- Handling fee for returning a defective car

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 08:57
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Steveieb

Interesting story in the Telegraph about a customer who bought a car from a car supermarket in Peterborough and when he got home he found the lights wouldn’t switch off. Later he found a wheel nut missing.

He immediately phoned to reject the car to be told there would be a handling charge of £750 .

Efforts by the customer and the Telegraph have failed to illicit a response from the company.

But when companies are buying cars without any further checks than a quick look a the bodywork it’s clear that cars with unsolvable faults are simply being recycled back into the trade .

Edited by _ORB_ on 02/03/2023 at 11:40

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 09:41
Handling fee for returning a defective car - RT
But when companies are buying cars without any further checks than a quick look a the bodywork it’s clear that cars with unsolvable faults are simply being recycled back into the trade .

Secondhand car sales has always been like that - salesman, who isn't technical, looks over a potential part-exchange and then gives a price based on Glass's Guide - and then either put into the next auction or a quick phone call to his mate who runs an "Arther Daley" business.

Edited by _ORB_ on 02/03/2023 at 11:40

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 11:27
Handling fee for returning a defective car - skidpan

The title was misleading. The car was purchased from a car supermarket and these are mostly used. It may not have seen a BMW dealership for quite a while.

For the record the car supermarket cannot deduct a single penny if the rejection is made withing 28 days of purchase.

Note to skidpan, correct and edited.

Thanks

ORB

Edited by _ORB_ on 02/03/2023 at 11:41

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 12:29
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Engineer Andy

Interesting story in the Telegraph about a customer who bought a car from a car supermarket in Peterborough and when he got home he found the lights wouldn’t switch off. Later he found a wheel nut missing.

He immediately phoned to reject the car to be told there would be a handling charge of £750 .

Efforts by the customer and the Telegraph have failed to illicit a response from the company.

But when companies are buying cars without any further checks than a quick look a the bodywork it’s clear that cars with unsolvable faults are simply being recycled back into the trade .

With all due respect to the Telegraph's HJ 'replacement' (and occasional HJ contributor) Alex Robbins, the person writing to him should've written to his Telegraph colleague Katie Morely instead.

Her 'consumer champion' section / reports / letters get a far more prestige placement on the website and she regularly deals with major corporations as well as local firms and is far more 'known', getting more negative publicity for errant traders which lead to (mostly) positive results for readers, in the same vein of BBC's Watchdog TV show. Might be worth that person trying them next before going the expensive legal route.

I'm just glad it wasn't Motorpoint that was involved (they have a site in Peterborough, where I bought my current car from back in 2006).

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 12:38
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - pd

Who knows what the true story is on something like this. The main reason for return seems to be "concern there may be other faults present" which I am not really sure qualifies.

The lights sound a bit odd, but maybe they were just set to DRL mode which on an older BMW will mean you can't turn them off.

Edited by pd on 02/03/2023 at 12:38

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 15:18
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Engineer Andy

Who knows what the true story is on something like this. The main reason for return seems to be "concern there may be other faults present" which I am not really sure qualifies.

The lights sound a bit odd, but maybe they were just set to DRL mode which on an older BMW will mean you can't turn them off.

Perhaps, but then the supposed 'car expert' should've realised this and told the reader as much.

I wonder what the Honest John would've said / done?

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 15:33
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Steveieb

According to Alex Robbins, the Car supermarket insisted that they were given the opportunity to fix the car but when this was refused they simply applied the return fee and refused to enter into any discussion with the customer and also the Telegraph motoring correspondent.

Has anyone had any experience of returning a car to Cazoo or any of the other on line dealers or Motorpoint ?

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 15:48
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - pd

To be honest I think if I was the dealer in this situation I'd want to have the car and buyer back in to have a look at it and see what was going on.

You can't just reject a car without good reason and without some corroborating evidence. There are some bad dealers out there but you wouldn't believe how many buyers will try it on as well if they decide they no longer want the car or have over reached themselves financially.

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 16:30
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - mcb100
‘ There are some bad dealers out there but you wouldn't believe how many buyers will try it on as well if they decide they no longer want the car or have over reached themselves financially.’

Agreed in that it may well be a case of ‘buyer’s remorse’. If the customer wanted to keep the car they’d get the supplying dealer to screw in a wheel bolt and check out the lights.
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Thu 2 Mar 2023 17:05
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Warning

The law doesn’t make provision for any sort of handling or administration fee but, even if it did, £795 is an exorbitant figure given the company hasn’t really had to do anything.

The statement "hasn’t really had to do anything." is ignorant. Returning a car, would increase the number of previous owners.

If the dealer was willing to fix it, why return it? Anyone buying a BMW should expect a few niggles, which would need to be resolved.

They photograph these cars and a missing wheel nut is pretty obvious to spot. How can it be missed?

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 17:45
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - KJP 123

I have to agree with both of PD’s posts.

Skidpan maybe correct when he writes dealers “cannot deduct a single penny if the rejection is made within 28 days of purchase” but is this the whole story?

Purchaser (P) I want to reject the car I just bought.

Dealer (D) Why?

P Faults (as given above).

D No. These are minor and we can fix them. But if you are unhappy with the car we will buy it back for £750 less than you paid.

So the rejection was refused

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Thu 2 Mar 2023 20:49
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - sammy1

I thought there was some perhaps unofficial fee of 45p a mile bandied about for miles added within the 28 days. £750 sounds extreme, we are not referred to as ""Rip off Britain"" for no reason.

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Fri 3 Mar 2023 08:28
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - RT

I thought there was some perhaps unofficial fee of 45p a mile bandied about for miles added within the 28 days. £750 sounds extreme, we are not referred to as ""Rip off Britain"" for no reason.

45p per mile is the present HMRC reimbursement rate for using a private car - it's difficult to argue that a lower rate should be deducted when handing a defective car back within the 28 days as prescribed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015).

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Fri 3 Mar 2023 11:00
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - Brit_in_Germany

The right to charge a fee is only for rejections after the intial 28 days up to the end of the 6 month period.

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Fri 3 Mar 2023 11:18
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - pd

It is correct that a deduction cannot be made in first 28 days as long as:

(a) The rejection is for a valid reason and that means something which makes the product/vehicle not fit for purpose or to a standard a reasonable person would expect. Obviously on a used vehicle, particularly one a few years old and a few miles on the clock, that means minor niggles and things needing fixing do not count. A seized engine would.

(b) The vehicle has to be in condition as supplied. That means a few normal use miles on the clock are fine. The car filthy or with a new scratch down the side is not. Or it has been hacked round the Nurburgring and the clutch wrecked.

You also can't reject a car for anything which should have been apparent upon inspection or was pointed out unless a distance sale.

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Sat 4 Mar 2023 10:07
- Handling fee for returning a defective car - FoxyJukebox
If the car had been 3 years old ( was it?), then it would have failed a pre sale MOT on both the lights and wheel nut issues?
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