Re: Where do i stand with car dealership ?
just found this on the trading standards site and if iv read into this correctly basically can i go down there tomorrow and demand they change the belts or my money back ??
Action to take
If you have bought a car from a trader, which turns out to be faulty or which you think has been misdescribed, you need to take action straight away.
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 states that, if you can show the goods to be faulty, not fit for their purpose or misdescribed, you have, for a short time after purchase, a right to reject them and get a refund of the purchase price. Therefore, if you have only had the car for a very short time, have only driven a few miles and you discover a major problem, you are probably entitled to reject it and get your money back plus the return of a ‘traded in’ car, if there was one, or its value if it has been disposed of.
If you decide to reject the car, stop using it at once, contact the trader to discuss the matter and make it clear that you wish to reject. Follow up this approach with a short letter explaining the nature of the complaint and confirming that you wish to reject and get your money back. Try to make an appointment to discuss the matter with someone responsible at the garage but, remember, if you wish to reject, it is important that you put it in writing as soon as possible. You can accept a repair for a major fault but this won’t stop you claiming a refund if the repair turns out to be unsatisfactory. It is best to make your position clear before any repair is attempted.
You should bear in mind that the law only allows consumers a short time to reject goods before, in the legal sense, they have ‘accepted’ them. This means that you have had the goods long enough to establish that they are satisfactory or that you have told the trader that you have accepted them. Only a court would be able to make a decision on this point but would take all relevant factors into account.
If the fault was present when you bought the car, you do have other remedies, even if you have left it too late to get a refund. You are entitled to seek a repair or replacement. These have to be carried out within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you. If replacement or repair is not possible, then the law allows for the options of full or partial refund. Each case would be judged on its own merits.
The onus is normally on you rather than the trader to prove a claim, i.e. that the car is defective in some way. However, the law now states that if you are claiming replacement, repair, full or partial refund within the first six months of ownership, the onus is on the trader to prove that the goods were acceptable when they were sold. This is called the ‘reversed burden of proof’.
After six months, it is up to you to provide evidence to support your claim that the car was defective when it was sold, so you may need an independent report. If you need to pay for a report, which can be used in court, try to get the trader to agree beforehand that the report can be used as a basis for negotiations. Write to the trader to suggest this, so that you can show you have tried, but you should not let failure of the trader to agree or respond prevent you from getting an expert report when you need one.
