What do to? (Car purchase hassles)

[PobodY]

If you wanted to argue back, I'd be telling them you need interest on your deposit because they've been holding your money for so long without ever providing the car.

Did you (or they) sign anything saying that you'd agreed the price? If so I'd start talking about breach of sales contract... even if you walk away, you don't have to make it easy for them.

 

[BaldGuy]

I'd personally pay the money... get the car and go through it with a fine tooth comb when i get it.... That being said... it has to be an ultra rare unicorn spec that I cant and will not find anywhere else anytime soon...and if all ok I'd keep it for ages, that 5-£700 would soon be forgotten about... I totally understand your dilemma Will... but.... that dealer shouldn't be in business, total sharks from start to finish (nearly)

 

[Alex]

If I really wanted the car, I’d pay the £500 as annoying and unfair as it might be. Nothing stops them from fixing and relisting it at £1000 more to recover the costs. I paid over the market for the wife’s car. It was the most expensive second hand supercharged Range Rover on the market at the time with the next one down £3k away (and a diesel) but it had the right colour and spec like no other so I didn’t care. We still love it to bits 2.5 years on of daily use.

 

[tbourner]

My story is similar, although we already had the car, but the day after we picked it up we had to call the AA as it broke down. The dealer told us to find a local specialist (this is where we met Olly at PCS) and they'd deal with it. 2 lambda sensors and £500 later and it was done - paid for direct by the dealer. Olly also tells me the clutch is going in the gearbox - a few more calls to the dealer and some small haggling over going through the warranty (which would have meant strip down at a gearbox specialist for the warranty company to do an inspection, and then they may not agree in the end) the dealer just decided to pay for that to be done as well rather than take the risk. Total cost was nearly £2000 to them and they certainly would have lost money overall on the car sale - but despite me having 2 pretty serious faults on my car, I'd buy my next one from them because the service and after-sales was so good!
At the end of the day, they're stitching you up over a few hundred pounds which to them is nothing and to you is a lot. This is a bad decision for them and (as you know) suggests something else is going on. Everything is telling you to give up and wait for something similar to turn up, but you clearly REALLY want this car. Personally I think if you buy it and pay the extra, you'll regret it at some point in the future as the mystery will become evident, or another one very similar will come up on autotrader for £2k less or something. My opinion would be to refuse to pay anything at all and let them make the decision to return the deposit in full or to provide you the working fixed and serviced vehicle at the agreed price - let fate decide if they're bluffing, or being shifty because they know something you don't.

 

[Deletedmember130310]

Would you trust this garage to honour any warranty issues later on?

Most after market warranties aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

 

[219]

Okay - an update and a quandary for me.

The car is not ready. It went into an MB main dealer yesterday. Apparently it’s been serviced but the headlight issue is a new headlight needed and not the control unit as they (the garage or whoever) thought it was.

They (the garage I am dealing with, not MB) are trying to claim it’s not economic to repair (headlight circa £1k plus fitting/coding @ 3 hours labour or something)

Apparently they are into 6 hours labour for diagnosing the fault and the service on top, circa £1500 already they reckon - before the headlight is fixed. Seems a bit excessive but that’s what they’re saying.

They are asking me for a contribution towards the cost of a new headlight/and or fitting costs. Something between £500/700 was mentioned. Which obviously I haven’t agreed to.

The two people I spoke to this afternoon (Sales Manager and General Manager aka Dealer Principal) both kept on going on about how it’s not economical to fix/beyond economic repair, how much they’re losing on the car already etc. My stand is it’s a £1k headlight needed on a £25k+ car, it needs to be done. What would have happened if it had gone wrong a week after purchase etc? Their line was that they would just buy the car back off me and be done with it then send it to auction etc - which they reckon they’d do if I don’t agree to paying towards the cost of repair and just return my deposit.

Really don’t know where to go from here. The whole situation is absolutely ridiculous!

I’m at a loss as to what to do. I know the head vs heart thing and all that. I don’t want to lose this car.

My options as I see them are:

1) Pay the £500-700 (half towards the cost of the headlight/labour)

2) Dispute it further up the chain with the dealer group, lean on them for their appalling customer service and the way they conduct their business. Could backfire and they just refund me anyway which I don’t want. I want the car.

3) Ask for my deposit back. This is not what I want to do at all.

4) Pay what they want now, to get the car fixed and get it home. Then dispute this and see if either through good will or otherwise I can claim for what they’re trying to make me pay.

How can a garage advertise a car for sale with a faulty headlight, agree a sale/take a deposit then ask a customer for more money towards the cost of repair before they even collect the car?

I know 90% of you will say just get the deposit back and move on, but I really do want this car.

I still think there’s something fishy going on, they think they can get more elsewhere (possibly even have another buyer lined up) or they just want it to go the auction route so they haven’t got to stand by the car once it’s collected by me.

The other possibility I think is that they’re trying to get me to ‘go halves’ on the cost of the headlight and labour but they’re paying much less than that (discounted) so I end up paying more than half to help them cover some of their loss in the car...

Absolutely fed up with them but equally I *want* this car. Kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Maybe I’m too determined but it makes me want to get the car even more. I just don’t know how to play it from here.

Any advice welcomed, even if you say to walk I understand - if you really wanted something you’d probably see it differently though!

I think I’d go option 4 then post it all over social media

 

[Peter103]

What Mercedes model is this?

 

[chrisk2010]

I'm suprised they just haven't pulled the plug on the sale to be honest and said "we're very sorry but the car was already sold however cwe can offer you ...... " Maybe they just didn't think that quickly.

"What would have happened if it had gone wrong a week after purchase etc?" They would be liable to have it repaired under the 30 day consumer rights act and would have to offer a repair or refund.

To trim the fat of all the issues you managed get £500 off and now they are asking for £500 contribution ? It sounds like they're just trying to close there margins a little.

Would it be possible to get a full Star code read out? The only way i would buy it is to know exactly what is wrong with it. Have you also rung around to confirm the price they're stating to replace the headlight.

Either way the car needs to be sold to you in a road worthy condition and by not having a working headlight doesn't meet fit for purpose so they really do have to repair it at no cost to you. Best thing to do is give citezens advice a call and see if you have some firm ground to stand on and if you REALLY want the car dig your heels in until they give up and have it all done.

Though if the purchase isn't finalised i.e. the car is not yours you might not, then again maybe there mistake was accepting the deposit which may give some sort of intent to sell if you like which is why they haven't killed the deal yet.

 

[littleowl]

Customer service is clearly absent from this dealership, but I have found with more or less every car I've bought from a dealer they usually can't do enough for you until you've handed over the cash, when it is a different story. In your case you haven't even had the former courtesies! They haven't seemed keen to sell it to you from the outset and there are definitely things they haven't been upfront about. I totally understand how much you want this car, but they also know that and are using every trick in the dealer book to try and get you to hand over more money to minimise their losses.

I for one would not believe any figures they throw at you, unless backed up by genuine invoices. Why are they telling you it's beyond economical repair - they would still have to repair and sell the car even if you didn't have it? It wouldn't go to scrap! Is it because they want to charge two or three grand more for it so they still have a profit (or have got an offer from somewhere) and are hoping you will back out.

Although most of us would have walked away from this deal long ago (I would never be held over a barrel for the sake of a car or any material thing for that matter), you obviously really want it more than the other scenarios so perhaps offer them £500 which is what they accepted as an offer from you originally - just means you buy the car without any discount on the purchase price. But before you part with any money, you need some kind of evidence of what they are claiming they have spent.

The biggest worry I would have with this dealer is if anything else went wrong with it, I can't see them dealing with it satisfactorily!

 

[Thrash]

Makes you wonder why this wasn't picked up first and factored into the price initially.

Can the car not go to one of the group's MB dealers for it to be sorted out? I would've thought that would be more cost effective for them. There's no way I'd be contributing anything towards it, I think they're trying it on and I would be walking away, just out of principle now - I'd probably regret it later on but another will turn up.

 

[Doodle]

Can you make a payment to a garage with conditions - ie disputed or under duress?

Even if you could and they agreed to it, would you be able to hold them to it? Given their current behaviour, I would expect them to be more slippery than a freshly shaved eel that's been dipped in baby oil.

 

[Abb]

Will, FWIW,I woudl find out exactly what me rights are. Armed with this, I would contact the GM (who you seemed initially to have a bit of luck with) in form him you wont be paying towards repair cost and how they are obliged to sell it to you fully fixed, as per agreement, quoting whatever legislation/consumer acts etc you are covered by and they would be in breach of.
I understand you desire to have this car, personally I wouldn't give up, you have come this far!
Yes, I am in the minority with that view but knowing your rights are key to this issue to help you resolve it, they are obviously trying it on but you don't need me to point that out!
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

My turn...

Will, you’ve already made up your mind it seems to me, you want the car. Clearly, the dealers are behaving in true Arthur Daley fashion, but all the in’s and out’s in the world don’t alter your desire to own the car, they just make this stage of the process far more painful than it needs to be.

So, can you live with the extra spend?

Yes, then add it to the total price and agree to pay that on completion of the sale when the car is properly sorted. Don’t pay them another bean at this stage.

No, get your deposit back and walk away.

Any more angst than that just isn’t worth it.

JMV

 

[BlackC55]

Will, FWIW,I woudl find out exactly what me rights are. Armed with this, I would contact the GM (who you seemed initially to have a bit of luck with) in form him you wont be paying towards repair cost and how they are obliged to sell it to you fully fixed, as per agreement, quoting whatever legislation/consumer acts etc you are covered by and they would be in breach of.
I understand you desire to have this car, personally I wouldn't give up, you have come this far!
Yes, I am in the minority with that view but knowing your rights are key to this issue to help you resolve it, they are obviously trying it on but you don't need me to point that out!
Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm with you! I am far to stubborn to back down if I decide that I have my heart set on something. I would probably pay the £500 for an easier life (so your back to the original sale price), after it is fixed and handed over to you!

Natacha

 

[markjay]

Will, FWIW,I woudl find out exactly what me rights are. Armed with this, I would contact the GM (who you seemed initially to have a bit of luck with) in form him you wont be paying towards repair cost and how they are obliged to sell it to you fully fixed, as per agreement, quoting whatever legislation/consumer acts etc you are covered by and they would be in breach of.
I understand you desire to have this car, personally I wouldn't give up, you have come this far!
Yes, I am in the minority with that view but knowing your rights are key to this issue to help you resolve it, they are obviously trying it on but you don't need me to point that out!
Good luck and keep us posted.

I would probably do the same, BUT I would like to point-up that this would be part-bluffing on my side...

One should read the contract that was signed when the deposit was paid. It may give BOTH parties the option to change their mind and renege on the deal before full payment is made.

I am not saying this is necessarily the case, just that a specific contract that would allow the dealer to cancel the deal at any time before full payment is made would take precedence, if exists.

So by all means I would go in with 'all gun blazing' on the consumer rights point... I often find that those on the other side haven't got a clue either

But I would also keep in mind that it's not a given that I am actually right (i.e. pending the wording of the original contract).

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Looking at it from another angle - tell them to knock a grand off the price agreed and you’ll take it as is with the headlight issue as trade sale because to be perfectly honest you’ll probably end up with as many rights as one anyway!!

 

[Deletedmember130310]

My worry would be what else is wrong with the car that they haven’t disclosed - I’d want a full MB health check / STAR report (at their cost).

 

[AMGeed]

Lots of differing opinions and personally I'd get my deposit back and walk. But, you obviously have your heart set on the car and its difficult to walk away. The heart is ruling the head.

I wonder, if by taking a deposit they are legally bound to sell the car at the asking price on that day?
If so, you are surely entitled to complete the sale at the original price and they, legally have to fix all known faults at their expense before handing it over.
I wonder if anyone at the CAB could advise as the legality of what the dealers are proposing and also on the legality of what is mentioned above.

Whoever it is, they should be exposed as sly, untrustworthy dealers and avoided like the plague. Even on social networks

 

[Skd884]

Pay the extra for the headlight and enjoy the car.

Good lad.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Read the advice, run forest run......