Car Rejection - What are My Rights?

[samrko]

I will try to keep this as brief as possible whilst keeping the important info.

Timeline:
January 13th: Bought used car from dealership, drive it home

Evening of January 15th: Car doesn't start

Morning of January 16th: RAC recovery comes to the house and starts up the car

January 23rd: Get dash-cams professionally hard-wired by local specialist

January 23rd: Car doesn't start

January 25th: Recovery comes out, can't start the car

January 28th: Car towed to garage

February 1st: Garage still can't identify problem, we ask for a refund as had enough of waiting and we'd lost faith in the car. We're told we're not entitled to refund. We had already anticipated this so had a letter ready to post which we did.


February 3rd: Manager of dealership calls, says the issue is with the dash-cam installation. He emails photos which I forward onto the man who fitted the dash-cams.


Today: Dash-cam man calls me and is absolutely lovely, can't stop apologizing, says he accepts responsibility and will fix the car.

Now the situation is we'd still like to reject the car, we had already started looking for another and quite frankly don't want to deal with that garage again. However, we're not sure of our rights anymore. There is the breakdown that happened 2 days after we bought the car. I have paperwork of the recovery, but I am unsure if it would be deemed as 'substantial' evidence to prove that the car was unsatisfactory goods when sold, because recovery did manage to start the car on first attempt.

The recovery paperwork mentions the following: Battery, engine oil and coolant level checks passed. Battery test result: The battery is serviceable and requires recharging with a battery charger. Info: Car did not start during battery test, had to use booster pack. Member to take for a drive to charge battery. Advised to use regularly to keep battery charge. Just purchased vehicle, if problem continues, dealer attention required.

I actually phoned Consumer Helpline yesterday and the woman told me that is sufficient evidence to prove that even though recovery managed to start the car on first attempt, the fact that recovery was required in the first place shows the car was not satisfactory quality when sold. And she said because of this, once the car's electrical fault due to the dash-cam installation has been repaired, and the garage's expenses have been covered for this repair, we are still entitled to a full refund due to the first breakdown.

I was just wondering if anyone else could shed any light or has an opinion, because I'm just worried that paperwork is not substantial evidence especially when that seems such a minor fault compared to the one that occurred after the dash-cam, which was the fault of who installed it and not the dealership.


Thank you.

[des8]

IMO you would have difficulty trying to reject this vehicle on the basis the battery was flat (ie completely discharged)
Assume this is a used car you purchased that had possibly been left standing or only started occasionally to move it around forecourt.
When deciding if a car is or is not satisfactory one has to take into account price paid, mileage and reasonableness.
I certainly would not label a vehicle unsatisfactory on the basis of a flat battery.
Now if you fully recharged the battery or preferably replaced it with new, and the battery then discharged in a short time I would be looking for an electrical fault which could possibly indicate the vehicle was unsatisfactory

[samrko]

Thanks for the response; as much as I'd like to believe whoever I spoke to yesterday, I'm just skeptical. And there's no way the dealership gives a refund without things going to court or the Ombudsman.

I did find a new car a few days ago when I thought we were entitled to a refund and unaware of the dash-cam fault, which I completely fell in love with and wished I found it before my current car, and the dealership kindly reserved it for a whole week without me even asking. It's about £3-5k cheaper than any equivalent models I have found and only has 6k miles, so if there's nothing wrong with it I've found a gem.

I've also been quoted £10.9k for the current car (we paid £11.5k) from one of those easy sell your car websites, I know those kind of websites tend to pay lower than their initial quote, but I think my best, most hassle-free course of action would be to take the car I'm now fixated on, wait for the dash-cam guy to fix current car, take back the current car, and trade it in which will probably be a loss of £1k, max £2k on that car. But I'll feel like that's been evened out by the bargain I'd get on this other car.

To be honest that sounds a lot better than being without a car for months whilst a refund case gets processed which I'm not even sure if I'd win.

Thanks again for the advice mate.

[des8]

I fully appreciate your thinking, and another advantage of your proposal is that you miss out on all the stress of a court case.
Also if your claim was to be in excess of £10,000 there are cost implications if you should lose, and to be honest County Court can be a bit of a lottery.