Car troubles! Been sold a pup?

rolls1392

Hi guys. Bit of advise if poss. Wife bought a 2007 BMW 118i one series last June. Car had full not on purchase. Forward one year on and three thousand miles later. Car failed not on emissions!! Did'nt have lambda or exhaust temp sensor fitted and has wrecked front cat resulting in a 2k bill to get the most ticket. Now my garage bloke reckons that the damage to the sensors etc has been done over at least the last 2 yrs. Car should never have passed not last time. So any ideas how I can take action against dealer/not tester. I think I am struggling but fancy being annoying but don't want to punch anyone. Cheers R

fretmeister

You can sue. Be aware that the Small Claims limit is now £10,000 so if the claim is for less than that you won't recover your legal fees even if you win. You'll also need CPR compliant expert reports to try and prove when the defect first existed.

If the MOT tester was being paid by someone else (the test being before you owned it) then you can't sue them, but you could report to the Ministry.

So you'll have to go after the dealer. 

Good luck.

No I don't want it.

Troy

Checkout the consumer action group (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/index.php), someone there can advise you.

Emp_Fab

..and stop calling it a 'not'. Unless you've got some dodgy certificate from the Ninistry of Transport.  

rolls1392

Not snot who cares!

m_c

Realistically the onus will be on you to prove the fault was there when you purchased the car, and the dealer knowingly bodged it to get it through an mot. VOSA most likely won't be interested in something that happened 12 months ago, as they can't take action unless they can prove the mot station wasn't following procedure. It does beg the question, if the sensors were indeed missing, why wasn't the engine management light on?

mike_l

^^VOSA will be interested if it's happened more than once.........

rolls1392

No engine warning lights were on at any time. A stainless steel exhaust had been fitted, don't know by who. At time of fitting exhaust temp was not fitted and has crapped out the cats.

RobDavies

This sounds so similar to my experience a few years ago, with a dodgy Merc.

To cut a long story short, I found what I thought was a decent CLK - loads of history and a years MOT.  

As soon as I got it home the engine light came on and I ended up returning it several times for different reasons.   Unbeknown to me the dealer had scrawled "private sale" on the receipt, so according to him was not liable for any problems.

I ended up taking it to a Merc specialist who diagnosed about £2k's worth of problems including a braking system that was corroded to the point of being "extremely dangerous" - he also said that there was no way that the car would have passed the last two MOT's based on the levels of corrosion underneath the chassis.

Used car dealers/sellers are absolute crunts and I'd never trust one again.  I drove my kids in a car where the brake pipes could have just fallen apart at any second - only rust was holding them together.

Good luck to you in finding a solution....

Dominic

Wipe your chops and walk away

You havn't got a viable or feesible way of proving your case ...............too long ago and far away

Spend the energy on positive things and move on.

guitarcookie1

Trade it on against something else...

m_c

rolls1392 said:

No engine warning lights were on at any time. A stainless steel exhaust had been fitted, don't know by who. At time of fitting exhaust temp was not fitted and has crapped out the cats.

Sounds like whoever fitted the stainless exhaust, also had the ECU remapped, as a missing sensor should trigger a warning light very quickly. You'll most likely find the 'catalyst' has never had a core in it since the exhaust was fitted and the remap done, especially if there's never been a lambda sensor fitted. And even simply fitting the parts likely won't do you any good, as depending on how the ECU has been remapped, the sensors will just be ignored.

However as I've already said, you'd need to prove the bits were missing at the time of test/sale. Although you know you never altered the car, how can prove you've never altered it?

fretmeister

speshul91

I'd be tempted to let my foot slip getting out so it goes through his showroom window but I'm tired grumpy and don't like people.

Bogwhoppit

mike_l said:

^^VOSA will be interested if it's happened more than once.........

+1  Let VOSA know regardless just in case others have reported the same garage / tester.

Think long and hard about legal action. It's time consuming, frustrating and impacts on your quality of life. The court system in case's such as this are not a panacea for all ills - even if you hold strong evidence.  A savvy defendant (especially a car dealer)  who has been through the court system can stall, hinder and frustrate the case to draw it out.

You'll find several similar small claims cases for reference on the many consumer, legal forums: most end up being won, but at a cost to the appellant in time and frustration.

I had an issue with a factory fresh new car with less than 5 miles on the clock, to reject it was a nightmare.

rolls1392

Thanks for all the advice. Once I get the bill I will have a to the dealer, but I don't think I will get anywhere. Yes I will make Vosa aware of what has happened. Will check the Ecu in case of remapping etc. May trade the car on. It's a nice car at the end of the day. Thanks R

RobDavies

rolls1392 said:

Thanks for all the advice. Once I get the bill I will have a to the dealer, but I don't think I will get anywhere. Yes I will make Vosa aware of what has happened. Will check the Ecu in case of remapping etc. May trade the car on. It's a nice car at the end of the day. Thanks R

Cutting your losses may be your best bet. 

 I thought about the small claims court etc with my situation but actually, to go through all the hassle and further stress for the sake of £2k, I decided it wasn't worth it.  I was also had the option of some 'friends' paying the dealer a visit and getting my money back for 10%, but obviously the dealer knew where I lived and dealers are usually quite well 'connected'.  Again, not worth the grief. 

 In the end, I listed the car on eBay (with ALL the faults)and a Polish fella drove down from Lincoln and drove it away for £1700. I paid £3500 a month earlier.

hotpot

The symptoms you've described sounds like the car has had a de-cat exhaust system fitted, they are notorious for failing emission tests, the guys that have them fitted have all manner of ways to keep the dash warning lights off & tricking the Lamba/oxygen sensors, they even put the original C.A.T back on prior to the MOT. Google De-cat exhausts for info, lots of boy racer forums on them.