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Hi all!
We bought a car from a local dealership at the end of February. We paid £2749 minus £300 for a part exchange. The car was advertised with full service history, which to date we've never received (they told us the paperwork was given to the wrong customer but would be posted out to us). They also explained that the engine oil warning light came on intermittently, but the levels had been checked and it was due to a faulty sensor.
Within 10 days of ownership, we noticed a slight oil leak on the driver's side. We reported it to the dealership twice (as the car came with a 30 day warranty) and had no response. Several days later, the car overheated and broke down. I found that oil was pouring out under the car. I immediately called the AA breakdown service who diagnosed a faulty head gasket and towed it back to the dealership. Since then we've had nothing but problems.
The car went back on the Friday and we rang them every day for 2 weeks. On the Saturday, we were told their mechanic wasn't in so they had stripped the car down. On the Monday they said it was being sent to an "RAC approved garage" for diagnosis (later found out the garage wasn't RAC approved). They had no updates until the Thursday when they explained that someone (insinuating us) had poured oil into the coolant tank making the warranty void, so the mechanic had flushed the entire system without our authorisation. They still haven't diagnosed what caused the initial oil leak. We didn't put anything in the car - as why would we need to on a car we'd driven for less than 2 weeks??
I sought advice from citizens advice who explained I should have got a second opinion - I explained I couldn't as they'd already began work on the car. They reported them to Trading Standards and I sent 2 letters of complaint on their advice, including the final letter before court. At this point, the dealership offered us a settlement.
They offered £2000 as a "gesture of goodwill", despite us (according to them) causing the damage.
I refused as we'd received no evidence from their mechanic and I filed a claim through MCOL for the full amount they owe us, at the start of April. They then send me 3 reports from 3 different garages to say that someone has poured oil in the coolant. The dates on the invoices were all from the week the car had been taken back, when they had told me repeatedly that the car was on their site. I phoned one of the garages to verify the report. He told me the car had gone to him and it was "strange, as it looked like someone had poured an entire bottle of engine oil into the coolant tank". I explained why the car originally went back and he found it odd, as it wasn't overheating when they took it to him.
It's clear that they had poured that oil into the car.
Anyway, I've since had several emails from them asking if we want to settle for £2000 and I've had no response regarding the court claim.
My question is, would it be worth us taking them to court or not??
I have photos of the oil leak, proof that we contacted them regarding it, proof that the car was sold misadvertised (original advert), call logs between us and them, the AA breakdown report and email proof of the settlement.
We bought a car from a local dealership at the end of February. We paid £2749 minus £300 for a part exchange. The car was advertised with full service history, which to date we've never received (they told us the paperwork was given to the wrong customer but would be posted out to us). They also explained that the engine oil warning light came on intermittently, but the levels had been checked and it was due to a faulty sensor.
Within 10 days of ownership, we noticed a slight oil leak on the driver's side. We reported it to the dealership twice (as the car came with a 30 day warranty) and had no response. Several days later, the car overheated and broke down. I found that oil was pouring out under the car. I immediately called the AA breakdown service who diagnosed a faulty head gasket and towed it back to the dealership. Since then we've had nothing but problems.
The car went back on the Friday and we rang them every day for 2 weeks. On the Saturday, we were told their mechanic wasn't in so they had stripped the car down. On the Monday they said it was being sent to an "RAC approved garage" for diagnosis (later found out the garage wasn't RAC approved). They had no updates until the Thursday when they explained that someone (insinuating us) had poured oil into the coolant tank making the warranty void, so the mechanic had flushed the entire system without our authorisation. They still haven't diagnosed what caused the initial oil leak. We didn't put anything in the car - as why would we need to on a car we'd driven for less than 2 weeks??
I sought advice from citizens advice who explained I should have got a second opinion - I explained I couldn't as they'd already began work on the car. They reported them to Trading Standards and I sent 2 letters of complaint on their advice, including the final letter before court. At this point, the dealership offered us a settlement.
They offered £2000 as a "gesture of goodwill", despite us (according to them) causing the damage.
I refused as we'd received no evidence from their mechanic and I filed a claim through MCOL for the full amount they owe us, at the start of April. They then send me 3 reports from 3 different garages to say that someone has poured oil in the coolant. The dates on the invoices were all from the week the car had been taken back, when they had told me repeatedly that the car was on their site. I phoned one of the garages to verify the report. He told me the car had gone to him and it was "strange, as it looked like someone had poured an entire bottle of engine oil into the coolant tank". I explained why the car originally went back and he found it odd, as it wasn't overheating when they took it to him.
It's clear that they had poured that oil into the car.
Anyway, I've since had several emails from them asking if we want to settle for £2000 and I've had no response regarding the court claim.
My question is, would it be worth us taking them to court or not??
I have photos of the oil leak, proof that we contacted them regarding it, proof that the car was sold misadvertised (original advert), call logs between us and them, the AA breakdown report and email proof of the settlement.
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