Your rights when buying a used car from a dealer
When you buy a secondhand car from a dealer, you have a right,
under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, to expect the car to...
- be of satisfactory quality (taking into account its age and
mileage)
- meet any description given to you when you were buying it,
and
- be fit for the purpose (i.e. get you from A to B safely)
If the secondhand car does not meet these requirements you have
a right to claim against the dealer for breach of contract.
If you find a fault with your used car then stop using it
immediately and contact the dealer. If you traded-in a vehicle, you
are entitled to have it returned if it is still available, or to
have the full value allowed on it, if it has been disposed of. If
you have left it too late to claim a refund, or you don't want one,
you may be entitled to ask for a repair or replacement. The fault
must have been there when you bought the vehicle. If you do agree
for a major fault to be repaired and the repair turns out to be
unsatisfactory, it's not too late to ask for your money back.
If you take the secondhand vehicle back within six months of
buying it, the dealer should accept that there was a problem when
the vehicle was sold and offer to repair or replace it. If the
dealer doesn't accept that there was a problem when the vehicle was
sold, they will have to prove this.
After six months, it will be up to you to prove that there was a
major problem with the vehicle when it was sold. You will have to
provide evidence of this so it may help to get an independent
report which could establish the condition of the vehicle when it
was sold.
If the dealer agrees to repair the vehicle, the repairs have to
be carried out within a reasonable time and without significant
inconvenience to you. The dealer must pay the costs of the repairs.
If the repair has taken a long time, you may be able to use a
service loan car or claim compensation, for example, for the cost
of hiring a vehicle.
If the dealer refuses to repair the vehicle, you are entitled to
get it repaired elsewhere and claim back the cost from the dealer.
If the vehicle can't be repaired or replaced or this is considered
too expensive, taking into account the type of fault, you may have
the right to get some or all of your money back. You will have to
negotiate with the dealer to decide on what would be a reasonable
amount. In deciding what is reasonable, you will need to take into
account how much use you have had out of the vehicle.
If the dealer won't agree to put the problem right, you can take
legal action up to six years from the date you bought the vehicle
(five years in Scotland).
False descriptions
If you were given a false description of the vehicle when you
bought it, for example, the dealer said that the vehicle had done
45,000 miles when it had actually done 95,000 miles, this is a
criminal offence. You could try telling the dealer that if the
problem isn't resolved to your satisfaction, you will report them
to the trading standards department of the local authority. Trading
Standards can take legal action against the dealer under unfair
commercial practices regulations.
Claims Financial
Testimonial
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Mr R Evans 11 Nov 2010