saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court

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Wed 31 Aug 2022 12:43
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Toby Reizer

Hello

I have a long standing battle with a trader 40 miles from my home

The quick version of a very long tale is

i bought my car in Oct 21 and after 25 days i got a warning msg on dashboard Engine Overheating - Stop Carefully

The trader did not want to know and as the car can only go two miles before the problem i couldnt get it to a garage

I eventually took him to a small claims court as i feel the problem would be underlying when i bought it but he disputes this

The court have asked me to provide names and qualifications of three mechanics (not garages) the trader then chooses one and i arrange for the one to do a report on the problem with the car

I am struggling to find three mechanics who want to be involved in this and also show qualifications

Is this a common practice and can anybody offer any advice

I have one week to produce three mechanics

Thanks

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Wed 31 Aug 2022 12:50
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - pd

Unfortunately battling these things out in court is never that easy.

Out of interest how old is the car? It must be a few years old if a 9-3. Why is it over heating? Is it losing coolant?

To answer the question, yes, generally you will need independent evidence of a fault from an "expert" and some idea what said fault is so it can be determined if it is a reasonable thing to complain about depending on the nature of the car.

Edited by pd on 31/08/2022 at 12:51

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Wed 31 Aug 2022 12:58
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - elekie&a/c doctor
Unfortunately good mechanics are too busy sorting out their own problems. Can’t see them wanting to sort out somebody else’s issues. Perhaps you could engage the services of an independent motor engineer, but they don’t come cheap .
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Wed 31 Aug 2022 14:24
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Gibbo_Wirral

The trader did not want to know and as the car can only go two miles before the problem i couldnt get it to a garage

Could you not get it trailered? My very basic breakdown insurance allows my car to be trailered to a garage of my choice.

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Wed 31 Aug 2022 23:34
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - SLO76
Good luck with this, but it serves as a reminder that you really can’t buy an old car like this and expect any real comeback even if you bought it from a dealer. They’ll know every trick in the book if they’re flogging old metal like this. It’s simply not possible to guarantee cars that are this age and any warranty won’t be worth the paper it is or is not printed on. Buy older cars like this on condition and history, check them carefully and buy expecting that you’ll be left to fund any repairs yourself or the total loss of it if something major fails. Don’t spend much money fighting this btw, even if you win I’ll wager you won’t see a penny of any refund. These wee garages trade usually as a limited firm with marginal assets, if any. I’d just try to get it fixed yourself and accept the life lesson.

Edited by SLO76 on 31/08/2022 at 23:38

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 08:59
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Toby Reizer

Thank you all for your replies

I agree that i'm going to have to put it down to a life lesson

At my age i thought i'd learned all the lessons i needed :(

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 16:08
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - skidpan

At my age i thought i'd learned all the lessons i needed :(

The first 3 rules of car buying:

  1. All salesmen are liars
  2. All salesmen are liars
  3. Refer to 1 and 2

Works for me (most of the time).

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 16:31
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Xileno

As pd mentions above, you need to find out why it's overheating. It could be something trivial like a split hose or something expensive such as a head gasket. If it turns out to be trivial then it's not worth all the hassle of the legal process IMO.

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 20:32
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - pd

At my age i thought i'd learned all the lessons i needed :(

The first 3 rules of car buying:

  1. All salesmen are liars
  2. All salesmen are liars
  3. Refer to 1 and 2

Works for me (most of the time).

To be fair this issue didn't apparently manifest its self for nearly a month and presumably some miles. Salesmen are not clairvoyant either

I'd imagine any seller in such circumstances would say either return it or find out what is wrong with it and we'll take it from there. The OP appears to have done neither.

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 20:36
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - skidpan

At my age i thought i'd learned all the lessons i needed :(

The first 3 rules of car buying:

  1. All salesmen are liars
  2. All salesmen are liars
  3. Refer to 1 and 2

Works for me (most of the time).

To be fair this issue didn't apparently manifest its self for nearly a month and presumably some miles. Salesmen are not clairvoyant either

I'd imagine any seller in such circumstances would say either return it or find out what is wrong with it and we'll take it from there. The OP appears to have done neither.

The OP said in his first post that the seller "did not want to know". So why do you say the OP did neither, you do not make sense.

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 21:30
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - pd

At my age i thought i'd learned all the lessons i needed :(

The first 3 rules of car buying:

  1. All salesmen are liars
  2. All salesmen are liars
  3. Refer to 1 and 2

Works for me (most of the time).

To be fair this issue didn't apparently manifest its self for nearly a month and presumably some miles. Salesmen are not clairvoyant either

I'd imagine any seller in such circumstances would say either return it or find out what is wrong with it and we'll take it from there. The OP appears to have done neither.

The OP said in his first post that the seller "did not want to know". So why do you say the OP did neither, you do not make sense.

I'm not surprised if they haven't said what is wrong with it. Really it needs proper diagnosis to start making progress what anyone on anything

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 16:57
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Bromptonaut

i bought my car in Oct 21 and after 25 days i got a warning msg on dashboard Engine Overheating - Stop Carefully

The trader did not want to know and as the car can only go two miles before the problem i couldnt get it to a garage

I eventually took him to a small claims court as i feel the problem would be underlying when i bought it but he disputes this

The court have asked me to provide names and qualifications of three mechanics (not garages) the trader then chooses one and i arrange for the one to do a report on the problem with the car

A request to find mechanics sounds like maybe the court case has gone down the route of mediation. If so than I find it professionally interesting to hear how such cases are going but that's not helping the OP.

I'd also agree with others that one needs to be cautious about using the 'small claims' court. Getting a judgment is the easy bit. It won't get money from a defendant who is potless. If they're skilled at avoiding payment then unless you're well informed and perhaps lucky enforcement is chucking good money after bad.

If you cannot get the car to a garage then can you get a garage, in the form of a mobile mechanic, to the car. There are only so many things that can cause a car to overheat, or have its instrumentation indicate overheating, and they should be relatively straightforward to test for.

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Thu 1 Sep 2022 17:12
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Steveieb

My friend bought a 17/ plate diesel Kuga from a local dealer which turned out to be a dog and just after the three months warranty started belching out black fumes.

The garage refused to do anything but they did find a second hand engine which my friend had fitted separately at a cost of £2400.

But what would be the outcome if the car had been towed back to the dealer and dumped on the forecourt, then issue a claim through the small claims court.

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Sat 3 Sep 2022 09:31
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - John F

So many questions..........age?....mileage?.....model? what happened after the light came on with its 2 mile 'problem'? What has happened in the past year since the incident? How much did the OP pay for the car? Why 'three mechanics'? Surely one would be enough as an expert witness to argue with that of the defendant? And , as said, even if the OP wins, to get the moolah would probably be well nigh impossible.

Edited by John F on 03/09/2022 at 09:33

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Sat 3 Sep 2022 10:17
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - pd

Without a proper diagnosis this is going no where. Could be anything from a blown head gasket to a dodgy connection on the coolant sensor.

The car has to be at least 11 years old and could be a mint low mileage example convertible or a £500 snotter from 2004.

Just find out what is wrong with it then you'll know if you have a reasonable case.

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Mon 5 Sep 2022 23:46
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - focussed

What you should have done is:-

Sent a registered letter to the garage who sold the OP the car stating that they have refused to remedy the fault and giving them 14 days to collect the car and cure the fault or you will take the car elsewhere to have it sorted out and sue them in the small claims court for the cost of the repairs.

When you take out a small claims action you are trying to recover a monetary loss you have suffered. By doing what I have suggested you have detailed your loss.

That's why the court in the present circumstances has requested a mechanic's opinion, to try to get a handle on the likely cost.

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Mon 5 Sep 2022 12:31
saab 9.3 - Three Mechanics names required by Court - Warning

You need to comply with the Court order!!!

You need to supply the information. May be even put a price tag next to it. I suspect any expert witness cost need to be shared.

What about the AA?

Did this car come with third party warantee?

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