johnny s

I know this is my first post on here but a friend of mine told me to register as he believes there is a wealth of knowledge on here. So please anyone can you help me or point me in the right direction with my problem.

Firstly, about two months ago I bought myself a second hand STi, and as this is the first Subaru I have owned I have to say I was well pleased with myself. But here goes with my problem. I went to look at the car on a very bad day. It was raining and in hindsight I know I should really have known better but the reason I didnt go back to look at the car on a good day before I bought it was very simply because I was buying the car off a car dealer and as far as I was concerned that alone was enough to give me peace of mind. That coupled with the fact that I asked the dealer on 3 ocassions had the car ever been damaged or painted. On all 3 ocassions his reply was NO. Having now owned the car for a month a friend of mine came round who knows quite a bit about bodywork, and he pointed out a number of flaws with the car I haddnt seen. Very simply put, the car has been damaged up the rear, (maybe not very hard but the boot has isopon in it and the two quarter panels have been painted too)...the front of the car has also been damaged. Behind the bumper has been plastic welded, the bonnet which should be aluminium as per all sti's is steel, and the front window has been replaced. This would also suggest that the car has been damaged badly up the front. I approached the dealer and put forward my concern to him and he said he would repaint all the bits and pieces I wasnt happy about and leave them, as he put it, 'as new'. I said I wasnt happy about this and said I wanted my money back. He, in not too many words, said that wasnt possible, and asked me to give him a couple of weeks to sell the car for me. I foolishly said the was ok, just wanting to be fair about the whole thing, but he has had no luck in selling the car and his deadline is now virtually up. I'm going to get an AA report done on the car and will be leaving the car back with him and leaving him in no uncertain terms that I am going to accept nothing else but a full refund.

I do feel really stupid that I bought a car that has had so much damage but whats done is done. My question is therefore, does anybody know where I stand with this scenario. Am I entitled to my money back or basically were do I stand. If I have to go down the route of a solicitor I will but in all fairness I dont really want to.

Any help will be really appreciated.

Johnny.

Moles Dad

Get onto your local citizens advice office.

I am not sure legally that you can have a refund, If the 'goods' are 'fit for purpose' which presumably they are (drives along etc), then I think you may have to accept his kind offer and have the paint 'tidied'.

Obviously I stand to be corrected, MD.

MrDBM

agree with citizens advice call, i would also argue that you were mislead, as you were told the car was undamaged.

also paying roughly £15 for a solicitors letter stating your case and refering to the small claims court often works wonders, and is a nice last resort action. you are in the right here matey!

oh yes, and if the dealer gives you any of that 'sold as seen' crap, advise him that legally, it's a load of rubbish and the term is meaningless in court

good luck with it all

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Name the dealer...

Wuss

Johnny S,

Try not to blame yourself, it's not your fault there are so many deceitful b**tards in the motor trade.

Make sure you have all of the details concerning the purchase, dates, times, any correspondence, etc. and give Which? Legal a ring. They will tell you if you have any sort of a case. If Which? Legal decide they can help you, the dealer will sh*t his pants when he receives a call/letter from them and a resolution to your problem should follow...

Click here.

Hope this helps.

MattN

maybe the delaer didn't know it had been damaged?

Also just because a part has been painted or replaced doesn't mean it was in an accident.

If the paint is in really bad condition so that it does need a tidy up - well sorry to say you should have seen it. However, if it's not that bad, you said you had it for over a month and even then only someone with a lot of experience noticed it, then it's probably fair to say it was a decent repair (if it was accident damaged).

Always hard to say what to do and where you stand. The dealer is making efforts to either repaint or sell the car on your behalf so there's probbaly a good chance it's not a cowboy operation.

Of course this could all be cr@p and the dealer is a lying b@rstard.

In my experience though a trained eye can pick up on many faults most of which 99% of the general population can't see, so begs the question -does it make that big a difference if only 1 in a million people actually know a panel has been resprayed. IMO, no. Bumpers get bumped and panels get scratched, it's a bugger but it happens.

I think you should perserver with the dealer selling it for you.

Bajie

I had a similar experience with the first car I bought.
Dodgy gearbox. Anyway, AA report and the technician would not drive the car! In the end the dealer gave me a car of "similar value" but i did not get my money back.
At that time they were within their rights to do this.
So I went from a Dolomite 1850 to an Opel Ascona 1.9. Cheers

Ricky

Not really sure were you stand but I would say you will probably have a fight on your hands. A friend of mine was once involved with something like this and I do believe he got his money back. The solictor fought the case on the grounds that as someone stated above, that he was mislead into a contract, and for that very reason he wasnt legally bound into the contract. Its certainly an option worth looking into.

Good luck !

22B? That's me!

Jonny S, just noticed this and the bonnet def should aluminium on an STi. I would say you've been sold a car that is not as it should be ie not genuine parts used in a possible repair. The windscreen I feel is acceptable as we've all had cars that have had new windscreens at some point for one reason or another be it stone chips or a brick throught it to get a new one off the insurance.

Get it HPi checked to see if there is any info recorded against it.

The dealer may have not known genuinely but sounds suspect especially as you asked 3 or so times. I guess he'd have looked into it after you asked. Did he HPi check it before they took it in to their premises and put it up for sale.

At the end of the day it's not what you believed you bought. Contact the CAB and let the dealer know your currently seeking legal advice.

Tim