Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 12:41
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Alan Walker-Dutton

I bought, eight days ago, car from a dealer. The car has a few faults (so far) – cooling system, cracked panel under engine and rear blind not working. I am entitled to a 30-day right to reject the car: - under the Consumer Rights Act if the car is unfit for purpose, of unsatisfactory quality or not as described.

Questions:

1) Can I choose to take the car to Audi or a specialized mechanic to rectify all the faults? [As I don’t trust the dealer]

2) Can I ask for “compensation” (reimbursement) on price paid as the car has had many panels resprayed?

Thank you for you help.

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 12:49
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Palcouk

Audi A8 prices start from about £3.5k and go up, to a lot, so any answer depends to some extent on the price.

You have to give the supplier the option to rectify or refund

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 13:20
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - RobJP

I bought, eight days ago, car from a dealer. The car has a few faults (so far) – cooling system, cracked panel under engine and rear blind not working. I am entitled to a 30-day right to reject the car: - under the Consumer Rights Act if the car is unfit for purpose, of unsatisfactory quality or not as described.

Questions:

1) Can I choose to take the car to Audi or a specialized mechanic to rectify all the faults? [As I don’t trust the dealer]

2) Can I ask for “compensation” (reimbursement) on price paid as the car has had many panels resprayed?

Thank you for you help.

1. No. You must either reject the car or give the supplying dealer the opportunity to rectify the faults.

2. Probably also no.

Do bear in mind that the CRA does not entitle you to a perfect car. For example, a non-working rear blind does not render a car 'unfit for purpose', or even of 'unsatisfactory quality'. same for the (I assume) plastic engine sump tray.

The cooling system is another matter.

But even then, the age of the car and the price paid will have a considerable bearing on what your 'reasonable expectations' of the car should be. If (for example) it's a 12 year old car, then you can't 'reasonably expect' everything to be in perfect order, or panels not to have had some work on them, in the time it's been on the road.

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 13:50
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Alan Walker-Dutton

Thank you very much indeed for your replies.

The car is a 2013 model and I paid £19,500 for it. The rear electric blind could have a faulty motor (just a guess). That could cost £500+ to repair.

The problem with the cooling system can ONLY be rectified by an Audi garage. "Coolant Fan Control Circuit" is the fault but there are three (known) options to rectify it and some (one option) can cost over £1000.

Audi cannot see the car till mid July (they are all fully booked). No point taking the car to any mechanic, they will be unable to sort the problem. [I don't want the faults reset by a computer].

""Do bear in mind that the CRA does not entitle you to a perfect car"" - I fully agree with you and I am not 'complaining' that the phone in the console is missing. I am also not complaining (much) that most of the car has been resprayed. The other problems are obvious and should have been rectified prior to selling the car.

The dealer has sent me an email agreeing to pay for the repairs.

I need your advice, please, because I want to write (another) letter detailing all the facts but I am afraid to make mistakes. Thank You!

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 14:55
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - galileo

""Do bear in mind that the CRA does not entitle you to a perfect car"" - I fully agree with you and I am not 'complaining' that the phone in the console is missing. I am also not complaining (much) that most of the car has been resprayed. The other problems are obvious and should have been rectified prior to selling the car.

If the problems were obvious, why buy this particular car? £19500 seems expensive for a car with these faults.

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 15:08
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - RobJP

Thank you very much indeed for your replies.

The car is a 2013 model and I paid £19,500 for it. The rear electric blind could have a faulty motor (just a guess). That could cost £500+ to repair.

The problem with the cooling system can ONLY be rectified by an Audi garage. "Coolant Fan Control Circuit" is the fault but there are three (known) options to rectify it and some (one option) can cost over £1000.

Audi cannot see the car till mid July (they are all fully booked). No point taking the car to any mechanic, they will be unable to sort the problem. [I don't want the faults reset by a computer].

""Do bear in mind that the CRA does not entitle you to a perfect car"" - I fully agree with you and I am not 'complaining' that the phone in the console is missing. I am also not complaining (much) that most of the car has been resprayed. The other problems are obvious and should have been rectified prior to selling the car.

The dealer has sent me an email agreeing to pay for the repairs.

I need your advice, please, because I want to write (another) letter detailing all the facts but I am afraid to make mistakes. Thank You!

In which case, with it not being that old, and the price paid, I'd suggest you use your CRA rights to reject the car out of hand, not even giving the garage an opportunity to rectify the faults.

By the time the car gets looked at, your initial 30 day rejection/full refund period will have passed.

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 15:21
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Alan Walker-Dutton

Thank you RobJP - writing letter now rejecting the car. Much appreciated!

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 15:31
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Alan Walker-Dutton

Sorry RobJP - one last question. Should the dealer refuse to refund me the money, I might be able to reject the car Under Section 75 on the credit card - but that might take a few months. What happens in this case, please?

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Sat 16 Jun 2018 18:54
Audi A8 - Consumer Rights Act 2015 - RobJP

Sorry RobJP - one last question. Should the dealer refuse to refund me the money, I might be able to reject the car Under Section 75 on the credit card - but that might take a few months. What happens in this case, please?

No idea.

This is the problem with the CRA being relatively new - case law hasn't fully established what happens in all these cases.

S.75 makes the card company equally liable, so I suppose you could issue your rejection to them, and they'd probably get onto the other party's bank, who'd then put a hold on the monies to that extent, forcing the dealer to change their mind ... but that's all supposition on my part.

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