Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 11:37
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - arse

I purchased a car on 27th january from a car dealer in London that was advertised as "the best FTO left, pristine example & a good investment etc." advertised in auto trader for £2,700. this is a high price for an FTO but it did appear to be immaculate and the exact model i wanted.

We drove to view the car and purchased it there and then as its a 90 mile drive from my house.

The car drove back ok but the auto box slipped a couple of times, i assumed it just needed oil.

The car then sat on my drive for about 3 weeks while i dealt with tax insurance and an approved alarm system as per insurance instruction.

I then booked car into local garage for service, fix headlight, oil leek, cam belt and pre MOT. They had the car 6 weeks as parts for tappets were hard to source. i paid garage £950 and was looking forward to enjoying my new purchase.

On the first trip out within 5 miles of home the gearbox slipped and then locked itself into limp mode. I tried all the obvious things but ended up taking the car to a local gearbox specialist.

They have since stripped the box and found it has a broken drum and various other inherant problems, they still have the car as now the ECU is causing problems also, it has been there for about 8 weeks and still no end in sight. the bill at the moment is a further £1600.

I contacted the garage that sold me the car and they are refusing to help and are now saying that they sold the car to me as scrap. when i checked my receipt it does say that even though its hurridly writen and says "sold as scarp". this was not on the receipt when i signed it so must have been added before he handed it back to me inside the folder of receipts.

why advertise car as pristine and a high price if it was sold as scrap. scarp fto's are common place and worth a few hundred quid. they did not fill log book in to say scrap but signed to transfer car to me.

I do not expect them to pay towards the initial bill but think they should take responsability for the gearbox to some degree. they are saying that i should have returned car or let them know within 3 months.

please help. they are now not responding to my emails and get given the run around if i phone them.

many thanks in advance

Stuart

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 12:13
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - RobJP

Small claims court. Send them one last letter (recorded delivery), informing them that is what you'll be doing if they don't get this sorted, and then do it.

They can claim what they like : a court will most likely view that paying £2700 for a scrap car would not be realistic, and would be HIGHLY likely to rule in your favour. The costs to you would be minimal.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 15:56
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - skidpan

We drove to view the car and purchased it there and then as its a 90 mile drive from my house. The car drove back ok but the auto box slipped a couple of times, i assumed it just needed oil. The car then sat on my drive for about 3 weeks while i dealt with tax insurance and an approved alarm system as per insurance instruction

Off topic but you admit you drove the car with no tax and no insurance.

As for the car, regardless of price FTO's are old now and will come with problems. 15 years ago a young lad that worked for me bought one, could not get it fixed, no one could diaginose the problems.

Basically an old money pit.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 16:11
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - pd

I think the garage is probably right - really, on a car like this, in this price range, trying to get any recourse 6 months after purchase is a long shot.

The time to take it back was immediately after you noticed the gearbox slipping - at that point you'd have had a strong claim that the car had a major fault at point of sale and been able to push for a refund, regardless of what they may have written on the receipt.

In addition, you have involved a 3rd party rather than taking it straight back to the seller which makes it even more complicated.

If you suspect a car you have just bought has a major fault leavig it sitting for a month before investigating it is a bit silly IMO. Sorry.

Edited by pd on 23/07/2015 at 16:12

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 18:25
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - arse

I think the garage is probably right - really, on a car like this, in this price range, trying to get any recourse 6 months after purchase is a long shot.

The time to take it back was immediately after you noticed the gearbox slipping - at that point you'd have had a strong claim that the car had a major fault at point of sale and been able to push for a refund, regardless of what they may have written on the receipt.

In addition, you have involved a 3rd party rather than taking it straight back to the seller which makes it even more complicated.

If you suspect a car you have just bought has a major fault leavig it sitting for a month before investigating it is a bit silly IMO. Sorry.

i have had the car 4 months and i couldnt take it back to london as its stuck in third gear, £2700 is expensive for this car but its immaculate. i didnt know the gearbox was bust and hoped it would be a simple fix.

i certainly didnt know it was this major when i took it to the garage...

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 18:20
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - arse

as it happens the car was insured but i had a condition that once back i needed to get a cat 1 alarm fitted, i would never drive a car with out insurance!!

thanks for your help.. NOT

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 18:22
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - skidpan

as it happens the car was insured but i had a condition that once back i needed to get a cat 1 alarm fitted, i would never drive a car with out insurance!!

thanks for your help.. NOT

But by your own admission it was not taxed

The car then sat on my drive for about 3 weeks while i dealt with tax

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 18:26
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - arse

as it happens the car was insured but i had a condition that once back i needed to get a cat 1 alarm fitted, i would never drive a car with out insurance!!

thanks for your help.. NOT

But by your own admission it was not taxed

The car then sat on my drive for about 3 weeks while i dealt with tax

get a life, i was hoping for useful help...

how am i supposed to tax a car thats not in my name ???

Edited by stu-oz on 23/07/2015 at 18:28

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 19:26
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - galileo

as it happens the car was insured but i had a condition that once back i needed to get a cat 1 alarm fitted, i would never drive a car with out insurance!!

thanks for your help.. NOT

But by your own admission it was not taxed

The car then sat on my drive for about 3 weeks while i dealt with tax

get a life, i was hoping for useful help...

how am i supposed to tax a car thats not in my name ???

When you bought it in January, you could have arranged for the dealer to tax it before sending off the transfer details to DVLA; they could also have arranged short term insurance for you to drive it home, I would think.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 20:58
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - skidpan

how am i supposed to tax a car thats not in my name ???

Simple

Using the ref on the part of the V5C the seller hands you all you need is a phone/internet connection and a card.

The law says you must tax a car before using it on the road. By not doing so you broke the law.

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 21:08
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - arse

how am i supposed to tax a car thats not in my name ???

Simple

Using the ref on the part of the V5C the seller hands you all you need is a phone/internet connection and a card.

The law says you must tax a car before using it on the road. By not doing so you broke the law.

this web site is full of dicks, how do i delete my account......

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Thu 23 Jul 2015 22:14
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - dadbif
I'm sorry you don't like us... But I am amazed how accurately your login name described you.
No offended, just an observation
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Thu 23 Jul 2015 23:00
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - alan1302
I'm sorry you don't like us... But I am amazed how accurately your login name described you. No offended, just an observation

Yes, I noticed that! :-)

Agree with what everyone else has said. If there was a problem with the car it should have gone straight back to the original garage.

Edited by alan1302 on 23/07/2015 at 23:01

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Fri 24 Jul 2015 10:30
Mitsubishi FTO - dealer not helping - pd

OP, sorry you think people are "having a go" but you have asked for honest advice.

The dealer cannot and should not write "sold for scrap" on the invoice unless it has been agreed with you.

However, regardless of that, the reality is that the "window" for any recourse on (relatively) cheap cars (and £2700 is relatively cheap these days) is pretty small and tends to diminish each hour, day, month or whatever after purchase.

If you bought a TV from Currys, got it home and noticed half the picture missing would you then stick it in the shed for 4 months, after 4 months ask Argos to try and repair it and then, finally, after 6 months phone Currys complaining?

You first point of contact is always where you bought something from and with a used car the sooner you do it after purchase the better case you have.

In addition, turning it around, no dealer can run a business where people randomly phone up after 6 months with a fault which they have already spent £1600 not fixing without any contact on a sub-£3k car. The figures simply don't work.

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