gottanS wrote:Been through this with an S4, finally rejected the car after 6 months for a full cash refund including 6 months road tax, by law they are responsible for any pre-existing faults identified within the first 6 months but you have to give them 3 attempts to fix the problem before you can reject it for a full refund. Make sure you get copies of the communications between dealers as this would be evidence of the attempts made to fix it.
Keep going at this, you will get there in the end and the 30day, 1000 mile exchange programme is just that an exchange not a cash refund.
One thing to note, if you visit the dealer and look like you're going to kick off and make a lot of noise they will try and walk you outside so stand your ground
I just to clarrify this as it's not strictly true based on my understanding and past experience of the sale of goods act.
It's not as clear cut to say any faults within six months are the dealers responsibility. It's simply not the case - The SOG act is not a warranty.
Any fault that is found within the first six months that couldn't be reasonably identified during any test drive or inspection then the dealer has to show beyond balance of doubt that the fault was not there at the time of sale. There are also provisions for expected lifespan of items as you wouldn't expect a clutch to fail within 1k miles however other items won't come under this.
So for example, the clutch going in this car would have high expectations that it'd be covered as it's happened so quickly and is getting worse. It can be argued that it is not reasonable to diagnose this fault as it can be quite hard to diagnose without dissassembly of the car. Point in hand is that in order to find it the dealer had to physically inspect the clutch.
However, the exhaust valves could easily argued that it is easy to determine if they are working as you can see them without any tools or work. In this case the dealer would have a strong case to show that the faults must have therefore either happened after or the buyer didn't confirm they were working or accepted that this was the case.
It is very rare to reclaim a full refund however it is determined by what the fault was. For example, you would never ever be able to reject a car for faulty exhaust valves. However, a failed clutch rendering the vehicle immobile has a much stronger case. You also generally have to accept that the dealer is within their right to not refund the amount for addtional use and miles since purchase. So for example, if you buy a car with 20k on the clock, drive it for three months and do 10k miles and the gearbox meltsdown then you can reject it but you would not be entitled automaticaly to a full refund.
There is also no set limit on the number of attempts to fix the car however 3 isn't a bad number - SOG requires you give the dealer adequate opportunity to resolve the defect and any less than three can be seen to be too "keen" and more than three it can be argued that you have accepted the fault (crappy but not unheard of).
A good rule of thumb is the recurring phrase in the SOG of "fit for purpose". A car with a duff clutch isn't fit for purpose but one with duff exhaust valves is.
Good advice to keep copies and records of all communications along with dates and times. Rejecting a car is a generally a painful last resort as depending on the dealer can turn into a protracted tug of war. If you do go this way then there's some other threads here that will go into details the best way to handle this.
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