I should be grateful for your advice on the following issue. My daughter bought a secondhand Volkswagen Golf 1.6 SE 2003 60,000 miles for £4,000 from a small car sales company in Devizes in December. It came with a 3-month parts and labour warranty provided by the company which they underwrite and get the work done at a local garage.

The car has a rough idle which we pointed out when it was bought and they undertook to correct it. The problem was still there after she took delivery (but not noticed until a few days later) and they were asked to correct it again along with some other items under the warranty. This made an improvement but the idle is not even and the exhaust note at tickover is an irregular chugging sound. I took it to my local garage who checked for error codes using a “Snap-On” interrogator but found no reported errors. They said the exhaust was very erratic. Later I took it to the local Volkswagen agent Service Manager who listened and advised that he was 99 per cent certain that it was the air and fuel metering unit as he had recently fitted two units to cure similar problems. He quoted about £500 to do this work.

I have returned the car to the car sales company today and given them all this information. They have agreed to have it checked at their garage, who “adjusted” it the first time. The sales manager seemed not to accept that there was a problem and I have no confidence that they will apply the correct remedy (as they did not before). My question is: if they will not take it to a Volkswagen agent to get their specialist advice and then repair it can I suggest to them that I will take to a Volkswagen agent and get them to repair it and then send them the bill and expect them to pay? If I am within my rights this may persuade them to get the job done properly.