What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
I was sold a rotting car - how do I report this?
I found a Hyundai i20 from a large dealer group. A video was arranged, a deposit made and arranged for it to be delivered to a local branch. They advised they would get the alloys refurbished as they were a bit tatty. Before it left the garage it had a fresh MoT.
The car arrived at the branch and we went to view/collect, driving our part exchange.
We were taken to the car and that's where the day took a nosedive. The rear three panels of the car were three different shades of white (bumper/rear quarter/rear passenger door) but this was just the warm up to the main event.
We noticed some paint bubbling under this door on the outer sill. I looked underneath and there was a hole which I could easily get three fingers in and easily able to remove even more rot with my fingers. I was totally shocked and even more angry, this is a six year old car and how had this not been picked up by the dealer, their checks in their workshop or the MOT people (not sure if they do their own or not).
The fact it was given 12 months MoT with no advisories makes me think someone has broken the law here. The car was white and the hole was surrounded by brown rusty paint so there is no excuse for this not to have been seen.
The salesman at the branch was stunned at how poor this vehicle was and hadn't seen anything so bad in the six years he had worked there. He was extremely embarrassed. He rang the main branch but all three people I'd dealt with were on holiday.
Who do I need to speak to in order to report the failings here?
This car has been unchecked on so many levels and has received an illegal MoT, in my eyes, since the rotting outer sill is a failure.
We wasted nearly three hours of our time, two hour drive, fuel and half a day off work because this company failed on an epic scale.
The car arrived at the branch and we went to view/collect, driving our part exchange.
We were taken to the car and that's where the day took a nosedive. The rear three panels of the car were three different shades of white (bumper/rear quarter/rear passenger door) but this was just the warm up to the main event.
We noticed some paint bubbling under this door on the outer sill. I looked underneath and there was a hole which I could easily get three fingers in and easily able to remove even more rot with my fingers. I was totally shocked and even more angry, this is a six year old car and how had this not been picked up by the dealer, their checks in their workshop or the MOT people (not sure if they do their own or not).
The fact it was given 12 months MoT with no advisories makes me think someone has broken the law here. The car was white and the hole was surrounded by brown rusty paint so there is no excuse for this not to have been seen.
The salesman at the branch was stunned at how poor this vehicle was and hadn't seen anything so bad in the six years he had worked there. He was extremely embarrassed. He rang the main branch but all three people I'd dealt with were on holiday.
Who do I need to speak to in order to report the failings here?
This car has been unchecked on so many levels and has received an illegal MoT, in my eyes, since the rotting outer sill is a failure.
We wasted nearly three hours of our time, two hour drive, fuel and half a day off work because this company failed on an epic scale.
Asked on 22 November 2021 by Lloydy
Answered by
Sarah Tooze
As a first step, you could make a complaint to the dealer's customer service department.
If this doesn't resolve matters, you could then escalate it to the Motor Ombudsman or another dispute resolution service.
If this doesn't resolve matters, you could then escalate it to the Motor Ombudsman or another dispute resolution service.
Similar questions
In January 2015 I purchased a used 2013 Volkswagen Caddy van (15,000 miles) from a Volkswagen branch. So far I've needed a new rear axle replaced under warranty after it was found to be bent (Feb 2016)...
Can a trader sell a car with an MoT with advisories without telling the buyer?
While selling our car, we discovered it was a Cat N by doing an HPI check. We bought it on 19/09/2019 and the check showed it was a Cat N write off on 19/04/2019. The seller didn't tell us and it was not...
Elsewhere on 
.jpg)
