Sale of Goods Act 1979 "warranty" questions

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Mon 23 Jan 2012 09:08
Sale of Goods Act 1979 "warranty" questions - GeorgeRaffter

Hi

I'm got some fairly basic Sale of good act 1979 warranty questions about a second hand car purchase.

I purchased a Volkswagen Passat TDI estate 2 and a half months ago from a car dealer. The car has since developed a hot start issue that prevents the car from starting if it's been recently run and the engine is hotter than 60. As soon as engine temperature drops below 60 degrees or so will start first time.

We've had this problem diagnosed by a local VW garge ans it's been diagnosed as P3007 (camshaft position sensor signal missing) and P0341 (camshaft position sensor 1 signal improbable) error. In other words a campbelt replacement job £500-£600.

The dealers Terms and Conditions are the standard:

The vehicle is supplied as roadworthy at the date of delivery and is supplied subject to any conditions or warranties that are implied by The Sale of Goods Act 1979 or any amended statute in the case of the consumer sales (as defined by The Sale of Goods Act 1979).
i) prior to signing this order form the purchaser shall examine the vehicle and the items set in the Purchasers Certificate of Examination overleaf and the Purchaser is reminded that the condition of merchantable quality implied the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not operate in relation to such defects which that examination ought to reveal. Should the goods be sold also subject to defects notified by the dealer to the purchaser before signing the agreements, the condition of merchantable quality above referred to does not operate in relation to those defects.

In my view the car I've purchased is not reasonably reliable.

Given that the purchase was less than three months ago am I covered under the The Sale of Goods Act 1979?

Can the dealer insist that their garage try to fix this?

Thanks for your help

Edited by Avant on 25/01/2012 at 20:22

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 23 Jan 2012 11:08
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - RT

Consumer protection under Sale of Goods Act (SoGA) is totally different to warranty - the only connection is that warranty CANNOT take away SoGA rights, under any circumstances.

You'll need to identify the age and mileage of the car and the price paid - as "reasonable expectation" do relate to those.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 23 Jan 2012 11:41
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - GeorgeRaffter

Thanks for the reply.

Take your point about the SoGA not being a warranty. I'm referring to the responsibility of the dealer under the SoGA.

Age: 2007

Mileage: 74,000

Price: £7500

There was no mention of this fault by the dealer. The car was not due to have the campbelt replaced until 80,000 miles, in a little over a year.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 23 Jan 2012 14:36
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - Cris_on_the_gas

Were you made aware that the Cambelt would need changing at 80k by the dealer, or knew that this was required

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 23 Jan 2012 16:02
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - GeorgeRaffter

Yes.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 23 Jan 2012 17:45
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - bonzo dog

It is almost certain that the courts would take the view that the faults should be rectified at the cost to the suplying dealer.

As the fault became apparant before 6 months it is deemed that the fault was there at purchase.

The question is .... is this fault reasonable on a car of this age & mileage. My view is that the courts would say not & hence rule in your favour.

But you do need to give the supplying dealer the opportunity to fix it

Good luck

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 24 Jan 2012 10:19
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - Cris_on_the_gas

Sounds like if the dealer is prepared to replace the Cambelt then this would seem a good results.

As you brought the car with 74k knowing that a belt replacement was due at 80k, suppose you could say that the dealer should pay 7.5% of the cost of replacement based on premature failure. This would be hardly anything.

I would very much doubt if you would win any small claims as this will cost you £150 to pursue, and you would be claiming £25 damage.

time to sound out the dealer we thinks.....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 25 Jan 2012 09:55
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - GeorgeRaffter

Thanks for the replies.

Reading this site:

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/my-responsibility/

Is states that the Sale of Goods Act now states that if a product develops a fault within the first 6 months, the assumption will be that the defect was present at the time of purchase and you should get an automatic repair or replacement. After this time, you may have to prove the fault was not due to misuse, although shops must also recognise issues of durability – i.e how long an item would be expected to last before developing problems.

Sounds like we have a very strong case for the dealer to cover a good portion of the expense, if not all.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 25 Jan 2012 18:12
Sale of good act 1979 "warrenty" questions - martint123

The car has since developed a hot start issue that prevents the car from starting if it's been recently run and the engine is hotter than 60. As soon as engine temperature drops below 60 degrees or so will start first time.

We've had this problem diagnosed by a local VW garge ans it's been diagnosed as P3007 (camshaft position sensor signal missing) and P0341 (camshaft position sensor 1 signal improbable) error. In other words a campbelt replacement job £500-£600.

I am not sure from the above why a cambelt replacement is required?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link