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This is almost too hard to believe, but it's a true story.
I bought a used car from a 'dealership' (I use that word lightly). There were some alarm bells ringing that I ignored in favour of a deal—namely, the mention of spares and repairs on the contract (I know now what this means, but they let me test drive it and let me drive away with it with a children's seat in the front, so I'm fairly sure my consumer rights would have been intact).
As soon as I got on the motorway home, the car suffered a catastrophic failure. Smoke out the back, smoke out the front, wild vibrations, things falling out from the engine onto the road. I pulled over on the hard shoulder and, three hours later, had a tow truck bring the car back to my house.
I was gearing up for a fight with the dealer this morning; went to take my kid to school, and the car was gone. No word of a lie. I've reported it to the police and I'm about to speak to the insurance company (they will probably have just as hard a time as believing it as I am).
I have some assumptions about what's transpired here (pretty easy to jump to conclusions) but I'm going to let the police do their job (or not).
I thought I understood my consumer rights pretty well, but I'm confused about whether I have any legal recourse without the vehicle. Could I still take them to small claims court? I have a trail of evidence with regard to the fault. I recorded audio on my phone of the car breaking down on the motorway (at first it sounded like I vibration so I quickly opened voice memos because I thought I could send it to the dealer). My wife called the police to send out highway patrol as I was in a very dangerous spot. I have an invoice from the tow truck and so on and so on. But I don't have a physical car to reject or have fixed.
Thanks in advance
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