Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale.

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 19:55
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - PinkCadillac

Hello,

I bought my rover on 31st July for £795. The dealer said it didn't come with a warranty due to the price of the vehicle, it is also a Y-reg but I can't remember if that made a difference and as I had bought my previous cars with no warranty I thought nothing of it but was surprised when I didn't have to pay for the MOT that came with the vehicle.

On 20th of August as I was driving home from doing the weekly shop I noticed that when i pressed the accelerator I heard a rattle and the speedo went down instead of up if I changed gear, so I found myself driving on a national limit road at 30-40mph in 3rd gear.

As I slowed down to drive in a 30mph zone I noticed smoke coming out of my bonnet and the car duly died at the roundabout, so I put my hazards on and tried to start the engine with no success and was pushed off the roundabout to a safer place where a kind gentleman informed me my head gasket had gone.

After phoning the garage and being told they would not fix it due to the age of the vehicle I waited for the breakdown truck and the mechanic told me that my gearbox was "knackered" which explained the gears doing the hokey-cokey every so often.

I phoned the dealer the next day after I had got over the shock and was told that due to having bought the car without a warranty I would not be getting my money back.

I have looked at the service history on the net and found that before the car was sold to me it needed the front brake discs replacing, which I found had been fixed after I took it to a local garage.

I am my Grandmothers carer and bought the car mainly for shopping, odometer reading said I drove 100 miles during the time it was roadworthy.

I was wondering if I would be able to get my money back and save up for another car, I promise to get a warranty this time, or if I am wasting my time.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from somebody, if you need any more information I shall try to give it to you.

Helen

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 20:07
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - Palcouk

A motor dealer cannot sell a car to a member of the public without a warranty, even if you were to sign a 'sold as seen, no warranty' that is not valid.

Call your local trading standards.

For that sort of money you would be better looking in your local paper for individuals selling a car, so long as its viewed at the sellers address and the log book is in their name and of course it has an MOT. If neccessary take along someone who knows a bit more.

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 20:12
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - PinkCadillac

Thank you, will do asap.

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 20:48
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - RT

But remember that Trading Standards and the Sale of Goods Act (SoGA) consumer protection will take into account the price paid, in this case not very much.

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 22:11
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - pd

Reality is that £750 doesn't buy you much car these days. Maybe it did 2-3 years ago but even the real bottom end stuff tends to be £500 up these days. Sorry, but the that is the truth. Any coverage under law is minimal and any warranty on cars like this isn't worth the paper it is written on.

Any car at this level is a gamble which might last 100 or 10,000 miles depending on luck as much as anything.

Trading Standards are not concerned with cars going wrong after sale - it is not what they do or are for.

Are you sure it is both the headgasket and gearbox? If it is just the gearbox used ones for these are cheap and plentiful and a decent mechanic should be able to swap it relatively cheaply.

Edited by pd on 22/08/2014 at 22:13

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Fri 22 Aug 2014 22:15
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - pd

A motor dealer cannot sell a car to a member of the public without a warranty, even if you were to sign a 'sold as seen, no warranty' that is not valid.

Call your local trading standards.

Actually - they can. They can't remove the SoGA as a basis of sale but have no requirement to offer an additional warranty.If the seller says "it will do 50 miles and last a day" then if it does, that's fine.

Tradings Standards won't give two whatsits apart from maybe sending a leaflet.

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Sat 23 Aug 2014 00:34
Rover 25 - Used car bought with no warranty offered at sale. - Andrew-T

As has been said, the basic truth is that a 'dealer' can only afford to sell a car at that price if it has cost him next to nothing - which tells you all you need to know about the car. He has to make a margin of profit, if only to give him something in reserve when you take the car back to be fixed.

If you can only afford a few hundred you have to buy privately, which may mean taking along a mate who knows a bit about cars. There won't be any warranty, but if you ask the right questions you should be able to find a half-decent vehicle. If the bodywork and interior look OK, examine all the oily bits carefully.

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