The law
When you buy a used vehicle from a trader you are making a legally binding contract. You have legal rights against the trader under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
The vehicle should be:
- Of a satisfactory quality - free from minor defects, safe and durable for a reasonable length of time. When assessing satisfactory quality you should take into account the price you paid for the vehicle, its age, mileage and condition at the time of sale.
- Fit for its intended purpose or a purpose that you made known to the trader - fit to be driven on the road.
- As described - the vehicle should correspond with any description applied to it. In some circumstances, the trader may be liable for any statement made by the manufacturer of the vehicle.
If the vehicle is faulty , you are legally entitled to request one of the following remedies:
a full refund
compensation (damages)
repair or replacement
rescission or reduction in price
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/glos/con1item.cgi?file=*ADV0003-1011.txt
What i would do is send him a written letter recorded delivery expressing your dissatisfaction with the vehicle, what's wrong with it, what they've said and what you want.
If they still pie you off you'll need to send them another letter, a letter before action and threaten to take it to court.
Give citizens advice a call aswell, it won't cost you anything and they'll be able to give you better advice about the process than what I can.
if you want to see a letter before action I've got one I can send you that I've wrote.
I would say be careful aswell, was soon as you mention court they will speak to a solicitor, the reply that came from my garage was on an email that said without prejudice which meant it csnt be used in court and it was to try settle the dispute, can get complicated.
Keep us updated on here and we'll try help.
I had advice from a Jim on here, he works in the industry, his username is mateyguv
Good luck!
