VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking

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Sat 19 Jun 2010 23:20
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - robwire


Dear Honest John.

I bought a 2001 VW Passat 3 weeks ago from a reputable second hand car dealer Beck Evans ( not a main dealer),
dealing with high end Porches and BMW's. They had taken the Passat as a part exchange. I paid £4200 for the car with 58,000 miles and a full VW service history. The car was offered with a 3 month warranty from Autoguard .

I took the car for a test drive, but did not check the Infra Red remote locking. Driving home from buying the car i realised the remote locking was not working properly, needing 10 - 15 clicks to open or shut the doors , andvsometimes not working at all, nor were the electric windows working. I rang the dealer who said bring it back, and we will fix it. When i picked the car up, the windows were working but still not the remote locking, and on the drive home the windows stopped working.

Beck Evans the dealer said they had done what they could and advised me to take it to a VW specialist and claim on the insurance. I took the car to a VW main dealer who ran a diagnostic and said it was a common problem with the passat, water leaking in between the windscreen soaks a reciever unit responsible for the windows and remote central locking.I have spent £60 on the diagnostic and the VW dealer have advised me that the next step is £350 worth of further diagnostics, possibly a new control unit at £250 plus labour at £100 an hour, plus hours of electrical fault finding. I could easily be looking at £1300 or more.
The adviser at Autoguard ( who happens to be an Ex VW engineer ) has told me the insurance policy does not cover water damage or electrical problems, so the electrical fault finding and possible new receiver unit are not covered.

I find it hard to believe that the dealer did'nt know there was a problem with the remote locking as they had had it for 10 days before i bought it, checked it over and had it valeted.

Is the dealer liable for the costs incurred in rectifying this problem,?

Regards

Rob

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Sun 20 Jun 2010 00:10
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - bonzo dog

My opinion, fwiw, Yes. You have incurred a fault at 3 weeks after purchase, given the vender an opportunity to remedy it, he has said take it to a VW franchise & the fact that the MBI has said it ain't a claim means the cost of repar should be stumped up by the vender.

Write to the vender enclosing the invoice / estimate asking for payment within 21 days informing them you will seek court action via trading standards if they do not cough up

good luck

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Tue 23 Apr 2013 23:06
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - timtimbo
I would be interested in further details as I have also had a bad experience at the hands of Beck Evans
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Tue 23 Apr 2013 23:18
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - RT

Under consumer legislation, specifically the Sale of Goods Act (SoGA), it's the seller's responsibilty to prove that the fault DIDN'T exist at time of sale for six months after date of sale - after that it's the buyer's responsibility to prove the fault DID exist at time of sale - this applies to second-hand sales as well as new sales.

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 15:23
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - tony g
(Under consumer legislation, specifically the Sale of Goods Act (SoGA), it's the seller's responsibilty to prove that the fault DIDN'T exist at time of sale for six months after date of sale - after that it's the buyer's responsibility to prove the fault DID exist at time of sale - this applies to second-hand sales as well as new sales.)

The above is basically correct ,however it's not that simple ,Soga is subjective and subject to a reasonableness test .
It means that if you buy a newish car from a dealer ,your entitled to expect more from the car and the dealer ,than you would if you bought a nine year old car as the op has done .

Having said that ,the car failed soon after purchase so the op is entitled to have it repaired by the seller .The issues involving the warranty are irrelevant .

To enforce his rights the op would have to pursue the dealer through the small claims court .A decision there would be given by a judge based on what a judge thinks is reasonable .

Finally did the op really pay £4250 for his car ,if he did ,the dealer would have plenty of profit to pay for repairs .the cars trade value would have been in the region of £2000 !

Edited by tony g on 24/04/2013 at 15:25

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 16:48
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - skidpan
if you bought a nine year old car as the op has done .

tony g, check your maths. The OP says the cars is a 2001 thus I make it 12 years old.

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 22:35
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - galileo
if you bought a nine year old car as the op has done .

tony g, check your maths. The OP says the cars is a 2001 thus I make it 12 years old.

The original post was 2010, so at that time the car was 9 years old and will be 12 now.

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Sat 15 Jun 2013 23:27
VW Dear Honest John. I bought a 200 passat estate - Faulty Remote Locking - jonathann

I wish to report a very positive recent experience with Beck Evans. About 2 months ago I purchased a 2005 BMW 325i estate. After driving it for a week or so, it became clear that the car was burning far too much oil, and subsequent tests confirmed this and suggested some sort of engine wear problem. So I contacted Beck Evans and asked for my money back: after running their own tests, they took the car back and gave me a full refund. Can't say fairer than that! [And I should point out that it's perfectly possible that they weren't aware of the problem when they sold me the car, since it only becomes apparent after you've driven a couple of hundred miles.]

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