It was bought 6 months ago and since it was from a dealer they may be some come back. How many miles has she put on it?
You could argue that the head gasket was faulty when she bought the car and has got worse but it all depends on why the heas gasket went.
Either way a £1k car that lasted six months I think the courts may argue it was not fit for purpose. The problem is you have to prove the car was fautly when you bought it and that might be impossible.
I wouldn't bother fixing it, £500 on now on a new head gasket, £200 next week on a new radiator etc. The problem is once you spend £500 on a HG repair the car owes you money and no matter what goes wrong with you fail forced to fix it rather than scrap it.
I would walk away while she still can and put it down to experience. I am in the exactly same problem (HG gone on my car and have got a similar repair quote) even the garage said its not worth repairing.
The problem is at the moment used cars are fetching a lot of money, but it also means she may be able to get £300 for her Bravo even in the current state.
Why did it break down? Did she allow the coolent level to get too low? If so it may well have warped the head and it may need skimming, if the HG has gone before (which seems to be a common problem) she could be looking at a new engine and she won't know until she has spent £200 on labour to strip the engine down. For that reason alone I would not bother repairing it.
Edited by Rattle on 21/02/2010 at 17:04
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You'll get nothing from the dealer -- it'd be up to you to prove the fault was there when you bought it. Not realistic.
Ditch the car, and don't pay more than £300 for a ten year old car on your next purchase.
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I think that, if the car has been bought less than 6 months ago it is for the dealer to prove that the faults were NOT present when sold! Check your calendar PDQ!
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If you are lucky and it is just within 6 months of purchase from the dealer get it straight back to them for repair or refund under the sale of goods act.
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I have just had a thought.
Dealer sticks faulty Bravo in at auction it fetches £300
Garage bloke called Derick Daily and his side kick Arthor Trotter buy the car and stick some rad weld in to hide the head gasket problem. Radweld then blocks part of the heater matrix (hence no heat on one side).
You buy it and the rad weld breaks up causing a terrible HG failure.
Was the garage a well established one or a fly by night bargaincars r us type affair?
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bravo 1.4 engines are made of chocolate
do not get repaired trust me on this
ps i sell s/h cars so have a modicum of insight on this model
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