Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories

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Wed 7 Aug 2013 11:14
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - tceditor99

Hello. I wanted to find out what anyone thinks of my next step buying a pre-owned vehicle from Westwood Car and Commercial in Kent last year.

At the time of buying the car, I hadn't owned a car for several years and was unaware of the 'new look' MoT certificiates. So, when I paid for the car, the paperwork was handed over to me as normal with a fresh MoT certificate as promised by the dealer. However, this was an A5 (half of A4) piece of paper, and I commented on how small it was, it which I got no reply.

Around six months later I got the vehicle serviced at Nissan dealer who advised me the rear brakes were dangerously low and needed urgent attention. I felt this was a little strange as I had only done around 2,000 miles since I purchased the car. I replaced the rear pads myself, and indeed they were very low.

A year after buying the car, it was due it's next MoT, and the examiner then asked me why the advisories part of the certificate was missing. Obviously, I wasn't really aware the right hand side of the sheet should have contained the last MoT's advisories. I was then told to check out the history online - which I did.

It turns out that the following advisories were given on the previous MoT: "Rear pads 3/4 worn, track rod end bushes perished (attention required soon)."

I was devestated as the reason I bought the car was to keep my newly born Son safer and to discover the dealer has removed this to cover up the faults I think breaks the Sale of Good Act. They purposely tore off the advisories so that I wouldn't ask for a discount or get the dealer to repair them!

I then wrote to the garage asking for an explanation, and ask for compensation of £200 for the repair of the brakes. Soon after, I get a reply from the company's solicitors telling me that the dealer denies doing this and that I have no proof. In any case, I could of gone online to check the history anyway!

So, I don't even get a concerned call from the dealer, all I get is a standard reply from a solicitors basically telling me I am lying.

I would appreciate if anyone has had any similar experiences or advice on what I should be doing about it. I have contacted Kent Trading Standards and have copied them into all correspondence, but I don't know if they've bothered to do anything about it.

Thanks for your time.

Paul

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Wed 7 Aug 2013 14:05
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - tony g
Hi Paul ,
I think there are two parts to your problem ,first the advisory items on your mot .
Dealers are not obliged to do advise items ,the car didn't fail its test because of them .You got a new mot as agreed with the dealer .

However the dealer has been stupid in concealing the advise items in the way that he did .As car dealers were obliged by consumer law to inform a private buyer of any pertinent information when we sell a car , on that basis he should not have hidden the information from you .

So if you still have the mot certificate you describe ,it will be a useful tool to use in the small claims court .I would download a copy of the SCC application ,fill it in as though your about to make a claim and send a copy of it to the dealer along with a covering letter .

If that doesn't produce an offer from him ,you then have to decide if its worth your actually pursuing him in the SCC ,the cost of fees could be as high as £300 .
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Wed 7 Aug 2013 15:02
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - pd

Technically, there is no such thing as a MOT certificate any more so you can't, technically, argue you didn't get a complete one as no such thing exists. The bit of paper is just a receipt and the "certificate" as such is held electronically on the central database.

I can see it is annoying and I can't understand why a dealer would conceal what are trivial advisories. If it said the floorpan is about to fall out maybe, but why bother on brake pads?

I can't see you have a hope in hell in court - used cars have worn brake pads and if they were to MOT standard they were still working so I can't see what you're claiming for. The best thing you are likely to do is give the court a good laugh for the afternoon.

Unless you can prove the car was unroadworthy at the time of sale (which there appears to no evidence it was) I can't see what case you have.

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Wed 7 Aug 2013 17:50
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - Armitage Shanks {p}

If he had been been given the facts by Dodgy Deals Ltd he might have been able to negotiate a priced reduction. Urgent attantion to therear brakes is not a minor consideration or cost

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Thu 8 Aug 2013 00:40
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - pd

Yes, they should have provided the advisories but, sorry, you're not going to get anywhere on a set of brake pads only having 25% left. They're a consumable and the only way you are "entitled" to new ones as a given is to buy a new car.

The advisories are pretty trivial in the scheme of things and whilst the buyer should have been made aware they are a non starter as a court case.

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Thu 8 Aug 2013 09:31
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - skidpan

The OP wrote

"Rear pads 3/4 worn,"

yet Armitage Shanks interpreted this as

"Urgent attention to the rear brakes is not a minor consideration or cost "

Lets think about this for a second. In my experience rear pads, last about 70,000 miles at least. I have had over 100,000 miles out of a set in the past and there was still life in them. But in truth if the rear pads are 3/4 worn there is not 1/4 left, you don't want to wear then to the metal so lets say there is 1/8 left. Therefore on an average life of 70,000 miles 1/8 remaining would mean 8750 miles.

8750 miles with still a decent amount left in the pads and hardly require "urgent attention".

But if it "helps" the OP why not make the "problem" far worse than it really is. In truth there is no problem with the brakes.

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Sat 10 Aug 2013 09:34
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - Collos25

If there was any sign of danger then it would not have passed the MOT 15ukps for a set of rear pads and 12ukps for track rod ends when required is hardly anything to get upset about.

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Sat 10 Aug 2013 12:39
Nissan X-Trail - Dealer hiding MoT Advisories - Andrew-T
So if you still have the mot certificate you describe ,it will be a useful tool to use in the small claims court .

But time has moved on quite a bit, and last year's MoT printout could have been cut in half by anyone. The original seller has been deceptive, and many punters will not know about looking at MoT history on line. Not worth the cost of pursuing legally, spend the money on new track-rod ends.

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