30 Day Short Term Right to Reject Refusal - Faulty Vehicle

[moorland95]

Hi all,

I've read so many threads on here with similar issues which have been really helpful, but I wanted to post my specific case for advice/opinion.

Car purchased on 18/01/24 for £10,995.
Upon driving the car home heard a short crunching noise from the gearbox
Notified dealer of this on 23/01/24
Took the car back to dealer on 27/01/24 where they took it to a garage and did a software update (ECU/Dashboard, not gearbox) and 10 minute test drive to which they didn't hear the crunch. On this visit the sales manager stated he hoped the software update worked or it could be a 'four figure fix'.
Drove the vehicle home and heard the crunch, emailed them to say the problem was not rectified
Notified them on the 30/01/2024 that we would be rejecting the vehicle as per The Consumer Rights Act (2015). subsequent telephone call had with sales manager where he offered us two options of a replacement vehicle, to which we declined and stated we simply wanted a refund. Were told we would have confirmation of said refund by email in 24 hours.
Did not receive this so called dealer who told us the director would be in touch
Director continues to refuse refund stating we have to give him the right to repair, as per CRA (2015) we do not which I continued to state to him and continued to ask for a refund. This was being ignored.
Agreed for the car to be taken to a specialist of their choice as they were leaving us little option, car dropped back to sales garage on 10/02/2024. Dealer still stating they could still not hear this noise so didn't think a fault was present.
No update from sales garage so contacted specialist on 23/02/2024 who confirmed he had heard the crunching noise on two occasions and if the first options of repair wouldn't work it would potentially be a gearbox rebuild/replacement.
Confirmed in writing again to sales garage/company director on that based on a specialist agreement that the car has a fault we are still exercising our right to refund. Director stating we were wrong to contact specialist and that they ask we do not contact them again and that they are still declining the refund and would repair the car.

I'm about to send an LBA - I'm willing to initiate court proceedings as I do feel the dealer is completely in breach of The Consumer Rights Act (2015) but just wanted some other opinions.

Thanks in advance and for if you continued to read this long post!

[echat11]

Hi Moorlands

Welcome to LB

How did you pay for the car?

[moorland95]

Hello,
Deposit of £495 on debit card and the rest by bank transfer - lesson already learned to pay at least the deposit by credit card

[echat11]

How did you do the following?

'Notified them on the 30/01/2024 that we would be rejecting the vehicle as per The Consumer Rights Act (2015)'

[moorland95]

Via email in writing

[echat11]

Via email in writing

Send a Letter Before Action, make sure you get Proof of Postage.

Use a template.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/la...-court-action/

You could also contact / Trading Standards, explain the situation, they will give you a Ref No.
Add that to your letter as follows: CAB / TRADING STANDARDS Ref. No. XXXXXXXXXXX

[moorland95]

Thanks ECHAT11
I’ve sent this via email today and will also post tomorrow.
Already logged with CAB who send the case notes to trading standards automatically but did not think to put the reference on there.

[Pezza54]

When you rejected the car, did you state the car is available for collection at a convenient time to be agreed?
If the dealer refuses your request to reject the car and collect it, you should park the car on your drive and not use it. You should warn the dealer you will be adding a charge (£5/day) to store the car and will be adding the final storage charge to your claim

[moorland95]

When we rejected the car we advised them the car would not be used, since the rejection it got taken back to the dealer to send to their garage of choice who have since confirmed the fault and the car is still in their possession.

[Pezza54]

Sorry I misread your thread.
It was the dealer that took the car to a specialist of their choice.
All you have is a phone call to the specialist engineer in which he confirmed he had heard the crunch noise
As the dealer is probably paying for this engineer's diagnosis you are unlikely to receive a copy of the report
The engineers report might not tally with what you were told on the phone and you will have difficulty proving the conversation

For your claim to succeed you have to prove the car had a serious fault This maybe difficult if you haven't got possession of the car

[moorland95]

No problem!
That’s my concern, the specialist even said he advised the dealer to give our money back and that it’s a potential complete gearbox rebuilt, new clutch etc. As you say though this was only over the phone so I did call back and ask if we could be copied in on or receive the report too, which the specialist did agree to but since the dealer has asked us to not contact the specialist and that all of the dealings with them must go through him, we are unlikely to receive this report now. This is such a stressful situation, I do not want to deal any further with the car dealer as they’ve been so sly and untrustworthy!

[echat11]

No problem!
That’s my concern, the specialist even said he advised the dealer to give our money back and that it’s a potential complete gearbox rebuilt, new clutch etc. As you say though this was only over the phone so I did call back and ask if we could be copied in on or receive the report too, which the specialist did agree to but since the dealer has asked us to not contact the specialist and that all of the dealings with them must go through him, we are unlikely to receive this report now. This is such a stressful situation, I do not want to deal any further with the car dealer as they’ve been so sly and untrustworthy!

You could send the Dealer a Subject Access Request, he has 30 days to provide all the data he holds in your name. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

If you are lucky, you might get a copy, if you don't get a copy, then you can show the Court, that you tried to get a copy, but the dealer didn't fully comply with your request.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

[moorland95]

Hello,

Annoyed and saddened to be back here! But here I am…

Long and the short is we accepted a repair after trying to exercise our right to reject due to a crunching noise coming from the gearbox which was refused by the dealer. Subsequently the repair resulted in them replacing the entire gearbox and fly wheel.

Had the car back a month and the entirety of the gearbox oil is now on my driveway and in the under tray, RAC confirmed the car has a significant gearbox oil leak.

Sent the images and RAC report to the dealer stating we want the car recovered and our money refunded.

Dealer refusing to refund stating the problem is not linked to the original issue and is a new problem, whilst also stating original issue was not classed as a fault but simply a ‘wear and tear noise’ (although I’m struggling to get my head around why a £3,000 repair in the form of a full 7 speed gearbox replacement was required if there was no fault, or why anyone would spend this if there was no fault present).

Would really appreciate peoples opinions on this ongoing saga.

In my mind they replaced the gearbox, now said gearbox has a significant leak - surely that’s a continuation and consequence of the original issue!? I’m very reluctant to accept yet another repair on the gearbox given it was replaced a month an a half ago and has now leaked and we’ve been advised by the RAC technician not to drive it, I don’t have faith that a second repair will be of any better quality!

Many thanks

[Pezza54]

If the dealer refuses your request to return the car for a refund under CRA final right to reject, you will have to make a court claim if you don't want to let the dealer attempt another repair. You could be waiting a year or more for your claim to be heard in court and there is no guarantee of success.
Find out if the dealer is accredited by the motor ombudsman by searching garage finder on their website.
Making a complaint about the garage with the motor ombudsman, if you can, is a free service for the consumer and a decision, which is legally binding on the garage, should be reached quicker than the court

[moorland95]

Thanks for your response PEZZA54, unfortunately they aren’t accredited as I looked into this the first time round.

Will need to decide which route to take. Neither of which are ideal!