Purchased a second hand car from reputable local dealer that is burning lots of oil

[des8]

Do keep all negotiations in writing, email at least.
Telephone conversations should be confirmed in writing

Good luck

[andycm]

Hi DES8,

So, I thought I’d provide you with an update.

I’ve applied to my bank for a chargeback and waiting to see what happens with that. If that’s unsuccessful, I’ll take the dealer to small claims for the price reduction.

This is some of the reply from the dealer for your entertainment;

The inspection at Audi with “soot” in the exhaust is not conclusive. To determine what they claim would require a bore scope inspection, compression test, or a strip down of the engine. The oil level was recorded at 75% acceptable level. No real world road testing or oil consumption tests were conducted. We did this at length and recorded the results.

What Audi have reported is exactly what we told you would happen in WhatsApp exchanges on 19/12/22. If you take a 10 year old car with 130k+ miles to Audi for a “health check” they will “find” several hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of remedial work. It is what they do regardless of whether the work is justified or strictly required for the car to be road worthy.

In our view, the claim of being of unsatisfactory quality is unfounded. The Consumer Rights Act states that this is judged on whether a consumer product is fit for its intended purpose. The evidence clearly shows the vehicle was more than fit for purpose at the time of sale. We can evidence this in two ways;

• The Independent government standard VOSA MOT test shortly prior to sale.

• Extensive trouble free usage with thousands of miles covered since your purchase.

The car has performed perfectly since your purchase. Nothing has occurred which has prevented you from using it for its intended purpose (a motor vehicle) as transportation for social, domestic or commuting purposes.

Adding fuel, topping up oil, topping up coolant and checking tyre pressure is all part of routine owner maintenance.

For the avoidance of doubt, the car during our tests performed as expected for a car of given age and miles. Oil consumption was within tolerance but as the manufacturer states in their own literature this will increase over time subject to wear and tear, age, mileage, and conditions etc. I have attached this information from the owners operating manual for you to this email.

Should you wish to outlay funds in order to try and restore the vehicle back to an “as new” state this is your prerogative; however it is not the responsibility for us as a selling agent to do this for you.

Providing the vehicle conforms on the day of purchase to all reasonable road worthiness and safety test standards (MOT) and is deemed fit for its intended purpose given the age, mileage, and price paid then we have fulfilled our legal obligations. - Consumer Rights Act 2015
Section 19) subsection 15) a) and b)

For the reasons I have set out above, and during our extensive exchanges via WhatsApp, we do not agree to your request to reject the vehicle.


Note how they avoid using the words ‘satisfactory quality’.

They use Lawgistics by the way…