Problem with a car dealer

D

dubliner14

Guest
I bought a 00 corolla 1.4 vvti with 45k miles for €4000 from a second hand dealer at the end of July. It developed a very harsh engine sound last weekend which I had checked by a toyota mechanic I know and he found the engine totally out of oil. The engine now needs a lot of work (at minimum a new VVTi controller and timing chain) possibly a replacement. The dealer I bought it from said that it is not his problem even though the warranty is for 3 months or 3000 miles. I have exceeded this mileage but surely a car does not run out of 4 litres of oil after 7 weeks?

I am thinking that I am entitled to a full refund under the 1980 SOGSS act.

Can anyone advise me? I'm desperate!
 
not a hope, you are lucky the engine did not seize totally and you would have a red warning light, take it to another garage. You have a responsibity to look after car as well and this includes checking the oil. If it was losing oil you would have a few signs, eg burning oil you would see smoke from exhaust, leaking oil patches on drive and if it was totallly out of oil the car would overheat and stop. Did you get a service history with car?

45k for an 00 is very low. how many owners? did it have a service before you took it?

If you have little knowledge about cars then ring up toyota, give them the engine number, they may know of known faults and are obliged to tell you. To make you feel a bit better oh's fiesta has developed an electical fault blows a fuse so it goes in tommorro for a check, I have an idea what the cause is but I am pretty sure I am going to get done, FOL I'm afraid.

noah
 
dubliner14 said:
I bought a 00 corolla 1.4 vvti with 45k miles for €4000 from a second hand dealer at the end of July. It developed a very harsh engine sound last weekend which I had checked by a toyota mechanic I know and he found the engine totally out of oil. The engine now needs a lot of work (at minimum a new VVTi controller and timing chain) possibly a replacement. The dealer I bought it from said that it is not his problem even though the warranty is for 3 months or 3000 miles. I have exceeded this mileage but surely a car does not run out of 4 litres of oil after 7 weeks?

I am thinking that I am entitled to a full refund under the 1980 SOGSS act.

Can anyone advise me? I'm desperate!
Click to expand...

Here's an extract from the Office of the Director of Consumers Affairs:-

Q2. I recently bought a second-hand car but it frequently breaks down. I’ve brought it back to the garage but the problems keep arising. What should I do?

In the case of a second-hand car you still have rights under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980 (see Question 1 above).

A second-hand car would, however, be expected to have some wear and tear. Therefore obtaining redress may be difficult; for example, the age and mileage on your car will be taken into account.
You may wish to have an independent mechanic check the car out on your behalf and write a report on the fault that has occurred. If the report states that the fault should not be occurring in a car of its age and condition, then you may be able to use this report to make a claim against the garage.
Firstly, we suggest you make a complaint to your garage.

If, after contacting a senior manager at the garage, the issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, it may be worthwhile contacting the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) about this issue. SIMI will only handle your complaint if the garage from whom you bought the car is a member.

If the garage is not a member of SIMI and it continues to refute your claim for redress, you would then need to seek legal advice on the matter if the amount of money involved is above the limit for the Small Claims Court (€2,000).
If you feel that you have purchased a vehicle that is unroadworthy you may also wish to inform your local Garda station.

Here's a guide to buying cars and redress:-

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Learning_Zone/Guides_To_Consumer_Law/Buying_a_Car/

I'd take a day or two off work and pop down to the garage stay outside and inform everyone that goes near the garage of your problem and the hassle you're having.

I'd seek legal advice and get a solicitor to get the wheels in motion on a court case. I'd prefer to give the solicitor the money than let the car dealer get away with it.

Name and same the dealer on AAM.
 
You could probably have claimed for a problem that was causing excessive oil use. ButI doubt you can claim for damage caused by running out of oil. As you should be aware of the oil levels.
 
If your car had not oil in it then its hardly the dealers fault.

If my car ran out of diesel before I reached the service station I would hardly blame the service station staff.

You should have checked the oil, tyre pressure, water and bulbs at least once a week.
 
According to the Honest John website "VVT-i engines can start to use up to a litre of oil every 600 miles after 40,000 miles."

[broken link removed]


Murt
 
Very low miles for an 00 car. Might have had a Haircut before been sold. The service books may tell. Otherwise a hard lesson -- always buy a car with a service history from a main dealer
 
mercman said:
always buy a car with a service history from a main dealer
Click to expand...

And be well and truely ripped off. Try going back to a main dealer or any dealer with no oil in your engine waving the FSH that you paid through the nose for and see how far you get.

To be fair to the dealer anything could have happened to the car in the meantime its the drivers responsibility to check the levels.
 
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