Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage

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Sat 18 Feb 2012 22:26
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - Smerv

Hello everyone. I'm having a nightmare with this car and your advice is needed.

After searching auto trader for over 2 hours i found a galant stating.

4 Doors, Automatic, Saloon, Petrol, 102,000 miles, Silver, 3 Owners. STUNNING LOOKING VEHICLE THAT PULLS LIKE A TRAIN,11 MONTHS MOT.IMACULATE CONDITION,DRIVES LIKE NEW,FULL MITSIBUSHI SERVICE HISTORY UPTO 54000 MILES,ALL WALLETS,MANUALS AND FOLDERS WITH THE CAR 3 MONTHS WARRANTY AVAILIBLE

After reading the description i phoned the dealer and arranged for my partner and friend to go and view the car at 2:30 monday afternoon as i was at work. After a inspection and test drive my partner phoned me telling me all about the quality of the body work, even pointing out a small dent under the back bumper. She also stated the breaks needed sorting. in short it was as it stated, .IMACULATE CONDITION.


The Dealer stated that if we pay the full asking price of £995 he would put a fresh 12 months mot and deliver it to my home address as we live 50 odd miles away.

my partner payed the full price and was given a receipt.

A day later i phoned the dealer to ask if the car was ready and he stated that it had failed it's mot on the breaks (no suprise there). He stated that he had put new discs on it including new pads and 3 new tyers and it still failed on a faulty caliper. He then stated that they had to wait for the part as it required a brand new caliper. The dealer gave me 2 options, Wait till thursday at 4pm for the part to come or give me my money back. I didn't want my money back as finding a used car for £1000 thats any good is stress full so i decided to wait for the part.

On thursday at 5pm (3 days later) i phoned the dealer to ask on the progress and to my suprise he told me it was ready and he was to deliver it thursday night for me as i had been wating for so long. I couldn't thank the dealer enough and sat at home waiting for the breakdown truck owned by the dealership to deliver my car.

It arrived as promised at 8:30pm in pitch black. the driver drove my car on to my drive and handed me the keys. i couldn't really take a good look at it as my 2 year old girl was in bed, my partner was at work and it was dark. In the morning i went out all happy with the car until i walked round the back and found all the paint work blistered all over the boot lid, side of the wing and back bumper.

In short it was not as it was on the date of purchase. The damage can be seen from quite a distance and both my partner and friend were very shocked seeing the damage.

I contacted the dealer and asked him how the damage happened to the back of the car and he said " it was like that when you purchased it " then hung up before i could respond.

I have since had a quote from a local body shop of £595 not including vat to carry out the work, I have since contacted the dealer by there website email stating if they do not respond with in 3 days about the damage i'll take the matter further.

The responce i got from the dealer via text msg was

mate your taking the p*** ur stupid wife seen the car that's the way it was don't do my fuming heading

It clearly looks like the damage was done when the dealership replaced the breaks and break fluid splashed all over the back end of my car.

Any advice would be great.

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Sun 19 Feb 2012 12:00
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - tony g
Hi smerv ,I think their are two issues in your post ,the first would be that it's difficult for you to prove the cars condition ,when your partner viewed the car .
It's just your word against the dealer .

However if you still have a copy of the add that says the car is in immaculate condition ,you have a much stronger case .

If you think the dealer has enough money to repay you ,I would pursue him through the small claims court ,the cost to you is about £150.If you win your case you will recover the court case costs from the dealer .

Good luck ,if you need more help ,please contact the forum .

Regards

Tony g
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Sun 19 Feb 2012 18:14
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - Smerv

Had the car serviced today my a friend of mine and he discovered that the tyres on the car are diffrent size's. Front left 40, front right 45, back left 45, back right 40.

Is this a pass on a mot, because i'm looking at the pass certificate that came with the car which was done on the day of delivery and it says nothing about tyres. Also after a closer inspection there are big chuncks missing out of the tyre walls.

I can not even change them around so i have big ones on the back and small on the front as the dealer didn't supply the locking nut adapter.

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Sun 19 Feb 2012 19:38
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - tony g
Hi smerv ,I would check with the VOSA site ,the organisation behind mots.
There should be information on there .
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Mon 20 Feb 2012 14:03
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - skidpan

First thing to remember is old £1000 car in immaculate condition do not exist. Such a car would not have a problem passing its MOT.

Would recommend that you take the car to your nearest goverment testing station and let them decide if MOT rules have been broken and if its roadworthy. If they have the garage will be prosecuted and possibly loose their licence. Your car will probably loose its MOT but at least you will know if its safe or not.

You have probably been yet another punter who has been taken for a ride by a dodgy dealer but by allowing a 3rd party to view the car and then to pick it up in the dark and not inspecting it you have only made things worse, the dealer must have been having a right laugh.

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 18:07
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - Avant

"Old £1000 cars in immaculate condition do not exist."

Indeed not, and I'd be very suspicious of any dealer claiming that a car is immaculate and mis-spelling the word twice.

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 19:33
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - Smerv

Sorry i didn't make it clear. the car belongs to the third party (my partner)

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 18:09
Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 v6 sport - Taking a dealership to court over cosmetic damage - bonzo dog

I remember the reverse happening to me once.

Valued a guy's PX Nova against a new Corsa & agreed a deal.

Middle of winter & he telephoned me to say he couldn't collect the car when agreed due to work commitments but would do so at 5.30pm. 5.30pm is of course one of the busiest times on the forecourt so he had reversed his car in at the top of the parking area (& in the dark).

Yours truly gave it a quick once over & it was only the next day that we noticed the damage to the rear & side of the car that was against the wall.

I phoned him next day but he said that the damage had been done some weeks previously & that it was like that when I valued it.

It's no consolation to you, I know, but the fact of the matter is that there are unscupulous people out there.

In future I would advise people to take cameras out with them & to photograph the car when they agree to by it, so any damage which appears later can be verified as such.

Good luck

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