Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please | Legal matters | Back Room Forum

Thu 18 Apr 2024 09:57

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

Bought a car from a dealership around 70 miles from where I live at the end of October, around 33k miles on the clock. After only ten days I got a dashboard light start to come on each time I turn the ignition on with an exclamation mark in a triangle saying engine fault: repair needed followed by airbag(s) or pretensioner seat belt(s) faulty then ‘risk of particle filter clogging: see handbook’

Contacted them straight away about it and they booked it in for an initial diagnostic in their workshop for two weeks later. I then noticed a creaking type noise driving at low speeds under the driver footwell and mentioned this also prior to diagnostic. Verdict from the initial diagnostic was that shock absorbers needed doing and that the dashboard lights were an electrical fault and they would need their subcontracted electrical specialist to have more of a look at it. I was informed that when they had a date of availability back from said electrics specialist that I could bring it to them, have the shock absorbers done then the car be taken to the electrics specialists garage same day.

Heard nothing after four days and emailed to follow up, they said they’d follow up with the workshop and let me know. A further three days past and nothing so I emailed again, informed still awaiting information. A further two weeks go by and nothing, I rang the department several times and was told on three separate occasions that bloke from aftersales would call me back and didn’t, I left email to reflect this. I then received an email following day apologising for the lack of communication citing staffing issues, that the electrician was now on his Christmas holiday (this was the 12th December) who has said he will get in touch as soon as he is back to book it in.

This was very annoying with the lack of communication there’d been from the previous three weeks after I’d took it in for the initial diagnostic, I questioned therefore whether there were any attempts to liaise with said electrician between the 23rd and this email update on the 12th. They reported having made several attempts to contact and that they cannot control the workload of an external garage.

Gets to the 8th Jan still no update so I email to reflect this and say I am on a week of annual leave W/C 5th feb and could bring it in then, booked for Tuesday 6th Feb. I was told timescale regarding likely fix of the electrical fault to be unclear, I informed them that on the 6th I’d only be able to drop it in for a day as mentioned I live 70 miles away and would need car to get back.

Very frustratingly the shock absorbers didn’t get completed on this day for what reason I don’t know and seemed to be through poor communication between departments. Electrician had a look for a more specific diagnostic, essentially I needed to rebook to bring the car back in as this couldn’t be sorted same day. Had to book it in for the following month in March, again when I was on leave. Brought it in and shock absorbers were done, I was however told by the workshop that they had tried to fix the electrical fault with the diagnostic recommendation from the electrician but that this hadn’t solved the problem. I was then advised to liaise with the electrician directly to take it into their garage and they would obviously pick up the bill. Phoned him and couldn’t get it booked in for several weeks and was informed I’d need to leave it with him for likely at least a few days. I dropped the car off and have needed to get trains back home and to borrow someone’s car whilst it’s in.

After over a week in the garage I’ve been informed by the electrical specialist that he cannot sort the issue out. They’ve tried an airbag module, switch and a lights bar I think he’d said? I said that with this problem then realistically the car will be incapable of passing an MOT. He confirmed this to be the case unless I found an MOT station that ‘didn’t mind’ and that ways around it obviously not by the book would be to do away with the bulb in the dashboard or unplug the seat module in the middle of the dashboard. Said he has tried everything within his remit he can try.

The dealership have said they can buy the car back from me but would take a mileage deduction, in just over 5 months ive clocked up nearly 9k miles so have been told the deduction would be significant and likely the cost of the car! I’m aware this is fairly standard but seems very unfair considering I had initially flagged this fault as soon as it occurred, a mere ten days after purchase and that there has been such poor communication and lack of urgency from their end to have this remedied in a timely manner. They have said they want to work with me and regarding the MOT issue have said they’d be prepared to do my MOT tests free of charge going forward where they could ‘switch off’ the airbag light fault / overlook it so to speak for the purpose of the MOT. This isn’t however convenient at all for me to be bringing my car such a long way every time I’m needing to get an MOT. I’ve asked whether they would therefore consider me trading it in for another car, they appeared to potentially be open to this but would obviously depend on which car and have asked me to have a look and get back to them.

To be honest in an ideal world I’d rather just sell the car back to them and have nothing more to do with them and take my business elsewhere as I’ve gone through lots of inconvenience with them, but I feel stuck regarding the issue of the mileage deduction which from what I’m reading garages are entitled to do. However as mentioned this feels a bit of an injustice due to the above outlined. Would I have a realistic argument in that I should be entitled to a full refund? After all this matter came up a mere ten days after purchase and I’d promptly informed them of this. It is a serious fault in that I wont be able to get the car to legitimately pass an MOT and isn’t a matter they’ve been able to solve under warranty. Surely they have sold me a car not fit for purpose and I should be entitled to a full refund?

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Thu 18 Apr 2024 15:47

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - leaseman

It seems to me that you have been far too lenient on the dealer and you are now rapidly approaching the date when you can reject the car under the Consumer Rights Act.

Do that Today! By email and recorded next day delivery letter.

Cite the Act in your rejection and demand the Full value paid by you back.

Copy the local Trading Standards Office (local to the dealer) and include a copy of your post here.

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Fri 19 Apr 2024 21:45

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - SLO76

As above, and remember next time not to buy an old Peugeot, particularly a DPF equipped diesel. You need to speak with trading standards. I’m assuming that despite its age the low mileage means it wasn’t a particularly cheap old car?

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Sun 21 Apr 2024 07:56

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - pd

A Peugeot 207 is unlikely to be in it's first flush of youth.

I'm not sure rejection would be that easy as you have done 9k in it. You can't argue it wasn't fit for purpose at point it sale when it has clearly been fit for purpose as a car, i.e. it has travelled 9k miles.

You are correct that a deduction is allowed but should be reasonable. Id try and negotiate with the dealer to reach a sensible compromise for both of you.

A 207 is an old car which will always give some sort of issues if you use it a lot.

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Sun 21 Apr 2024 09:37

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - galileo

A Peugeot 207 is unlikely to be in it's first flush of youth.

I'm not sure rejection would be that easy as you have done 9k in it. You can't argue it wasn't fit for purpose at point it sale when it has clearly been fit for purpose as a car, i.e. it has travelled 9k miles.

You are correct that a deduction is allowed but should be reasonable. Id try and negotiate with the dealer to reach a sensible compromise for both of you.

A 207 is an old car which will always give some sort of issues if you use it a lot.

207s were last produced in 2014, so it may not be that old. A neighbour runs a 2006 Yaris daily, my daughter just changed rom her 2006 Daihatsu Charade, I just changed my 2009 Hyundai i30, none of these 'old' cars, regularly serviced, gave any trouble.

Admittedly, they were NA petrol, manual models,of manufacturers with good reliability reputations.

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Sun 21 Apr 2024 09:44

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Andrew-T

A 207 is an old car which will always give some sort of issues if you use it a lot.

It is now 16 years since my 207 hit the road, and I am still waiting for issues to appear. It is a 1.6 diesel, but fortunately with no DPF. So my personal experience is that a 207 will not 'always' give issues, but I accept that any owner of an old car can be unlucky. Maybe it depends mainly on how much the previous owner(s) have done to prevent 'issues' developing ?

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Sun 21 Apr 2024 10:49

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - pd

A 207 is an old car which will always give some sort of issues if you use it a lot.

It is now 16 years since my 207 hit the road, and I am still waiting for issues to appear. It is a 1.6 diesel, but fortunately with no DPF. So my personal experience is that a 207 will not 'always' give issues, but I accept that any owner of an old car can be unlucky. Maybe it depends mainly on how much the previous owner(s) have done to prevent 'issues' developing ?

True, and personally i find the 1.6 diesel decent. However the OP is doing 22k a year. That's pretty serious mileage and a whatever car is used will produce some serious maintenance bills at some point.

Also, anyone has to accept that 20k+ a year will cost you a lot more than doing 5k a year and not just in fuel.

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Fri 14 Jun 2024 10:05

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

Thanks for the feedback people. So an update, I’ve since logged the issue with the motor ombudsman as was getting largely ignored by the dealer, after writing to them asking for them to outline in writing what they would propose to be a reasonable deduction to account for the miles driven. I reflected in this letter/email the timeline of events and how I’ve largely felt massively inconvenienced and in the absence of the matter being able to be repaired my next preferred outcome would be to sell the car back to them but only if the deduction is reasonable.

I then noted the ombudsman to have rule whereby you need to give the business up to 8 weeks to respond or if they give a final response they can then take the claim. The current state of play is they have said n writing this is something they could assist with but are waiting for someone to be allocated which could be a month or two away yet.

I subsequently wrote to the business in email and via post with recorded delivery requesting a full refund on the vehicle within 6 months and in accordance with consumer rights legislation.

About a month later they responded with saying “we understand you encountered an issue with your vehicle and offered you a repair, subsequently a fault couldn’t be found.” They also said they had offered a part exchange and said if I wished to go down this route still to let them know and they would ‘see if something could be sorted out still.’

I reiterated as I had explained in my original letter that a part exchange would not be my preferred outcome due to all the repeated hassle of trips to try have the matter resoled and also poor communication from their end having largely delayed things, which I feel I am now being penalised for in essence considering I had originally flagged this matter to them after only 10 days of purchase but it took months to be seen by a specialist due to poor organisation and communication their end. How would I know that I wouldn’t get much of the same on a separate vehicle with them? I also felt it was a bit disingenuous for them to infer that their isn’t a fault when the original issue is still happening. Their specialist tried a few things – airbag module, a switch and a lights bar, said he has tried everything he can and the original said error message on the dashboard still flashes up upon turning the ignition key. I challenged them saying a ‘fault wasn’t found’ as realistically this popping up on the dashboard will mean the car wont legitimately be able to pass an MOT and is therefore pretty significant. The specialist had said to me that only way round it would be an MOT centre that ‘doesn’t mind,’ i.e. apply a couple of tricks so it doesn’t come on visibly at the test. “Do away with the bulb in the dashboard and unplug the seat module in the centre of the dashboard.”

I pointed out in my response that they hadn’t addressed my request regarding what they would propose to deduct from the vehicle if they wanted to purchase it back. They then said they work within the CRA 2015 and this would be within that and as per their terms and conditions. They’ve said within 6 months wouldn’t entitle me to a refund as per CRA 2015 and this would only apply where a refund has ‘been agreed’ within 30 days. Like I’ve touched on earlier this fault actually flagged up after ten days of purchase, I informed them straightaway and have been more then patient and tolerant in them resolving the matter. If I’d have known what an absolute hassle this would have turned into I would have asked for a full refund there and then, but I’d imagine they’d have likely refused and cited the law in the other direction then i.e. they’d need to be given reasonable chance to resolve the matter.

I’m left in a bit of a difficult scenario now in that I only have three months left running on it’s current MOT. I’m aware there will be little to no chance of any kind of resolution down the ombudsman route before then, I wont have anyone allocated until July at the earliest. Also reading up reviews of the ombudsman on trustpilot hasn’t filled me with much optimism regarding their timescales. I had to take out a 4k loan to get this car (bought for 3,900), I am paying this off until October 2025 and have various significant outgoings a month. If this car is unable to pass an MOT I’m going to be a bit screwed / might have to muster together as much money as I can like possibly a grand or so for a cheap run around as an interim option.

My current state of play I’m thinking now is to perhaps ring ahead a few local MOT stations and explain my situation / if any discretion could be applied whilst the ombudsman issue rolls on.

Any further advice I’d greatly appreciate.

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Fri 14 Jun 2024 14:02

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Adampr

They're telling you a lie. The rejection doesn't have to be agreed within 30 days. No MOT station will tell you that they will pass it for you, even if they would.

Reject the car. Don't ask them, tell them that's what has happened.

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Fri 14 Jun 2024 17:16

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

Thanks. I had said to them if they weren't prepared to give me a full refund as requested then I'll await to hear from the motor ombudsman. I am however probably now faced with the prospect of needing to source an alternative vehicle come September as it wont pass its MOT

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Thu 27 Mar 2025 14:07

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

Hi all, bit of an update on this..

By September the MOT had expired and as suspected the car wouldn’t pass an MOT. Furthermore two different garages were able to give me an underlying cause / diagnosis for the error message. That the additive tank was essentially knackered which would be a very costly repair, plus there’d be a prospect of more expense if the particulate filter was also damaged, which was probably likely seeing as I’d driven so far on it. I suspect the sellers to have been disingenuous regarding this but of course cannot prove this..

So I have paid £3,900 for a car I only got 10 months worth of use out of.

It took around 6 months just for an allocation with the motor ombudsman, it eventually got to an adjudicators decision in January this year. The adjudicator ruled in my favour and in terms of a fair deduction for use gave a formula for this. This formula worked out a 900 or so pounds deduction meaning I would be paid back just shy of 3K with the return of the car which now has 49K miles on the clock. I accepted this decision. Unsurprisingly the garage have not and in terms of a ‘counter offer’ said they would buy back at a rate of 45p per mile which would mean a deduction more then double the value of the car!

I fedback to the adjudicator that this is clearly not a reasonable or proportionate offer and it seems to me that the business have no intention of resolving the matter sensibly.

I’m now told that the business are reportedly no longer accredited by the motor ombudsman, so if the matter is escalated to an ombudsman this now reportedly wouldn’t carry much weight for them to comply. I queried how long the business haven't been accredited and whether this was a voluntary withdrawing on the businesses end. The adjudicator confirmed that the business voluntarily withdrew their ombudsman membership shortly following the decision in my favour. The adjudicator will be escalating to the ombudsman in any case and I plan to go through the motions and exhaust this avenue (even though it's apparent the business have no interest in compromise) for the purpose of bolstering evidence for the small claims court and demonstrating I've exhausted every other possible avenue before coming to them.

The car that I can’t use now only after 10 months I had to take a loan out for, which I’m still paying back at £180 a month until October this year. I’ve had to accrue more debt to get another vehicle..I’m hoping I will have a strong case being backed up by TMO adjudicators decision.

The fact they have in my eyes been likely disingenuous about their knowledge of the underlying fault and have subsequently pulled every dirty trick in the book since with their delays in correspondence and now withdrawing from the ombudsman has just made me more determined to make sure they are hit firmly in the pocket. To be honest at this stage I wouldn't be bothered if I only got back a fraction of the car price due to potential expenditure on legal fees. For me it's now more a matter of principle and just doing my up most to make sure these scumbags take a financial hit.

I’m not sure where to start really and would be grateful for any advice or if anyone has had any sort of similar dealings in taking a car dealership to court.

Also to add, whilst the car has been off the road I have been giving it a start up every couple of weeks to keep the engine ticking over. Despite this recently the battery appears to have died and it wont start. In regards to keeping the engine ticking over, someone I know has questioned whether this is really something that is my problem. I can’t say I particularly want to be going now to the expense of getting jump leads etc. I’m wondering in this situation whether me making sure the engine keeps running every couple of weeks is something that should be expected of me or whether this would be something considering going above and beyond? Just don’t want anything to bite me in the a*** months down the line, for instance if I won in court but then upon recovery of the vehicle they would then raise issue about the car not starting etc.

Thank you in advance

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Thu 27 Mar 2025 18:10

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Andrew-T

So as soon as this outfit gets a negative from the ombudsman, they respond by saying Oh we don't deal with them any more ? The ultimate trick with a shady dealer is to close the company and restart as a new one, no longer responsible.

But what is happening to your battery is not surprising. Presumably the lack of an MoT means you are covering no miles, so the battery is slowly losing charge plus a bit more whenever you start it up again. You could use a trickle charger to improve things a bit.

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Thu 27 Mar 2025 19:18

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

I mean part of me thinks why should I be expected to spend further money on this car for instance getting what you mentioned a trickle charger when I've been had over and the cars off the road

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Fri 28 Mar 2025 15:21

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Adampr

I mean part of me thinks why should I be expected to spend further money on this car for instance getting what you mentioned a trickle charger when I've been had over and the cars off the road

A trickle charger can be transferred to a other vehicle, so not a complete waste.

As for your dealer, the problem with taking them to court is that they might just fold the company (if they haven't already) to get out of paying you.

I think gibbo's advice on how to get it running is good. Alternatively, you could put it up for sale on the Peugeot forums with the problem clearly declared and one of them will probably buy it off you to sort.

The nuclear option is to get the car towed to the dealer, tell them that you are rejecting it and refuse to leave until they pay you back. It might not work, but could be fun if you're feeling brave. Especially if you put a sign on it saying why you're there.

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Fri 28 Mar 2025 13:15

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Gibbo_Wirral

Hi all, bit of an update on this..

By September the MOT had expired and as suspected the car wouldn’t pass an MOT. Furthermore two different garages were able to give me an underlying cause / diagnosis for the error message. That the additive tank was essentially knackered which would be a very costly repair, plus there’d be a prospect of more expense if the particulate filter was also damaged, which was probably likely seeing as I’d driven so far on it. I suspect the sellers to have been disingenuous regarding this but of course cannot prove this..

There are cheaper alternatives to sorting this. Get yourself onto peugeotforums.com and we'll be able to help out with someone coming to you with decent diagnostic equipment, but most importantly - life experience with Peugeots to avoid expensive garage bills.

And helping you for free with no vested interest in making money off you.

A second hand additive tank (or pouch), a litre of additive and even a brand new DPF from CATS2U will cost a fraction of what a garage will charge.

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Sat 15 Jun 2024 07:55

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - Boddingtons

Hi leaseman, thank you for the feedback. I've since replied with an update albeit i'm not sure if people get notified unless directly replying to their post? I'd appreciate your futher feedback, thank you

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Sun 6 Apr 2025 16:12

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - pd

A new additive tank can easily be bought for £150 for a 207. They do not take long to fit and it would be sensible to top up the fluid at the same time. This is just a regular maintenance job and the pump/tank a not uncommon fault. It is the sort of thing you are likely to need to do with the mileage you are doing, just part of maintenance.

However, the fault was mainly with the airbag light? In which case the additive is a red herring.

Regardless of the situation with the supplying dealer the subsequent garages sound completely useless.

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Tue 8 Apr 2025 23:11

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - SLO76

The guys who sell sub £5k motors typically know every trick in the book to use in order to wriggle out of any responsibility - I was one of the rare honest guys, but I couldn’t compete on price and gave up after getting sick of everyone wanting good cars for nothing. To be fair you can’t really guarantee any diesel car that’s a decade or so old, but this is especially the case with a DPF equipped diesel. These are a never ending liability and not worth considering - I’d avoid any dealer who stocks them. Stick with a simple petrol engined mass market car, forget diesels, turbos, DPF’s, automated manual gearboxes and prestige brands etc etc etc. A trader who actually cares about his customers won’t sell cars that are likely to go expensively wrong. He’ll have a yard full of 1.25 Fiesta’s, Mazda 2/3 petrols, Toyota Aygos, small petrol Honda’s and Nissan Notes.

You won’t get anything from this outfit. Even if you won a court case against them they’d simply bankrupt themselves and reestablish under a different name so you can’t claim anything from them. They’ll be experts at this sort of thing, they’ll have done it before. A Quick Look at companies house (assuming they’re a limited company - most are) will no doubt show virtually no assets to claim from.

It’s a painful and unfair lesson in life, and honest dealers selling sub £5k motors are few and far between. Warranties mean nothing on decade old cars and modern emissions strangled diesels aren’t worth considering at this money, or much more.

Edited by SLO76 on 08/04/2025 at 23:27

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Thu 10 Apr 2025 15:59

Peugeot 207 - Bought car fault advice please - pd

Even if you won a court case against them they’d simply bankrupt themselves and reestablish under a different name so you can’t claim anything from them. They’ll be experts at this sort of thing, they’ll have done it before. A Quick Look at companies house (assuming they’re a limited company - most are) will no doubt show virtually no assets to claim from. It’s a painful and unfair lesson in life, and honest dealers selling sub £5k motors are few and far between. Warranties mean nothing on decade old cars and modern emissions strangled diesels aren’t worth considering at this money, or much more.

In fairness to the dealer concerned (and we haven't heard their side) the car has covered 9000 miles so has hardly blown up out the door.

There seem to be two faults: the DPF fluid and pump and maybe an airbag light. The airbag light if it came up soon after purchase the seller should have rectified. The DPF fluid depends on how soon after I guess but fluid is really a service item and the pumps do often need doing at the same time. It isn't the end of the world, £150 for a pump, £30 for the fluid and about an hour's labour. It is not unreasonable that doing a high mileage a purchaser might have to do this. This is really basic car maintenance stuff these days.

That leaves the airbag light which the seller maybe should have sorted. Either way none of this is exactly a headgasket or crank snapping.

The fundamental problem is that a £5k car today is a £2k car from 2020. Prices have changed. £5k doesn't buy you a lot of car. A £5k car will need maintenance and things fixed, particularly if you are doing 20k a year whoever and wherever you buy it.

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