Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults....

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Wed 15 Oct 2014 20:55
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - sony

It's a 2002 Passat estate with nearly 190,000 miles. Yep, worthless in theory. But I paid a couple of grand. And a couple of grand is a couple of grand.
I went to view it, and to be fair it has loads of receipts, it's been cared for, new brakes, 4 new good tyres, new timing belt, recently serviced by previous owner.
Went on a test drive with dealer (well he drove it as he didn't let people test drive) and he said it was spot on. Which is was in all fairness. No nasty bangs or anything.
We even tried the aircon and it seemed cool enough so I drove away happy, I admit.

However a couple of days later, I noticed the car didn't reach operating temperature. I was a bit peed off but thought if that's all I have to worry about it wouldn't be too bad. £224 later it was fixed.
I also noticed that in fact the aircon didn't work- now this peed me off quite a bit. It felt ok on the cold day we test drove it but clearly it was just the blower.

I've now found out that the window demister doesn't work either, which now is getting annoying. I'm no mechanic and need to pay a mechanic for every fault and by the time I've fixed these issues I would have been better off buying something much nicer.

I accept it's a very old car but with having to spend hundreds of pounds to fix it it now feels like a very expensive banger... I just don't really know where to go with this....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Oct 2014 21:08
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - elekie&a/c doctor

I think the first problem is that you have paid 1K too much for the car which now gives you no reserve funds for any repairs that can be expected on a car of this age and mileage.Looks like the main service repair items have been looked after,but other issues have now been noticed.You should have looked at other cars before buying this one.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Oct 2014 21:56
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - Simon

Its a twelve year old car with 190,000 miles on the clock. Its bound to have faults. Where do you go with it...? You really have nowhere to go in reality.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Oct 2014 21:57
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - alan1302

Think you should have walked away the minute he said you could not test drive it. Also you say the car is probably worthless then why pay £2k for it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 09:27
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - catsdad
Sony, you have rights that are extensively covered in FAQs and elsewhere. You need to factor in of course the age and mileage but it seems to be that operating temperature (thermostat?) and demist are basic functions that a dealer ought to have been responsible for. However you would need to have given the dealer the opportunity to fix these, you can't claim cost of another garage's work. It's not clear if you have actually approached the supplying dealer on the original or outstanding problem and if so what his response is? Of course if he will not co-operate you need to decide if it's worth the small claims process for what at the end of the day may be a minor cost (given that the cost of the repair you already had done can't be recovered unless you gave him the opportunity to repair). Good luck but this may end up one you need to put down to experience.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 10:13
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - corax

Normally you'd get something like a three month warranty from a dealer for a car like this. You must take it back straight away to get faults fixed while it is within warranty and fresh in the dealers mind.

Aircon and the drivers side door speaker didn't work on my previous car. Took it back after ringing the same day, and had both faults fixed - door speaker was just disconnected and the aircon needed a new condenser and pipe. The dealer was, admittedly, very courteous and superb to do business with.

You shouldn't have to pay that much for a 190k car though, as catsdad says it's just experience. Any dealer that won't allow me to test drive the car, I'll just walk away.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 11:21
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - 72 dudes

Take it back and ask for the faults to be fixed. Polite but firm.

What reason did he give for not allowing you to test drive? Insurance?

I wonder if the car was for sale on behalf of the owner with the dealer keeping a chunk. If there was no warranty, this could explain it.

In any case, a basic 3 month warranty won't cover any non mechanical faults which yours are.

If the dealer refuses to fix the faults, you realistically have just two options as the Sale of Goods Act won't be of much use for a car of this mileage/age:

Either pay to bring the car up to satisfactory condition and run it into the ground, chalking it up to experience, or cut your losses and put it through an auction where you may clear it's true value of around £500.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 11:24
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - T16TWR

I have replied to many posts in a site that I am a member of, My reply! Why do people that are not Mechanicle Minded go to purchase a car no matter what price without asking someone that knows a bit to go with them? Is it pride? or is it they THINK THEY KNOW BETTER? there are people out there willing to rip you off regards cars / vans, why do you give them the chance?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 21:56
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - Avant

T16TWR, I see that you started a thread in the Technical section asking for advice. Please ask yourself - if you'd received an answer like the one you've given above, how helpful would you have found it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 22:07
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - sony

I will try and get a little something to help with the costs. The demister and thermostat are two items I would like help with. They are important and would stick cost a fair bit to fix.

Thanks for your help folks!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Oct 2014 22:30
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - RobJP

Regarding the 'demister' - if you mean the rear heated screen, then it's just as likely to be a fuse that's gone.

If you mean the front screen, then check and change the pollen filter, and the bulkhead area where the filter box is - the pollen filter may well be sodden, and leaves blocking the bulkhead drains. Either of those will lead to horrible levels of condensation, and, in time, electrics issues with the rest of the car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Oct 2014 09:38
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - Happy Blue!

I feel for sony. I too bought a car which I was not permitted to test drive. This time it was classic car and I bought it from the owner's club magazine editor, However he was clearly a crook as the car needed several thousand pounds of refurbishment to get it roadworthy. As he was a 'private seller - yeah really!' I had no comeback.

Never again......sorry sony. Unless the dealer accepts his responsibility, you will have to dig deep.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Oct 2014 11:00
Passat VW - Bought a car from a dealer with a few faults.... - Andrew-T

My 2p-worth - I think a dealer who got £2K for a car which can only have cost him a fraction of that should be prepared to sacrifice a cut of his margin in fixing any problems, which I am sure he will have expected on a car with that mileage. Be resolute. But don't invest too much in any 'legal' process, which may be throwing good money after bad.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

A guide to how much VED you will need to pay on your car.

Road Tax Bands and Rates