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Thu 30 Aug 2012 18:59

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - AngieD

Having bought the vehicle from a so-called reputable dealer, on finance (Carlyle, now known as MotoNovo), in January 2012, atfer 3 weeks faults occurred. Took the vehicle back to the dealer, they found holes drilled in the bottom of the air filter housing and air ducts missing; AC compressor found to have a hole in the side of it ... to name a few problems. According to the Dealer they had "Pre-sale checked"; "preparation"; "serviced" and MOT'd this vehicle before selling it ... surely they would have come across these problems then? To cut a very long and frustrating story short, the dealer has on numerous occasions repaired faults/damages, vehicle in the garage for 5 weeks at one point having engine replaced. The vehicle is on a '57 plate and had 47350 on the mileometer when purchased.

Collected vehicle after last repair, still problems. Having communicated these issues with the Finance company, was told not to go back to the dealer that they would take action. The next thing I receive an email from Finance Company's solicitor. This was in May 2012, the dealer has come back to say we do not have "reasonable grounds" to reject this vehicle and repudiate the HP Agreement. I totally disagree with this as the vehicle is still unfit for purpose. Solicitor responded on my behalf to the dealer and I've heard nothing since. Keep chasing the Solicitor who is now awaiting instructions from their client, the Finance company. I need to escalate this as it is now beyond frustrating. I've tried for two days now, continually on re-dial, to make telephone contact with the Finance company (MotoNovo), constantly engaged from 8:30am to 18:00pm, I've emailed with urgency and still not received anything. Customer Service is shocking.

Can anyone please make any suggestions where I go from here, I'm almost at the end of my tether.

Thank you, sorry this is so long.

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Thu 30 Aug 2012 20:29

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - tony g

Hi angie ,that's a real tale of woe .

From reading your post a couple of times ,it seems that the garage did supply you with a faulty car . Having said that they appear to have made substantial efforts to sort out the cars problems .Fitting a new engine under warranty is very unusual .

You mention that the car had an mot and a check before you took delivery ,the items you mention should possibly have been picked up when a pre delivery check was done , however it seems unlikely that the new mot would identify the problems you mention .

Regrettably I think the time has passed when you can reject the car as not being fit for purpose ,particularly as the garage has repaired so many faults .

Perhaps the best way forward would be to suggest to the garage that they exchange the car for something different ,request that they supply a car on favourable terms ,a better deal than they would normally do .At the same time ask the finance company to transfer the finance to the new car ,ask them to do a simple transfer ,without penalty to yourself .If not you would be paying a large fee to settle your existing finance .

Good luck ,please let the forum know the outcome ,your experience will benefit other members .

Tony g

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Fri 31 Aug 2012 09:19

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - AngieD

Hi Tony

Thank you very much for responding and for your suggestions, I will bear these in mind as and when I finally get through to the Finance company.

I will let the Forum know the outcome. This has been a very hard lesson for my son, hopefully he won't be using Finance again, I believe it has made this situation more difficult to resolve.

Thanks again,

Kind regards, Angie

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Fri 31 Aug 2012 10:07

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - bonzo dog

Solicitor responded on my behalf to the dealer and I've heard nothing since. Keep chasing the Solicitor who is now awaiting instructions from their client, the Finance company

I'm unsure who the solicitor is acting for - you or the finance company; he can't be acting for both, can he?

If he is acting for the finance company (as I suspect) then you need to speak to a solicitor yourself.

Whilst you are clearly 8 or 9 months from purchase, the fact that you experienced serious problems with the vehicle immediately which were proven to be faults present at purchase & that you have continued to experience faults all through ownership may sway a court to allow you to reject.

Good luck

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Fri 31 Aug 2012 12:49

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - Cris_on_the_gas

It would be helpful if you described the last problem you had with the car, was this in May 2012.

Any other problems since then ?

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 09:58

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - AngieD

Hello,

Yes, the vehicle was in the garage for 5 weeks having the engine replaced, once collected in early June there was a knocking noise coming from the driver's side of the engine; vibration & grinding from the clutch too which was suspected release bearing. The turbo keeps cutting in and out, it's already had a new boost pressur sensor replaced.

The Finance company informed us that if there were any further problems we had to revert to them, not the dealer ... this is what we did and the next thing I know is that they (the Finance company) have instructed a solicitor. This is all very messy, bottom line is that my son is no longer driving the vehicle as he feels unsafe in it, still paying the finance (reluctantly).

I think I may have to get my own solicitor involved in this, we seem to be getting nowhere fast and it's very frustrating. As it stands at the moment, I've been chasing the Solicitor who has now informed me that they are awaiting instructions from their client, the Finance company; I've tried to escalate this and been in touch with the Finance company who have now told me that their Solicitors are dealing with this and I should take it up with them, arhhhhhh,...... I'm being fobbed off here and pushed from pillar to post. I replied to the Finance company and asked very politely for someone please to take responsibility and get this matter resolved. I've heard nothing!!!!

Perhaps my son should stop the payments to the Finance company, be in breach of the Hire Purchase agreement, they would probably take him to court??? We might get this resolved quicker though?

Thank you.

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 08:35

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - Jaycube

If all its happen when the car is in you control then its your responsiblity, So i think they are putting all in your favor.

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 10:47

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - tony g

( If all its happen when the car is in you control then its your responsiblity, So i think they are putting all in your favor. )

The above post is nonsense ,ignore it .

I don't think it would be a good idea to stop paying the finance on your sons car ,if he does his credit file with Experian will be marked with a missed payment record making it difficult for him to obtain credit in the future .

I do agree it's now time to use your own solicitor and move forward .

The first thing to do is get an expert opinion on your car ,typically you need an accredited motor engineer ,not just a mechanic .Motor engineers are often used for an expert opinion where car disputes are involved ,thier testimony can be used in court if required .they can be found in yellow pages .

Alternatively the AA or RAC will do a full inspection and a report for about £150 .

You can then have your solicitor deal direct with the garage ,for the moment ignore thier solicitor and the finance company .

If you can get the garage to agree that the faults are present . You should insist on the work being done by an independant garage ,not the supplying dealer .They have proved to be inept .

The dealer will want to do the repair to keep the cost to them lower ,try to avoid that .

Before you have the report done ,have your solicitor write to the garage .Tell the garage that you will expect them to pay for the report if serious faults are found .Also tell them that if they don't pay for the repairs and the inspection you will have the car repaired at your own expense and recover all your expenses including the court fee through the small claims court ,an easy and simple process .

Good luck

Tony g

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Wed 5 Sep 2012 11:46

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - AngieD

Hello Tony

Thank you for your sound advice. The finance company's solicitor is providing me with a "substantive update" tomorrow, apparently! I will wait to see what this entails before taking your very good advice further.

Thanks again,

Angie

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Fri 4 Jan 2013 14:26

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - AngieD

Dear Tony

Four months later and after a numerous amount of chasing and persistence from my side, I have just received a resolution to this issue. MotoNovo Finance finally accepted our rejection of this vehicle in October on the grounds that it had been mis-sold and taking in to account the numerous faults, they collected the car on the 15th November. My son has been offered a full and final settlement, which he is going to accept, the finance agreement has been fully unwound and he will have no further liability on him in connection with the Finance Agreement.

It has been a very stressful time but I am glad I persevered. Hopefully this will be the end of it.

Thank you very much again for all your comments, I did appreciate your advice.

Kind regards

Angie

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Sat 5 Jan 2013 17:38

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - Avant

Many thanks for taking the trouble to come back to us, and very good news that you got a resolution to the problem. Better luck in future - no doubt with another make of car!

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Sat 5 Jan 2013 23:30

Vauxhall Corsa vxr - Vehicle sold unfit for purpose - tony g

Hi angie,
That's great news ,your persistence paid off ,Thank you for letting the forum know .

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