I purchased an '02' Mitsubishi Carisma 2.0 D-ID in September 2012. In getting the car home, it triggered Limp Mode - phoned the trader I purchased from, who advised me to take it to one of the garages that he uses to do his work.

Took the car round, although on the way the Limp Mode light switched off. The mechanic told me that this was an EGR fault, fairly common across a number of brands and that a combination of a course of Redex and a good service would resolve the problem.

This seemed logical to me and 6 weeks later (following a course of Redex) I had the car serviced at the local Mitsubishi agent at a cost of £150. I had asked them to clean out the EGR valve during the service, but they advised that there was a fault on the valve and that further diagnosis was needed.

I went back to the original mechanic 5 weeks after that, as the car was still having the same issue, but he wanted me to bring the car in for some testing (probably at cost to me) and, as it turned out, I was unable to keep the appointment. The week before Christmas, Limp Mode started triggering every journey - sometimes multiple times in a single 11 mile journey - so I went back to the original mechanic first thing in the New Year and he indicated that any diagnosis work would be chargeable. I contacted the dealer to see if he would pay the diagnosis charges and he offered £100 towards this but the mechanic this would barely cover 2 hours. The dealer then advised me to contact another mechanic he often uses - I went round there, but they were busy and couldn't see me at that time, asked me to drop round the following week.

I went round the following Wednesday (8th January, this was) and he plugged in the car and advised that I had an EGR fault and an issue with the glow plugs. He estimated a repair to be between £150-200 for both jobs.

I took advice from the CAB who advised me that I may have a case and that I needed to write to him offering the opportunity to repair, replace or refund my money - I offered to contribute towards a repair and even gave the trader the option to partially refund my money but failed to get a reply. I wrote a final warning (on the advice of the CAB) and finally got a late response from the trader offering me £200 to go away, claiming that I put no effort in to a repair (I had to save up for the service following shelling out £1150 for the car) and claiming that I never went back to the second mechanic.

Speaking again to the CAB, I have a worry that without any paperwork proving that I have attended these mechanics and given the age of the car and the time lapsed, I am worried that if I do raise a small claim, I will be short on evidence and the trader will turn round and try and counter sue for legal costs, potentially putting me seriously out of pocket (I don't really have the court fees to burn at present).

Does the fact that I have had issues from day one, even 5 months down the line impact on my ability to make a succesful claim?

Am I only being offered a token amount because this trader knows we are a 'young' couple and thinks he can bully us?