can i sue my car dealer?

Question

i recently bought a vw sharran 02 model for £10000 of a local car dealer when test driving i noticed the aircon was not working i decided to buy the car and was promised the aircon would be fixed and givin 12 months rac warenty and 3 months warenty with them after i paid for car and picked it up a week later got home aircon still wasnt working phoned them they said they would fix it after 20 more phone calls and month later they took my car to fix pick car back up and guess what still not working phoned them back said would fix it its now been further 6 weeks and hasnt been fixed phoned many more times broken promise after broken promise its now comin end of there 3 month warentey so phoned other rac warertey i bought on top to find its not covered on that policy can i get my car fixed myself and sue car dealer for compensation

Answer 1

Hello Rawz,

The area of law you are asking about here is consumer law.

Without boring you to death with case law and various Acts the simple answer is yes. The warranty has nothing to do with this because the fault was brought to the attention of the dealer within the warranty cover time, they have simply failed to repair it.

Either they can do the repair or you can demand a full refund.

In the first instance you must give them reasonable time and opportunity to make the repair, which you seem to have done.

You are now in a position to demand a refund. If they refuse, go to trading standards and tell them what has happened, they will probably take the case up for you.

Normally this will be enough for them to get the repair done properly but failing that go and see a solicitor.

You have spent a lot of money on this vehicle plus the costs of phonecalls and your time. make out a record of events and give it to your solicitor.

If they still havn't done the repair properly then I would be very surprised.

I would not advise getting the repair done yourself unless the dealer agrees to this. You might have trouble getting the money back.

Good luck

Answer 2

Did you have any written contract with this dealer saying they would fix the aircon, or was this a verbal agreement? You'll have a tougher time sueing if it's a verbal agreement. Obviously, they aren't going to fix the aircon, and are fobbing you off until the 3 months warranty is up. That is really underhanded of them.
Would that warranty even cover the aircon if you bought the car without the aircon in working order? You haven't said if they were any stipulations in the contract, other than it being a verbal one; which should still stand as a contract. But it's tougher to prove for obvious reasons.
It's ludicrous that they'd do things like pick it up to fix it, and waste so much time and energy that way.
Time to give up on them, and get it fixed yourself.
And yes, make a claim against that car dealer for the cost of the aircon. I'm unsure how it works exactly in the UK, In the USA, you can take someone to small claims court yourself. Before you go before the judge they make both parties involved meet with a mediator to try to solve the matter outside of the courtroom.
Go to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau about claming the costs for the aircon. They are very helpful there. You could also phone a lawyer for a meeting to discuss what to do. If you want to go all out just for the principle of it, then get an initial consultation with a lawyer.

Answer 3

sale of goods acts
they promised to fix the aircon, they haven't its a simple give the money back or fix it.

the only problems you may have is one proving that they agreed to sell the vehicle with your RAC cover, with the 3mth warranty and promise to fix the aircon. if you can prove that, especially the latter youve got 'em. the other problem with the sames of goods acts is determining what is a reasonable time to reject the goods. Im guessing 7 weeks may be a problem, but not if you cna prove that you were making efforts to get the problem fixed. If someone decides you have not rehjected the goods within a reasonable time then the SoG act doesnt work.

make a formal wriitten letter demanding that they fix the aircon as part of the 3 mth warranty (my guess would be that they are trying to make you claim on the RAC warranty, rather than from themselves, or yuou will go away)

if that fails then yes you should be able to get the aircon fixed and then issue proceedings, but it would be better to threaten them with court and encourage them to fix the aircon. after all why should you go throuigh the hassle of going to court. However one advantage of you paying for the aircon to be fixed is that you would have the guarantee and warranty - so if it goes wrong again withint the period you dont have to go near this garage again.

if you do go to court, remember to charge them for your expenses (20+ phone calls + copst of writing the letters + other reasonable expenses)

get a quote for the work, and see if it comes under the small claim s procedure (I cant see the aircon work exceeeding the £5k limit)

Answer 4

Yeah, plus you could let other people know what sort of service they will get from this dealership, put adverts around revealing what dodgy buisness these guys do and that they lie about aftercare service and that there cars are faulty. Put a great big sine up outside the dealership, park your car in front the gate with a sign on it saying bout for 10,000 broken and dealer wont fix. Dont let other people go through what youve had to go through. Get the word out there, and turn upto the dealers in person and tell them what for.

Answer 5

Certainly you can sue the dealer,but that doesnt mean to say you will win.Possible the claim would be in a small claims court and your costs will not be refundable.You are a victim of your own circumstances in so much you should have used Buyer Beware slogan,I cannot beleive you were stupid enough to make the full payment without having the defect fixed.
Their is always 2 sides to a story and it would be unfair to the other party should you not give him right of reply.

Answer 6

Get some advice from consumer direct..they tell you how to complain and take it further including your legal rights,it on the web and runs in line with the office of fair trading.Do this now because you have time limits,you can e-mail them with an outline of your problem ...you can also call them .Good luck I had a lousy experience with a car dealer last year so I know exactly how you feel.

Answer 7

Obviously, you live in the UK. Try to find out if they have any used car Lemon Laws or any type of government law that protects consumers. If so, file a complaint. If not, find out what liabilities may be imposed by law to see if you have recourse. Is any part of this written on your contract? Is is written on the repair order form? Document everything you have done in writing, with the dates and times. You can always park the car in front of the dealership with a big sign on it that says "this dealership sells Lemons" or, don't buy a car here, they are liars.
Good luck.

Answer 8

it would probably cost you more money than you think to sue them if u lost but try but remember you bought the car knowing it did not work something most people would not have done you should always get a dealer to sort any props out before buying the only thing the dealer has in his favour is u bought it knowing the problem {just remember that mistake in future when buying a car ] sorry but true.

Answer 9

What's to compensate you for? Assuming this was warranty, you shouldn't have paid for anything in terms of costs to repair. Maybe you can do something about breach of contract, or see if there's any lemon laws, but to be honest I know very little about Automotive related laws in the UK.

Probably wouldn't hurt to talk to a lawyer.

Answer 10

you can try but chances are they have better lawyers you might be better threatening them with bad press and telling people about a diferent company that fixed the problem