How to determine a reasonable price reduction for faulty goods?

[trover]

I purchased a used car that was advertised as having keyless entry. However, it turns out that it does not have this feature. I requested the dealership to retrofit it but was told that it was impossible. The 30 days has passed, but I am still within the 6 months.

If I would like to exercise the right to a price reduction, how should it be calculated?

My thought is to obtain estimates from multiple garages on the cost to retrofit the car so that it matches the description (conforms to the contract). I have no idea how much it would cost, potentially ranging from high three figures to over 1k.

However, the legislation states that the reduction should “reflect the difference in value between what the consumer paid for and the value of what they actually receive.” I interpret this to mean that the difference in value should be between “the value of the imaginary car that matches the description” and “the value of the car I received”.

The imaginary car with such a feature does not exist (at least in the UK), making a comparison impossible. Even if the imaginary car did exist, the cost of retrofitting may not necessarily equate to the difference in value between the two cars. The car costed me around £17k, 3 year old.

Could anyone shed some light on this, please? Thank you.

[Manxman]

If you were considering buying two cars that were identical except that one had keyless entry and the other didn't, how much extra would you be willing to pay to buy the one with keyless entry over the other one? Assume they're both priced in the £15k - £20k range.

Personally I see no added value in keyless entry - just another technological complication that's likely to malfunction and be a costly PITA to fix - so it has no added value for me whatsoever. But you may feel differently.

Just a gut feel but I'd guess in the range £250 - £750. I certainly doubt more than a grand but as I've already said, it has no value for me whatsoever so it's not a feature I would pay extra for in the first place.

[DE DOGS]

If you are happy with the car, no point in asking the question, just my point of view.

[trover]

If you were considering buying two cars that were identical except that one had keyless entry and the other didn't, how much extra would you be willing to pay to buy the one with keyless entry over the other one? Assume they're both priced in the £15k - £20k range.

Personally I see no added value in keyless entry - just another technological complication that's likely to malfunction and be a costly PITA to fix - so it has no added value for me whatsoever. But you may feel differently.

Just a gut feel but I'd guess in the range £250 - £750. I certainly doubt more than a grand but as I've already said, it has no value for me whatsoever so it's not a feature I would pay extra for in the first place.

It would not be as high as £1000 for me, perhaps £500-800 at most, as a higher trim level includes this but omits some other features.

For argument’s sake, the difference in value between the imaginary car and the car I have is £250; the cost of retrofitting is £1000. How would the remedy work?

I may be able to claim £250 as a price reduction; could the remaining £750 be recovered as damages, for the amount I would need to pay to retrofit the feature?

I am not suggesting that I intend to carry out the second part of the sentence, as it might be excessively harsh on the dealership, particularly since it accounts for almost 5 percent of the car’s price; I also believe the judge may find that the entire £1000 payable by the dealer is excessive.

However, I would like to understand more about how damages works (in conjunction with a price reduction) in such circumstance when a contract is breached.

[trover]

If you are happy with the car, no point in asking the question, just my point of view.

Unfortunately, not entirely. The salesman had lied to me regarding some information about the previous owner before my first visit (he claimed it was owned by one of his colleagues, when in fact the previous owner lived 200 miles away from the dealership, and the dealership was a regional one), and he also lied about the length of previous ownership.

I also suspect that the car may have been involved in undisclosed collision. The tailgate and the bumper were slightly misaligned, but the manager reassured me that it had not been in a collision, with his over 10 years of experience in the industry. This was fine until I realised the following event...

One of the badges on the side of the car had disappeared when I collected my car a week after my first visit, during which they had claimed they were refurbishing the alloys. I have no idea what happened to the car during that week that resulted in them debadging one side of the car. Unfortunately, I did not notice it until recently when I was comparing the photos (as I was focusing on the alloys, my bad). Given how they have hidden things from me, I have no faith in them admitting to any possible undisclosed accidents.