Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver

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Mon 3 Dec 2018 11:34
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - Pbaz
Hopefully this is the right place for advice.

I bought a Grand Scenic on Wednesday 28th November and paid using my credit card. On the test drive the air con made a whistling noise and there was some vibration when I hit about 75 mph. Apart from these issues the car seemed to be ok for its age and mileage, the MOT history and extensive collection of receipts and regular servicing gave me confidence that I was buying a decent honest car.

When I sat down for a chat with the salesman (nice lad) to negotiate the sale, I said I would be happy with the car if they done the wheel balancing and had a look at the air conditioning and if they reduced the price by £300 since it had never had the timing belt replaced: the car is 7 years old and has done 104k Miles. He agreed to this after a chat with the owner of the dealership.

He then produced a waiver form I had to sign that said that any faults that arise they wouldn’t be liable for. He said because they were knocking off some money they would have to treat it as a trade sale.

I returned the day after to collect the vehicle and the wheel balancing and air con hadn’t been dealt with.

I made the 22 mile trip home and parked the car on my driveway where it has been ever since.

On Sunday after 2 days of heavy rain I had a look in the car and the driver side floor cubby hole was full of water. I’ve since discovered that water ingress is a common problem with renaults.

Where do I stand legally? Surely the dealer has sold me a car that’s not fit for purpose and is dangerous to drive.

Thanks
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Mon 3 Dec 2018 11:58
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - gordonbennet

I have no idea if that waiver means anything legally, but why on earth did you sign it for a measly £300 discount (in reality the trade price would have been well into 4 figures) for something that many sensible traders would have had changed before you took delivery for their own peace of mind, soon as that piece of paper was presented i'd have been out the door.

To compound it you then accepted the car with the known faults not rectified, the wheel balance diagnosis may be wrong and something more involved and costly is the cause.

Sorry to be so negative, but i suspect signing that paper has muddied legal waters, because it makes you look like another trader buying the car if you see what i mean, they could argue you are another trader for the reason you signed a trade sale document.

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Mon 3 Dec 2018 12:43
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - RT

Dealers can't do that, although some try it on.

You still have all the Consumer Rights safeguards

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Mon 3 Dec 2018 12:47
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - SLO76
You can’t sign your legal rights away, this is just a way dealers get round them by convincing buyers they don’t have any. It’s common practice with cheaper end cars that are almost guaranteed to go wrong and to be fair to them there’s no way they could guarantee a Renault with a six figure mileage and thus the reason why few dealers sell cheaper mileagey stock like this and neither should you be buying a high mileage French motor expecting reliability.

As a private buyer you do have rights but the disclaimer you’ll have signed will no doubt claim that you’re a dealer and fighting for a refund will be a nightmare. Dealers who flog stuff like this are fly to every trick in the book to avoid any legal responsibility. Speak to your credit card provider for advice and seek out citizens advice to see if they’ll help but beyond your card provider I doubt you’ll have much luck with the dealer. In the eyes of the law you’ve bought the goods from the card provider though so look there first.

You made a mistake here, hopefully you also paid trade money and won’t take a catastrophic hit of your credit card company doesn’t help you.
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Mon 3 Dec 2018 13:38
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - skidpan

Basically you can say goodbye to your money for a couple of reasons:

You bought a car from Arthur Daley who will have no interest in your problems

Even if you win a case against him he will never give you a single penny, he will simply change the name of his business and carry on trading, probably done it many times before

As for getting your money back from the Credit card company whilst this is a valuable tool for people who suffer losses because companies cease trading or are simply dishonest but I honestly believe that if an individual acts in a way that puts them at risk i.e. signing a disclaimer like the OP did and then accepting a faulty product the protection should be limited or even withdrawn. Why should people like myself who don't put themselves at risk have to contribute to the funds that compensate those who act in a totally daft manner.

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Mon 3 Dec 2018 16:16
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - Bromptonaut

As others have said Consumer Law is on your side. Whether you will be able to enforce those rights in practice is a different question.

Citizens Advice website www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ has guidance on 'duff' used cars. They also have a helpline which I'd recommend ahead of speaking you your local office on a matter like this.

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Tue 4 Dec 2018 20:06
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - pd

I'm not even sure noisy aircon and a bit of wheel vibration plus some sort of water leak which you say is common are grounds for any consumer rights anyway.

All the dealer has to do is provide something to the typical standard of the goods. If a water leak, dodgy aircon and maybe an unbalanced wheel are typical of a 104k mile car then they have done everything they need to.

On higher mileage cars the law can protect the seller as well as the buyer as everything has a reasonableness clause attached.

I'd get the wheel balance checked and if the water leak is common see if you can research the cause and try and fix it.

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Wed 5 Dec 2018 12:27
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - Gibbo_Wirral

I'd just cut your losses and get the issues looked at and the car back on the road.

The vibration at 75mph might be a buckled wheel or tracking / balancing. Either way a simple fix.

Water ingress. If its a common issue then there will be a well documented fix on the Renault or French car forums.

Air con whistle - again, ask around or Google.

You got £300 knocked off for the cambelt. It should be possible to get it done for less than that unless you want it done at a dealer, so that should go some way towards repairs.

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Fri 7 Dec 2018 15:48
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - nick62

Please read this bearing in mind I'm in "full pedant mode", but how legally can you know that;

...'there was some vibration when I hit about 75 mph'?

Edited by nick62 on 07/12/2018 at 15:50

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Mon 10 Dec 2018 12:33
Renault Grand Scenic - Dangerous fault 2 days after signing waiver - Gibbo_Wirral

Easy, the OP is royalty:

www.thesun.co.uk/motors/4867461/the-reason-why-the.../

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