds like a money pit.

If buying these sorts of cars you need to know what you're doing, know some basic mechanics and be able to check it properly. They're basically at scrap value and that is pretty much all they are fit for (or, possibly, a Top Gear challenge) - I know that sounds harsh but it is the reality. You can get a decent car for a grand but it takes work.

Thanks for your reply.

I decided to buy from a garage who advertised the car well, and claim to be honest with a good reputation, but the car was not as advertised.

I'll offer them the chance to take the car back or make good the repairs, if not the small claims will be my route.

I strongly believe the dealer knew something was wrong with the car, which is why he spent 90 minutes claiming that I had lost the keys, I personally think he wanted to bring the milage up to the advertised milage so that all the issues could have happened after 4000 miles and not 200.

Cheers

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and suggest that the car might well be worth repairing. BMWs are sturdy vehicles and should still have life in them at that age - I know, I end up with my wife's older cars (!) and any repairs generally cost far less than depreciation.

For parts there is a useful place Shropshire BMW Parts that sell good used parts by mail order. I have always had good stuff from them and they take returns if you order the wrong bit although you have to pay your own postage.

Precisely! With so little potential depreciation left the repairs are "affordable" in terms of total running costs!

It depends on who/what actually sold you the car. Have you an invoice?

The truth of the matter is that any slightly dodgy dealer who wants to can completely ignore the SoGA and anything like it. All you have to do is make sure the selling entity - be it an individual or company - has no assets. You then wait for a few CCJ's to build up and start again.

I'm sorry to be negative but even if you win in the small claims court (and if you do, it will probably be because he won't show up and defend it) and are awarded something he will not then pay which means you will then have to persue your money eventually via baliffs. This will cost you yet more money.

Unless you can be absolutely sure you will see some money out of it at the end you're probably best not to bother as it will just cost you time and money. Furthermore - if he claims to have actually fixed it (he probably hasn't) but unless you retrieve the car he could go to court, say it is fixed, say it is your fault for not collecting the car and claim storage. I've seen it happen so be careful.

I'm doubtful if you actually have a good claim for a refund unless you can prove he has failed to fix it.

It is an old car basically at close to scrap value but I appreciate you feel hard done by and out of pocket. However galling it may be you're probably best to take it on the chin before throwing good money after bad. Sorry.

Not prepared to have a car dealer with over 50 cars tell me that I can't have either a refund or my car. It may cost money and time, but all the fees such as court and bailiffs will be added to the claim. If the attitude is to let dealers like this get away with it, then they will continue in this manner.

As you don't seem to know who you bought the car from, they could easily "belong" to someone else, another company, a "mate", a bank, a finance company, his wife....anyone really.

I'm not saying they should "get away with it" but it's a sub-£1k banger which turned out to be a wrong 'un. It happens and which is why you really need to know what you are doing if you're going to buy into the "scrap and a bit of MOT" car market.

You also need to really establish clearly why you are claiming a refund. As you no longer have the car in your control, how can you prove it has something wrong with it? The dealer can currently simply claim you returned the car with a fault, he fixed it (which he is within his rights to try and do) and he has waited weeks for you to come and collect it.

If the dealer claims it is now fixed (regardless of whether it is) and he has had to store it for you awaiting collection it will look like you are the unreasonable one (although I understand he is charging you for the repairs?).

All I'm saying is have a good think about what you are claiming (repair, refund or simply want the car - which is yours - back) and take some proper legal advice before acting.

Edited by pd on 24/05/2013 at 00:48

"....informed me that I wont get either my car or my money back as hes had to spend £200 out of his own pocket to fix the car."

If you paid for the car it's surely yours - title has passed to you. If the dealer refuses to give it back to you he is hold in unlawfully. There's no guarantee that the police will do anything, but you should at least inform them.

As I read it, the dealer is counter claiming the buyer owes him £200 for work done and is holding the car as collateral.

Possibly - but why is the dealer claiming £200 for repairs to faults that were there when the car was sold?

Presumably the dealer is cliaming that either the faults were not significant enough that he should be responsible for them or the buyer was aware of them at the point of purchase.

I can't understand why the buyer returned the car without prior agreement as to whether they were returning it for refund or repair and, if the latter, exactly what was to be repaired and who was paying for it. Equally, from the dealer's point of view, you shouldn't ever carry out work to any car you expect a customer to pay for without prior authorisation (whether it is a car you have sold or you are carrying out maintenance).

To be fair, we only have the buyer's side of the story, but the dealer sounds unprofessional in the extreme and the buyer has made life difficult by just sending a car back without any sort of written agreement as to what was going to happen to it at the other end.