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Every week, we answer your financial problems or consumer disputes – you can email moneyblog@sky.uk with yours. Our latest problem, available to newsletter subscribers first, is from cjenk, who asks…
My partner bought a nearly new car from a garage three months ago, it has since become undrivable with both the garage and the finance company refusing to give a refund or repair the vehicle with a huge list of issues that couldn’t have occurred since it was bought. What can we do?
Buying a car is one of the biggest purchases we ever make, so we were sorry to hear about your experience.
We asked Complaints Resolver Scott Dixon to look at this one – he’s advised on hundreds of similar cases and has been through a similar dispute himself (of course, he won).
Hopefully his advice can help you resolve this case – and others who find themselves in a similar situation.
Dixon writes…
A car purchase creates more complaints than anything else.
Standards, attitudes and the culture in the industry need to change radically.
Although we have some of the best consumer laws in the world, so many traders flout them, leaving consumers vulnerable or ripped off without knowing their rights.
First up, you have a short-term right to reject faulty goods including cars within the first 30 days under Section 22(3) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, although the onus is on you to prove the goods were faulty when sold.
After this, any faults found within the first six months are considered to have been there at the point of purchase. The burden of proof is on the retailer to show otherwise.
You only need to give a trader one opportunity to enact a free repair. If that fails, you can reject it but that’s easier said than done.
If the car has a long list of faults that renders it undriveable, it clearly doesn’t meet the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states goods sold must be:
- Fit for purpose
- As described
- Satisfactory quality
- Last a reasonable length of time
In this case, the…
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