Traded in my trusty fiesta car (worth around £700) & stumped up £1,175 cash for a van I need to transport my musical equipment. It had 10 months MOT (but no advisory note) and mileage was 78,000.
4 months down the line, after breaking down twice and having to replace minor parts, I decided to get it inspected by a reputable vehicle technician. The power steering has a bad leak as do the wheel cylinders and the following is in dire need of replacing to make the vehicle safe to drive: track rod, anti-roll bar, exhaust system, front tyre, rear wheel cylinders & brake shoes, suspension mounts. It also needs the diesel injection fuel pump replaced but I understand there is no advance warning to identify a problem with this component. The total cost for getting it back on the road in a safe condition is estimated at £1,500but could be as much as £2,000, depending on whether the steering pump and a wishbone need replacing.
I have contacted the car sales proprietor and asked he either give me an alternative vehicle that is roadworthy, get the van repaired at a garage of his choice or pay towards costs of repair at the garage where it currently stands or reimburse me. He says he is not prepared to do any of these things and I don't have a leg to stand on because I've had the vehicle for more than 3 months!
I have only used this van on a Friday & Saturday night, done less than 1,000 miles. The salesman guaranteed me that the van had been inspected prior to my collection and was in very good condition both mechanically and cosmetically. The technician who has inspected my vehicle is willing to confirm that deterioration of these components would have been evident at pre-inspection 4 months ago.
I have since accessed the MOT advisory note and the brake system, corrosion & tyre are all noted on there. The other faults are all noted on the previous advice note of 2007!
I have sent a recorded delivery letter to the car sales asking for what I mentioned above and have reported it to Trading Standards. Any idea of where I stand with this? I cannot afford to pay £2,000 to fix the van so it will have to be sold for spares/repair or scrapped which means I have lost a hell of a lot of money for 16 weeks worth of motoring in a death trap of a vehicle!
How can these traders get away with selling vehicles they must know are a danger on the road? More importantly, how do they sleep at night?
Edited by smurf77 on 08/03/2009 at 12:20
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I have to say that the mechanical inspection you have had done would have been better done prior to purchase.
Did you check the van out or have it done prior to purchase.
I am no expert but i guess when you pay less than £2000 for what i assume is an old van then its not going to be without problems.
Good luck but i dont believe there is a lot you can do.
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I have sent a recorded delivery letter to the car sales asking for what I mentioned above and have reported it to Trading Standards. Any idea of where I stand with this? >>
See HJ's FAQ no.5
Contact the solicitors listed there for advice.
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Always check the MOT advisories before buying a vehicle. MOT places have a habbit of saying no advisory on the pass cert but put all the advisories on the failure sheet. Hopefully trading standards will get involved and you may have to take this guy to small claims court. Unless the guy can prove the advisories have been done it gives you a very very case I would have thought.
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but did the seller have the mot done or was there lots of mot already on the van ?? also you could check out the garage who did the mot and see if they have ever been done by trading standards !!
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How can you expect a van for that price to be any better than it is?junk territory,buyer beware.
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The OP at the right to at least expect it to be road legal!
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Docs stated it was when purchased.
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What an MOT? An MOT is not proof of word worthyness it even states it in very BIG writing on the certificate.
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Sorry Rattle,you will need to help me there,dont understand.
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Put the van through an MOT. Whatever it fails on tell the supplying dealer that they should be fixing it as under the new consumer regulations faults within the first 6 months are deemed to have pre-existed and been there at the time of purchase unless the supplying dealer can prove otherwise. The MOT advisories are a smoking gun. You should have checked it out before buying the van though. Under 2k cars are a lottery so you have to assume they are nails unless you can prove otherwise via service history, your own inspection and MOTs. I'd also get another quote for work as £1500 sounds a bit steep.
Exhaust you won't prove and isn't a safety item. Suspension mounts could have gone due to you overloading the van (that'll be his get out) . Tyres you should have checked. I'd say the only thing you could really go for is the braking system if it does fail an MOT now. If the power steering had a bad leak why didn't you notice earlier? It leaves a big puddle and the steering tends to whine. Also the level will drop, again something you should have seen as you should be be checking levels of these things regularly. Also if you haven't checked brake fluid levels then again the dealer can start to argue you haven't looked after the van properly can could have caused the current malaise with the brakes.
If you buy an older vehicle then you have to be meticulous about checking its condition regularly until you get to know it better.
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>>It also needs the diesel injection fuel pump replaced but I understand there is no advance warning to identify a problem with this component
I don't understand this statement. Is the vehicle not running due to the pump failing?
If it's running then how can it need a new one if "there is no advance warning to identify a problem with this component"?
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I have since accessed the MOT advisory note and the brake system corrosion & tyre are all noted on there. The other faults are all noted on the previous advice note of 2007!
Advisories are just that - items that may need attention, but are otherwise ok to pass the MOT. For example the tyre may have had 3mm of tread and so would soon need replacing. Doesnt make the tyre illegal or unsafe just because it was noted as advisory.
As others had said it's a bit of a lottery buying a car at that sort of price, let alone a van which by its nature is likely to have led a hard life.
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Rattle>>Unless the guy can prove the advisories have been done it gives you a very very case I would have thought.
Eh??? An advisory is exactly that. It's something that currently PASSES the test but in the opinion of the tester might not at some point in the future.
To OP, I'd say that you've got little chance of getting money back on a banger bought 4 months ago. You could well have done 10,000 miles in it, and clocked it. If I were the judge I'd throw the case out. What you're asking is just not reasonable.
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