I think I would take the money and run. If the dealer is a bit dodgy would you want to buy anything from him?

Any thoughts appreciated.

This is likely an expensive job to do properly. It's possible the dealer will try to get the repair done on the cheap and the car will still give problems, leaving you with the repair bill.

I would take the refund.

Question seems to be whether there is actually anything wrong with the car. I don't know why any dealer would be interested enough to find this out now rather than earlier? Just maybe they started to prep it for sale to you I suppose. But also maybe you are being gazumped. Did you test drive it, and was there a problem?

If you have signed a contract to purchase and paid a deposit in good faith, you should be able to go through with it - if you want to, of course. It could be that they have realised the car is worth more.

You won't want to hear this - but I think you should claim back your deposit and, given your £4,000 budget, look for something that is neither a diesel nor a BMW. You'll have a lucky escape from a big risk.

Edited by SLO76 on 18/08/2019 at 05:58