Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta

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Sat 22 Jun 2013 20:47
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - mrnd
Hi all,

I bought an 03 plate fiesta at the end of March from an independent dealer about 30miles away.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving and heard a few bangs from the engine, pulled over, smelt petrol, and the check engine light came on. On restarting it was clear that one of the cylinders was not firing. As I was very close to my local garage I took the car there and it turns out that the spark plugs are very old and are corroded in to the engine. It couldn't have got into that condition in the 13 weeks I'd owned the car. When I bought the car I was assured that it had been given a full service which it clearly hadn't as this should have been picked up. The car is currently not drivable. Apparently the repair can get quite expensive if they have to skim the head to get the plugs out( ~£1000?).

I called the dealer and explained the situation. I (through naivety) repeated the phrase my local mechanic used; "not fit for purpose". This set the dealer of a bit who got a bit personal about the whole thing. I asked him to pick up the car and asked whether he would fix it for free. He said that I had to get the car towed to him and he'd look at it but didn't respond to the price question. I rang the DTI who advised me to send him a letter asking him to fix it under the sale of goods act which I have done but on Tuesday the response time I requested ends.

I have photos (which I sent with the letter) and my garage said they would put something in writing with their opinion.

I have a few questions about the situation:

Should I be the one paying for the tow? (under SOGA the repair should be at no cost to me)

What are my next steps if he does not reply?
Given that I have lost confidence in the dealer, is there anyway I can get the repairs done locally and pursue action afterwards?
Am I likely to win in a small claims court and how long do these kind of claims take? Do I need a lawyer?
If I win, I understand that I may never receive anything from them - so should I even bother?

Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks.

Edited by mrnd on 22/06/2013 at 20:50

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Sat 22 Jun 2013 23:52
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - tony g
Hi,
there are two issues involved in your post ,what consumer law says your entitled to and what you would have to do to get the dealer to carry out his obligations .

First your entitled to have the dealer put your car right , second you will find it difficult to enforce those rights .

You bought a 10 year old car that you would have paid about £2000 for ? .

The car ran for 3 months before it gave you a problem ,do you have anything in writing that says the car would have a full service before you took delivery .?

My guess would be that the only way to have your car repaired by the dealer is to issue a claim in the small claims court .You would probably win ,the initial cost to you is in the region of £300 ,which you would recover from the dealer ,if he has the assets to pay you .
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Sun 23 Jun 2013 13:41
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - mrnd
Thanks for your reply.

I don't have anything in writing regarding the full service, only the assurance of the dealer over the phone before I paid for the car. I did take notes during the phone call - but I don't think I could prove the dates of the notes.

I was also snooping around a bit on the company and they are possibly using the rmif logo on their website when they shouldn't be, as they don't seem to be listed on the rmif website. I'm chasing this up currently. If they are falsely claiming to be rmif members then how much would this help my case?
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Mon 24 Jun 2013 10:06
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - tony g
( I was also snooping around a bit on the company and they are possibly using the rmif logo on their website when they shouldn't be, as they don't seem to be listed on the rmif website. I'm chasing this up currently. If they are falsely claiming to be rmif members then how much would this help my case?)

In reality the rmif issue is a separate one ,you should write to the rmif if you believe they are falsely claiming membership . If you pursue the garage in the SCC ,then their false claim will reinforce your claim but not prove it .

You should obtain a written estimate for the cost of repairs to your car .Send a copy of the estimate to the garage plus a copy of a completed application for the SCC .If the garage doesn't respond then the only other option is to issue the claim .Before you do that ,will the garage be able to pay your claim ? Does it have assets that can be seized if they don't pay ?
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Thu 27 Jun 2013 00:22
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - mrnd
Well surprisingly they did respond in time, so if they don't try and fob me off they should do the repair (if they actually pick up the car that is). However my concern is that although all four spark plugs are corroded into the engine, they will only fix one as only one actually broke.

Clearly all four need to be removed, or at least demonstrated that they can be, but under SOGA what are they actually obliged to do?

Am I saying that the car is of unsatisfactory quality because the spark plugs are corroded into the engine or am I saying there is a fault caused by a particular corroded spark plug?

Thanks
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Thu 27 Jun 2013 08:46
Ford Fiesta - Persuading dealer to repair recently bought used fiesta - skidpan

The Ford schedule some years ago was replace spark plus every 40,000 miles or 4 years with no intermediate checks. The spark plugs used were well up to the job, long life platinum tipped ones, but after 4 years in the head with, in some cases, unseen water collecting around them they were impossible to get out. Ford then changed the spec of the plugs to non platinum standard ones which needed regular replacement.

You can hardly blame the seller when the problem was not of his making.

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