Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 16:39

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Good afternoon,

Today I sold my car through the motorway platform and the dealer sent a representative out to inspect and test drive my car. I was then made an offer and paid by the dealer and he drove away happy. 5 hours later the driver phoned me and told me the a gearbox warning had come on the dash and he would have to return the car. This light has never come on before and he gave it a thorough test drive. Am I missing something or am I will within my rights to say “I’m sorry but that is unlucky”.

Any advice massively appreciated

Thanks

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 16:47

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Bromptonaut

If the money's in your bank account then I'd be running the 'Arkell' defence!!

Unless of course the T&C's allow them to reject...

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 16:49

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Yeah surely after he’s done a full inspection and test drive and something happens on his way home (apparently) then it’s just unfortunate?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:02

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Bromptonaut

On a quick shufty around their website I cannot find detailed T&Cs.

What's in there will be key to whether they can resile later. TBH I'd be surprised if there wasn't some come back if the purchaser has reasonable grounds to think they've been deliberately mislead.

Suppose, for example, interrogation of the car's fault codes showed it was throwing gearbox codes every few days for months. They might reasonably say you must have known and have lead them up the garden path.

Not, for clarity, alleging that but I'd be surprised if they'd no come back.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:04

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Thanks. More than confident that’s not the case. Never had a gearbox issue either driving or on the dash so what happens then?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:20

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

you acknowledge and accept that you alone are responsible for carrying out an inspection of the Vehicle on collection. If you engage a third party agent to collect the Vehicle, it is your responsibility to ensure that a proper inspection of the Vehicle is undertaken by them. You shall notify us within 1 (one) Working Day of you having collected a Vehicle.

We make no warranty, representation, endorsement or recommendation in respect of any of the Seller Vehicle Data or any Vehicle. You agree that it is your responsibility to make appropriate enquiries to satisfy yourself that the Vehicle complies with the Seller Vehicle Data:
prior to making a Bid; and
unless you have elected to use Motorway Transport, before paying the purchase price to the Seller.

These are direct from the website

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 16:54

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Terry W

You, I assume a non-professional in the world of cars, sold your car after inspection by a professional car appraiser. The car then quickly and expensively failed.

Had you been alerted to incipient failure - perhaps by the dealer servicing the car, or had cleared previous fault codes - and when asked made no mention of this issue, they may have a claim.

Otherwise it is very much a case of buyer beware. The dealer representative will obviously get some stick (at least) for buying a duff motor - it is his problem not yours.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 16:58

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Thanks for that . I thought as much but quite worrying when they have your address etc. The dealers rep thoroughly inspected the car and test drive before I phoning the dealer who made me an offer and paid, I then transferred the car on dvla properly to them. He then phoned saying the gearbox warning had come on and he would have to bring the car back. Said it would cost 1800 to fix. I’m presume this was to pull on the heart strings and chance his arm getting his money back and therefore not looking stupid to his boss?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:22

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Can they take me to court etc if I refuse the refund? Don’t want to be threatened and misguided by the dealer who is clearly disappointed that a car they have bought is now broken.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:32

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Steveieb

May I suggest you transfer the money into your savings account just in case ?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:37

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Already done that yes thanks. I presume if motorway don’t take sides then legally I have done nothing wrong?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 18:04

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Andrew-T

Already done that yes thanks. I presume if motorway don’t take sides then legally I have done nothing wrong?

Have you any solid evidence that their account is genuine - not telling porkies to persuade you to pay back a sweetener ?

Presumably in the reverse situation you might be asking for a refund and they would be resisting ?? :-))

Edited by Andrew-T on 11/10/2023 at 18:06

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 18:07

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Yeah that’s my other thought, that they want the 1800 for a false fault. It’s convenient that it’s been fine for all the time I’ve owned it and now all of a sudden it’s got a massive issue.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:42

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Bromptonaut

Can they take me to court etc if I refuse the refund? Don’t want to be threatened and misguided by the dealer who is clearly disappointed that a car they have bought is now broken.

That depends on M/way's Terms and Conditions.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:53

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Maxime.

What age and mileage, engine is this car?

In warranty? Service history, all important things you are not telling us.

Sadly far too common that someone will "dispose" of a car when a problem appears.

Give an approx price paid as will all give clues.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:57

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

2013 plate 90k miles. Partial history. Sold for 6400 after they initially offered 7300. They knocked money off at the point of sale for paintwork and an injector leak. Hand on heart had no issues whatsoever with the car hence why I am so annoyed about it. Haven’t tried to pull a fast one, I’m leaving the country to live elsewhere so no longer required the car. Was happy to let him inspect and test drive to his hearts content. The dealer didn’t even ring me directly it was the third party driver.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:54

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

understand that the buyer's collection agency has reached out to you to advise you that a gearbox warning light has come up on the dashboard and that the buyer intends to return the vehicle to you.

As it appears that the vehicle has been mis-described, we would strongly recommend that the buyer and yourself come to an amicable agreement whereby you accept the return of the vehicle in exchange for the full amount paid to you on the day of collection. You will not be required to pay anything for the cost of returning the vehicle.

Unfortunately, I must advise that in this instance we are unable to provide you with any legal advice as this is beyond our remit however, we are willing to help mediate on your behalf if you would like us to do so.

If you are willing to accept the return, then we can relist your vehicle for sale again provided that you have the gearbox issue fixed and send us an invoice or garage report to confirm that it has been rectified.

If you have any further questions regarding this matter then please let me know.

This is from motorway. I read this as they would rather come to an amicable solution and that they aren’t going to step in either way. Strongly recommending me to give a refund is not forcing me to is it?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 17:59

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Adampr

understand that the buyer's collection agency has reached out to you to advise you that a gearbox warning light has come up on the dashboard and that the buyer intends to return the vehicle to you. As it appears that the vehicle has been mis-described, we would strongly recommend that the buyer and yourself come to an amicable agreement whereby you accept the return of the vehicle in exchange for the full amount paid to you on the day of collection. You will not be required to pay anything for the cost of returning the vehicle. Unfortunately, I must advise that in this instance we are unable to provide you with any legal advice as this is beyond our remit however, we are willing to help mediate on your behalf if you would like us to do so. If you are willing to accept the return, then we can relist your vehicle for sale again provided that you have the gearbox issue fixed and send us an invoice or garage report to confirm that it has been rectified. If you have any further questions regarding this matter then please let me know. This is from motorway. I read this as they would rather come to an amicable solution and that they aren’t going to step in either way. Strongly recommending me to give a refund is not forcing me to is it?

That's them trying to keep the dealer sweet and hoping you'll just accept the return. Don't do that. You have sold the car and transferred the registration. If the dealer wants you to return the money or pay for the repairs they can take you to court.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 18:03

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Yeah that’s how I read it too. I won’t be offering a refund as I’m 100% confident there were no issues prior to sale. In essence I sold them a car with no issues, they have driven it and it has broken. It’s unfortunate but surely also a risk it such a transaction?

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 18:09

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - FP

"... it appears that the vehicle has been mis-described..."

If we have been given the full and accurate story then that is a very contentious statement. If Motorway are serious about leaning on the OP then they had better have the evidence... which they presumably don't have.

That in itself would encourage me to dig my heels in.

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Wed 11 Oct 2023 18:21

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Yeah exactly. Had a 15 minute discussion with a motorway rep before this email where I explained the whole process truthfully from start to finish. Have told them I’m disappointed at the accusation of misrepresentation as this is 100% not the case. I’ve no need to lie about it on here I’m just asking people more educated in these matters for some advice. My take now is that I will feel the pressure from the dealer and threatened with legal action, which I am going to have to ignore or wait for the summons. I don’t see how a court could favour them when they have had the chance to inspect and test the product before sending the money, if I had refused a test drive and deleted fault codes etc then that’s a different story I suppose.

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 07:32

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Falkirk Bairn

Private owner sells to a dealer (Dealer Representative) or another private owner.

There is no comeback on the seller unless the seller consciously misleads the buyer.

e.g. Car buyer asks about the mileage being genuine when the clock has been replaced by a 2nd hand part with lower reading 6 months ago.

The dealer's agent ( he is acting for the buyer & paid by the buyer) examined car (presumably a skilled car assessor) took money off for paint etc and test drove the car - cannot see how they have any case at all.

Be polite and firm, ignore any & and all forms of contact after telling them "to go away". If any are harassment - warn them of your right to report them to the police.

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 09:22

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - bathtub tom

Two possible scenarios spring to my mind:

1. The guy collecting the car did something stupid driving it away, damaging the transmission and is now trying to pass the blame on to you.

2. It's a common scam, where the buyer claims they've found a problem and want some money back to rectify it.

Either way, I'd ignore it.

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 09:31

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - gordonbennet

3, not saying its happened here but its not beyond the bounds of possibility for someone dodgy to swap their faulty transmission for a perfectly good one.

So long as they can't produce concrete evidence via the car's computer that this fault has been seen before i too would be ignoring it.

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 12:28

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Yes no wrong doing by me in that regard I think they are just chancing their arm as I have had no further contact since yesterday. Already had a bad feeling at the time as he asked me a few strange questions.

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 09:49

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Andrew-T

Was anything recorded on paper or electronically, at the time you agreed a price and handed over the car ? If so the 'case' is closed; otherwise just keep saying no. I don't think the amount involved should lead to legal action.

As the V5 has changed hands that looks like an acceptance of the situation.

Edited by Andrew-T on 12/10/2023 at 09:51

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 11:27

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - pd

The OBD system on this car will record the mileage and date any fault was first logged (together with a whole load of other data including speed, temperature etc) and how many times it has subsequently appeared.

Therefore if this genuinely was the first time it had popped up the computer should show it if the dealer knows what they are doing, unless the seller had cleared the system.

The mileage is also probably a factor. It doesn't sound like it came on 5 miles down the road but 5 hours later implies a fair way assuming it was driven.

I have some sympathy with the buyer here, I'm sure the OP hasn't but I'm afraid an enormous number of car owners will quite deliberately clear intermittent faults then quickly flog to WBAC, PX or whatever and deny knowledge of any problems.

Edited by pd on 12/10/2023 at 11:28

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Thu 12 Oct 2023 12:21

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - Reedy1

Thanks for your reply. I’m 100% sure that the fault hasn’t occurred in my ownership so if that’s the case I will be fine.

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Fri 13 Oct 2023 19:10

Audi A6 - Motorway dealer wants refund! - daveyK_UK

Do not give them a refund under any circumstances

Yours is not the first instance I have read about this happening with a dealer from motorway especially in relation to a high mileage luxury German car

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