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seized engine :/

J

jamesl

Messages
9
Ok so I bought my lovely ep3 last thursday and after owning it for only 7 days, I was driving along today and came grinding to a halt. It turns out the engine has just seized up with no warning signs what so ever!!!!

Trying to somehow get my money back from the garage I purchased it from, having only owned it 7 days!
Unfortunately, they are refusing to play ball so basically I'm screwed - any body have any help/advice or ideas?!!

I could understand if the car was of a really old age and been to the moon and back, but its an 05 plate and done 62,000 miles!!!!!!!
It's been serviced regularly and looked after in the past (as far as I know!) so really feel like I have been conned here!!

Any help would be much appreciated guys!!

Thanks

James
 
Back to the garage you go mate, if its come with any kind of warranty (or even if it hasnt) you can claim that the car was not fit for purpose and demand a full refund, they dont want to play ball because of taking the hit.
A kind comment that you will be taking legal advice and trashing the companies name in the local press should do the trick unless they can prove its something that you have done since the cars been in your possession.

Good luck fella and hope it doesnt put you off the red 'H'
 
thanks for the replys! been intouch with trading standards and they have told me to write a letter to them explaining whats happend etc and what i want doing. that way they have it in writing. also got to give them a date to reply by and then i can take it further

will keep you posted
 
Good luck with that dude. As said, make sure you document everything with dates. I'm sure you have a strong case.
 
thanks mate, yeah got all the paper work with dates etc. just finished writing a very strong letter to the company.

the AA guy who towed me couldnt believe that it had seized! he was extremely shocked.
 
Hi guys sorry for late reply. Yeah I checked the oil and its spot on :/ not sure how tight the sump plug is?

This Is still on going :( the garage will not budge at all. Trading standards are now ivolved after pestering them for weeks and weeks.
 
hey this is some serious bad news/luck mate. been chatting with a few guys at work and we all thought by law there will be some form of warranty they have to supply you with (3 months). seen as it happened in a week cant see how there isn't. a few things you need to do is if they serviced it before having it get them to produce the paper work for parts and oil to prove they did it and with the right grade oil. from experience when going for legal route you have send all arguments in writing and send them record post to prove they have been sent. if they say they wont help you make sure you also get this in writing with there reason of why they wont. im sure the argument of vehicle not fit for purpose should stand but get another garage to check the vehicle and have them write a report of the vehicles state as a back up of your argument.
 
Im sorry to hear about that. Even if there is some sort of warrenty the sad truth is you buy it how you saw it. Seems strange there were no warni gs. Can you contact the previous owner and get anymore details? Bad engine rebuild? Etc... it would help you out big time.
 
Craiguk86 said:
Im sorry to hear about that. Even if there is some sort of warrenty the sad truth is you buy it how you saw it. Seems strange there were no warni gs. Can you contact the previous owner and get anymore details? Bad engine rebuild? Etc... it would help you out big time.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure thats the case CraigUK. When you buy from a dealer they are bound by the Sale Of Goods Act 1979 so as such its not a 'sold as seen' sale. I would read through the act and quote a few facts to them when communicating....arm yourself with the facts. As loads of the guys here have already mentioned...you will have some warranty, they cant just wash their hands of the situations as soon as you drive off the forecourt. The fact the Trading Standards have got involves proves so too. If they thought you were onto a hiding to nothing they wouldn't follow the case up for you.
 
Here we go James, brief outlines of the Sale Of Goods Act....The 'of satisfactory quality' item appears to back you up.

The Sale of Goods Act lays down several conditions that all goods sold by a trader must meet.
The goods must be:

  • as described
  • of satisfactory quality
  • fit for purpose
As described refers to any advert or verbal description made by the trader.
Satisfactory quality covers minor and cosmetic defects as well as substantial problems. It also means that products must last a reasonable time. But it doesn't give you any rights if a fault was obvious or pointed out to you at point of sale.
Fit for purpose covers not only the obvious purpose of an item but any purpose you queried and were given assurances about by the trader.
If you buy something which doesn't meet these conditions you have the potential right to return it, get a full refund, and if it will cost you more to buy similar goods elsewhere, compensation (to cover the extra cost) too.
 
I typically can't find it right now, but I'm certain that there's a specific law regarding the sale of second-hand automobiles that specifies a 14 day money-back guarantee, regardless of any warranty included in the sale.

This is to safeguard against exactly this sort of event!

I'd seek some help from your local CAB or scour the internet for a specialist legal advice firm, if you can prove that this happened within the first 2 weeks of your ownership, and you can prove you contacted the garage you bought it from to report the problem within those two weeks, you'll have a very strong standpoint legally.

EDIT*
Check this:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/the-second-hand--car-i-bought-has-a-problem/
 
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