Trying to get money back for faulty car under consumer rights act

[Kingarthur]

I have been trying to get my money back for a car purchased for £22700 under CRA2015. Since sending the car back to them and asking for my refund they have refused to inspect the vehicle to verify the faults I described. Once I issued letter before claim they then told me car was fixed and I could collect once storage and transport fees paid. I asked for my refund again, no joy. So I issued claim. Once I had issues claim they now say I caused the issues with the car and have 2 reports stating this and are now counter sueing for this. As this was only mentioned after claim was made and I have had no sight of these reports to know the details of what was actually found wrong with my vehicle or repairs carried out do I mention this on N181? I’m conscious that I can’t get an expert to dispute cause of fault as now fixed so what is the best way to go about this now?

[Pezza54]

For forum members to provide advice, answers to the following questions would be helpful:

1. What is the car, when did you purchase it and how did you pay for it?

2. Did you test drive it?

3. What are the faults and when did you discover them?

4. When and how did you send the car back?

5. Provide dates of emails, letters, conversations and briefly what was written or said.

[Kingarthur]

Thank you for your reply.
It’s a Porsche Panamera, 8 yr old, 66k miles. Paid deposit on debit card and balance by bank transfer. I did test drive. I collected car on 1st Feb and on way home discovered heating not working, spoiler not working and coolant fluid leak. I called them and they collected the car a few days later. They sent it back to me nearly 3 weeks later with just coolant leak fixed and said would have to wait for parts for other repairs. Chased a few times, no call backs. After having car back for 19 days I noticed an oil leak. So emailed them on 16th mar stating outstanding repairs and now oil leak. They called me on 17th and asked me to bring car in. I couldn’t get it there until 23rd mar so dropped it to them. They took it from me. Later that day they called me and asked me to go back and collect vehicle and take back a week later as apparently I’d missed my slot to have diagnosed. I refused to go and collect stating id taken advice. He then told me I shouldn’t have driven to him and he would store car while waiting for slot and charge me for it. I emailed asking for money back. He said I wasn’t entitled so quoted part of CRA. He then asked me me for who I’d taken advice from, I just stated he had 14 days to refund me. In this time he kept emailing me asking for who I’d spoken to so I reiterated either to give me refund or reason as to why he thought I wasn’t entitled. He then started saying he had call recordings of me saying I’d put oil in car. I haven’t so I know I haven’t said this so under GDPR I asked for recordings, didn’t acknowledge requests. After 3 weeks of this he said he would inspect vehicle so I stated he should of done so already but I’d allow 7 days. No reply after 7 days so I issued letter before claim. He then replied saying refuses to inspect the car until I’d given him information he wanted. Same day he emails again saying car is fixed and I can collect once I’ve paid bill for storage and transport to storage. I emailed summarising again why I was entitled to refund and he stated he wanted the information from me. So after 14 days I issued claim. After service date he emailed stating his mechanic confirms oil leak can only be caused by me putting oil in car and apparently he has call recording of me saying I put oil in car so if I wanted to proceed with court he would counter claim or I could go and pick car up and pay bill. I said to resolve this I wanted refund so he has defended and counterclaimed stating I caused leak and was told not to drive car.

[Pezza54]

Thanks for replying quickly with all that info. The advice I am going to give follows which.co.uk's article regarding a consumer's right to reject a vehicle.
Others on the forum may provide different advice.

As you did not write to reject the car within 30 days from purchase you have lost your right for a refund under CRA 2015'

You have asked the dealer to repair the faults at no cost to you which you are legally entitled to do. The dealer attempted to carry out repairs but did not complete blaming unavailability of parts.

When you returned the car again on the 23 March and the dealer accepted the car, were the parts then available to complete the repairs? The dealer should not have accepted the car if the parts were not available.

The dealer is now withholding the car (until you pay for storage) and your £22.7K payment. Did the dealer warn you late March that he was charging you for storage.

If you decide to make a court claim for a refund (rejection0 as the claim is over £10k it is likely to be allocated to the fast track, carrying the risk of the defendant's legal costs. The court process can take several months.

A less risky approach would be to get the car back, paying the dealer's charges if necessary, obtain an inspection report on the faults and a garage quotation/estimate to correct the faults.

You could then start a court claim to recover all your costs.

[Pezza54]

Forgot to say if your claim under the latter route is under £10k it should be allocated to the small claims track.

[Kingarthur]

Thank you for you reply.
I have calculated that I am within the 30 day right to reject due to the ‘waiting period’ whilst he had the car back.
On 23rd March he took the car back to diagnose the oil leak, he still wasn’t planning on fixing the spoiler, although he could of done by now as he’s had the car all this time.
he did tell me he was going to charge me storage on 23rd March when I refused to go and collect and I told him i wasn’t paying it.
he is now trying to charge me approx £4k for repairs and approx £1.6k for storage to get my car back. Should he not of diagnosed car then told me if he thought I had caused problem? He just fixed without my knowledge or agreement then counter claimed?

[Pezza54]

It sounds as if you want to go down the more risky route and reject the car. I'm not aware of any "waiting time" in legislation regarding rejection of the car within 30 days.
If you definitely want to reject the car then my advice is to search for a solicitor who is experienced in this type of case and is willing to assist you.
You will need legal help to write a Particulars of Claim for the fast track. The dealer will probably employ a solicitor. The solicitor should warn you of the potential total cost to you if your claim is unsuccessful.
Before speaking to any solicitor you should set out in date order exactly what happened from the day you first contacted the dealer until the present date. State what was said including the time when you first visited the dealer and during the test drive, telephone and face-to-face conversations..
List emails in date order and briefly state the contents of each email. If there was an advert for the car have this to hand.
Good luck.

[des8]

Have you initiated court action already (post 1 states ". So I issued claim" and refers to Directions questionnaire N181)?

[Pezza54]

Please read carexpert.co.uk/rejecting-a-car

The fault with the car has to be significant and present at the time of purchase. The judge will take the age of the car and its mileage into account when deciding whether the fault warrants rejection.

The clock stops whilst the dealer has the car for inspection and to repair faults. So if when you stated "waiting time" in your earlier .post you are correct if you meant the time the dealer had the car. You should make this time clear in your claim.

The dealer should have warned you he was going to charge to repair the oil leak. Especially as it ended up costing nearly £4K. This oil leak will be difficult to prove it existed at the time of purchase.

I am concerned about the strength of your case to reject the car when the nature of the faults are taken into account along with the age and mileage of the car. There is a real risk you could lose the case and if you have already submitted a claim you should consider dropping it and negotiating with the dealer pointing out the content of my previous paragraph..