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hi there…. First of all what a wonderful forum with a wealth of info.... glad I found it, though of course I wish circumstances were different.
So I test drove a very powerful car on a cold morning (used car coming up to 3 months old) on the 16th of March this year.... My research had shown that you have to be carful with the tyres on this particular car as it uses Pirelli P zero Corsas which are an extreme summer tyre and hate cold temperatures and can be a handful until fully warmed up. On the test drive the rear of the car did indeed wiggle about. The test drive consisted of dual carriageways with a 40/50 mph speed limit and had average speed cameras , a turn around in a turning point between the two sides of dual carriageway and some slow town work of no more than a mile or so. So I was not too worried as I thought the wiggle at the back of the car was the cold tyres and I did mention the rear end of the car was loose and added those tyres need warming up or something along those lines. to the salesman. So picked the car up on the 23rd march 20. I should add that the garage is some 200 miles from my home. The drive consisted again of dual carriageways and motorway on the M6 and M5. On the way home the car wiggled for the first time after half an hour of driving whilst accelerating.. Caught me my surprise.. It did in fact do this several more times and my doubts that the tyres were at fault were starting to decrease, though I did think maybe tyre pressures could be the cause.. So having finally driven nearly 170 miles or so on straight motorway I came off and hit the A roads... To my horror on the first left hand bend I took the car seemed to slip at the rear, then steady itself before slipping again... I couldn't believe it... It done it several more times on bends, so I stopped and checked a tyre was not down or fitted incorrectly. I should add, this is not a steering issue, its the rear end of the vehicle not functioning correctly.. At this stage I was in shock.. I had spent 40k on a car and it had a fault. Those wiggles on the test drive were indicative of something else.. Add in that the test drive didn't include any flowing bends and you can see how I got caught out.
So as soon as I got home I did a visual check again and nothing obvious was wrong.. At this stage I immediately phoned the Car dealer saying the car was dangerous. I had to limp it home and I was not very impressed. The response I got was to take it to the Franchised dealer as if I took it back to him, that's all what he would do.. I told him I was not happy as the vehicle is dangerous and my nearest dealer is 60 miles away. In a state of shock I agreed to this though as didn't see any way out. I needed to collect my thoughts. So managed to get a vehicle booking at the dealership a week later for the 30th March but because of the lockdown and Coronavirus they cancelled on the 25th March. I took the car out for a few short test drives but still couldn't find anything obviously wrong. I felt the car was a danger to not only me, but other road users due to its unpredictable nature round corners and straights too when at random it would just get into a state of fishtailing from the rear. Can I just state too, the faults described occur at slow to normal speeds too. You don't have to be driving hard at all for it to all go wrong. So after the garage cancelled and no idea when they would reopen and my growing concern of the vehicle not being fit for purpose I decided to Reject the car.... Spoke to the finance Company (car was bought with my deposit and a pcp deal), and told them of the fault and I was now rejecting the car on the 26th march 20, just days after collecting the car. I also arranged at my own cost for the vehicle to be inspected at my own cost on the 29th March 20 as I thought I would need some proof. I received a reply from the Finance company on the 30th saying dealer had rejected my claim and quoted the vehicle was fine and it was the Ackermann steering affect. The Ackermann its certainly is not.. Its not a steering fault with the front wheels. They asked if I could take the car to the dealer to show them the fault and I told them I was not prepared to do that as the car had now been inspected and the engineer has found what I am saying to be true and there is indeed a fault of some nature with the vehicle though nothing obvious is apparently wrong on a visual exam. The engineer concluded the vehicle was not safe and not fit for purpose. I told them I was not prepared to drive in an unsafe vehicle and I didn't see the point as I was not sure what a salesman could add . So the finance company asked me to submit the report when done to them. So on the 7th April 20 , the report was sent to them and the dealer too (they never responded to my email), saying I was rejecting the car and here is my proof. So that's where we are.... I contacted the Finance company on the 16 of March 20 for an update and they said they had submitted the report but had not heard back from the dealer yet and thanked me for my Patience.
Oh Nearly forgot . I also emailed the dealer the day after buying the car too, just putting into writing my dismay at the fault and that the cold tyre situation with the Pirelli p zero Corsas had made me think the car was fine when clearly it wasn't.. The reply I got back was that the car was fine on the test drive ( he never drove though?) and pdi. Having said that he clearly stated after my test drive the car would not be driven now, so I am not sure what kind of pdi was done. My reply was that I respectfully disagreed with him that the car was okay on the test drive.
So my question is, Is their a timeframe the dealer has to respond by ? .. They are still open btw and trading online and their website says they are still open despite the lockdown. Now I know I might have to be a bit more patient because of the current situation with Coronavirus but as a guide what are the normal timelines for them to respond and give me their final decision? I ask as I think the next stage is to start court action but would that be against the Finance company? The Dealer? or Both? After all the Finance company have a dud car on their hands too as they technically own it.
So I test drove a very powerful car on a cold morning (used car coming up to 3 months old) on the 16th of March this year.... My research had shown that you have to be carful with the tyres on this particular car as it uses Pirelli P zero Corsas which are an extreme summer tyre and hate cold temperatures and can be a handful until fully warmed up. On the test drive the rear of the car did indeed wiggle about. The test drive consisted of dual carriageways with a 40/50 mph speed limit and had average speed cameras , a turn around in a turning point between the two sides of dual carriageway and some slow town work of no more than a mile or so. So I was not too worried as I thought the wiggle at the back of the car was the cold tyres and I did mention the rear end of the car was loose and added those tyres need warming up or something along those lines. to the salesman. So picked the car up on the 23rd march 20. I should add that the garage is some 200 miles from my home. The drive consisted again of dual carriageways and motorway on the M6 and M5. On the way home the car wiggled for the first time after half an hour of driving whilst accelerating.. Caught me my surprise.. It did in fact do this several more times and my doubts that the tyres were at fault were starting to decrease, though I did think maybe tyre pressures could be the cause.. So having finally driven nearly 170 miles or so on straight motorway I came off and hit the A roads... To my horror on the first left hand bend I took the car seemed to slip at the rear, then steady itself before slipping again... I couldn't believe it... It done it several more times on bends, so I stopped and checked a tyre was not down or fitted incorrectly. I should add, this is not a steering issue, its the rear end of the vehicle not functioning correctly.. At this stage I was in shock.. I had spent 40k on a car and it had a fault. Those wiggles on the test drive were indicative of something else.. Add in that the test drive didn't include any flowing bends and you can see how I got caught out.
So as soon as I got home I did a visual check again and nothing obvious was wrong.. At this stage I immediately phoned the Car dealer saying the car was dangerous. I had to limp it home and I was not very impressed. The response I got was to take it to the Franchised dealer as if I took it back to him, that's all what he would do.. I told him I was not happy as the vehicle is dangerous and my nearest dealer is 60 miles away. In a state of shock I agreed to this though as didn't see any way out. I needed to collect my thoughts. So managed to get a vehicle booking at the dealership a week later for the 30th March but because of the lockdown and Coronavirus they cancelled on the 25th March. I took the car out for a few short test drives but still couldn't find anything obviously wrong. I felt the car was a danger to not only me, but other road users due to its unpredictable nature round corners and straights too when at random it would just get into a state of fishtailing from the rear. Can I just state too, the faults described occur at slow to normal speeds too. You don't have to be driving hard at all for it to all go wrong. So after the garage cancelled and no idea when they would reopen and my growing concern of the vehicle not being fit for purpose I decided to Reject the car.... Spoke to the finance Company (car was bought with my deposit and a pcp deal), and told them of the fault and I was now rejecting the car on the 26th march 20, just days after collecting the car. I also arranged at my own cost for the vehicle to be inspected at my own cost on the 29th March 20 as I thought I would need some proof. I received a reply from the Finance company on the 30th saying dealer had rejected my claim and quoted the vehicle was fine and it was the Ackermann steering affect. The Ackermann its certainly is not.. Its not a steering fault with the front wheels. They asked if I could take the car to the dealer to show them the fault and I told them I was not prepared to do that as the car had now been inspected and the engineer has found what I am saying to be true and there is indeed a fault of some nature with the vehicle though nothing obvious is apparently wrong on a visual exam. The engineer concluded the vehicle was not safe and not fit for purpose. I told them I was not prepared to drive in an unsafe vehicle and I didn't see the point as I was not sure what a salesman could add . So the finance company asked me to submit the report when done to them. So on the 7th April 20 , the report was sent to them and the dealer too (they never responded to my email), saying I was rejecting the car and here is my proof. So that's where we are.... I contacted the Finance company on the 16 of March 20 for an update and they said they had submitted the report but had not heard back from the dealer yet and thanked me for my Patience.
Oh Nearly forgot . I also emailed the dealer the day after buying the car too, just putting into writing my dismay at the fault and that the cold tyre situation with the Pirelli p zero Corsas had made me think the car was fine when clearly it wasn't.. The reply I got back was that the car was fine on the test drive ( he never drove though?) and pdi. Having said that he clearly stated after my test drive the car would not be driven now, so I am not sure what kind of pdi was done. My reply was that I respectfully disagreed with him that the car was okay on the test drive.
So my question is, Is their a timeframe the dealer has to respond by ? .. They are still open btw and trading online and their website says they are still open despite the lockdown. Now I know I might have to be a bit more patient because of the current situation with Coronavirus but as a guide what are the normal timelines for them to respond and give me their final decision? I ask as I think the next stage is to start court action but would that be against the Finance company? The Dealer? or Both? After all the Finance company have a dud car on their hands too as they technically own it.
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