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Hi all,
I'm posting on here hoping to shed some light on to a situation with a second hand car I purchased.
I decided to sell my bigger car to buy something smaller and cheaper to help put some money towards a mortgage.
I found a car for sale which was being sold by a sole trader, decided to buy it, knocked him down to £2,150 (I realise now this was really over priced anyway, but I was an amateur buyer; not knowing a lot just that I needed to save money and have transportation for work and travel with my children). The car had been serviced and MOT’d at the beginning of the month of buying.
I bought on the 7th April 2022, within 4 weeks, beginning of May 2022, I had an engine light appear and an anti pollution fault warning. I took it to my local garage and they advised me that the car wasn't in good form at all; the coolant was contaminated with oil and issues with catalyst converter, basically to say the cost of repairs on it would make the car a right off. With this, I message the seller explaining that I didn't feel comfortable driving my two young children around I do not feel the car was sold fit for purpose etc. and that I would be expecting for it to be repaired or taken back.
After a few more messages to get his attention, he finally replied to say that the independent garage he uses will look the car over. I explained that the oil in the coolant was the main problem, he said he would flush it out… and that he will have his propel look over it as he know other garages are just out to make money. Anyway he had the car looked at, explained that (in his wording) “iv had them have a look, and they said that there was blockage in the pipes and such, they said it more professionally than I can explain it over text but suspect that where the petrol was low and its rubbish stuff we use now the bits in it caused it so had it cleared and seems to solved it, it's cleared the engine light and read it again, so hopefully all sorted.” After this message I arranged for my partner to call him, as there is no mention there about the coolant contamination, or was he suggesting that it's petrol that has somehow travelled through the car and got inside the coolant? I don't know, but I do know that is not possible. Unfortunately, when the car was returned, the issue was still there - it still looked like Mayo and brown sauce inside my coolant.
Anyway, my now really unhappy partner requested he just took the car back for a refund, which the seller refused as he had “no more money in the pot to do that but can put a warranty on the car”. At this point I'm very stressed, unsure of my rights, feeling really silly for not thinking of checking these things when buying or what to do, so I go with the warranty anyway.
3 months after having the car looked at, in August 2022, the engine light appears again along with the anti pollution warning. I made contact with the warranty provider to be told the warranty has expired! The seller put warranty on for 3 months.
Now I feel like I have lost so much money as the car is coming up on valuations for under £700. I feel so angry, upset, stupid and unsure on what I can do about this, if anything at all.
Am I too late to take him to a small claims court?
Even though he put a warranty on should I contact him?
It's the same problem I returned the car for in the first place back in May. How it passed its MOT with this issue is beyond me, surely it's something that would have come up on the emissions?
I'm sorry this is a really long winded post, I hope someone manages to read it all and can advise me in some way or another, or put my mind at ease if unfortunately now, there's nothing I can do and it be potentially be a really expensive mistake and lesson learned
.
Thank you.
I'm posting on here hoping to shed some light on to a situation with a second hand car I purchased.
I decided to sell my bigger car to buy something smaller and cheaper to help put some money towards a mortgage.
I found a car for sale which was being sold by a sole trader, decided to buy it, knocked him down to £2,150 (I realise now this was really over priced anyway, but I was an amateur buyer; not knowing a lot just that I needed to save money and have transportation for work and travel with my children). The car had been serviced and MOT’d at the beginning of the month of buying.
I bought on the 7th April 2022, within 4 weeks, beginning of May 2022, I had an engine light appear and an anti pollution fault warning. I took it to my local garage and they advised me that the car wasn't in good form at all; the coolant was contaminated with oil and issues with catalyst converter, basically to say the cost of repairs on it would make the car a right off. With this, I message the seller explaining that I didn't feel comfortable driving my two young children around I do not feel the car was sold fit for purpose etc. and that I would be expecting for it to be repaired or taken back.
After a few more messages to get his attention, he finally replied to say that the independent garage he uses will look the car over. I explained that the oil in the coolant was the main problem, he said he would flush it out… and that he will have his propel look over it as he know other garages are just out to make money. Anyway he had the car looked at, explained that (in his wording) “iv had them have a look, and they said that there was blockage in the pipes and such, they said it more professionally than I can explain it over text but suspect that where the petrol was low and its rubbish stuff we use now the bits in it caused it so had it cleared and seems to solved it, it's cleared the engine light and read it again, so hopefully all sorted.” After this message I arranged for my partner to call him, as there is no mention there about the coolant contamination, or was he suggesting that it's petrol that has somehow travelled through the car and got inside the coolant? I don't know, but I do know that is not possible. Unfortunately, when the car was returned, the issue was still there - it still looked like Mayo and brown sauce inside my coolant.
Anyway, my now really unhappy partner requested he just took the car back for a refund, which the seller refused as he had “no more money in the pot to do that but can put a warranty on the car”. At this point I'm very stressed, unsure of my rights, feeling really silly for not thinking of checking these things when buying or what to do, so I go with the warranty anyway.
3 months after having the car looked at, in August 2022, the engine light appears again along with the anti pollution warning. I made contact with the warranty provider to be told the warranty has expired! The seller put warranty on for 3 months.
Now I feel like I have lost so much money as the car is coming up on valuations for under £700. I feel so angry, upset, stupid and unsure on what I can do about this, if anything at all.
Am I too late to take him to a small claims court?
Even though he put a warranty on should I contact him?
It's the same problem I returned the car for in the first place back in May. How it passed its MOT with this issue is beyond me, surely it's something that would have come up on the emissions?
I'm sorry this is a really long winded post, I hope someone manages to read it all and can advise me in some way or another, or put my mind at ease if unfortunately now, there's nothing I can do and it be potentially be a really expensive mistake and lesson learned
.Thank you.
thank you.
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