What you have to remember is this was a used vehicle that came with a 3 month warranty and the fault happened out with the warranty period. I'm not so sure the Sale of Goods Act will apply.

bigee wrote:

I didn't think you could say things like "regardless of SOGA" ?? It applies ,full stop. (Not having a dig )

No dig taken

I was trying to point out that SOGA is very "Generic" and the way it is applied in law depends upon the decision of a court after hearing BOTH sides of the story and seeing all evidence presented.

The fact is the court do not always rule in favour of the complainant as some complaints are not seen to be justified although many are of course.

47p2 wrote:

What you have to remember is this was a used vehicle that came with a 3 month warranty and the fault happened out with the warranty period. I'm not so sure the Sale of Goods Act will apply.

The three month warranty is a contract between the buyer & seller.

The SOGA is a separate instrument that can only be applied via the judgement of a court.

It may be that the court will think that three month warranty on a 2004MY car is a fair contract and the fact that the car was fine during this period points in this direction.

However it may be that the court believes that the gearbox fault was present at point of sale and took five months to show itself. The garage will say that the car was fully checked out before sale and they were satisfied it was in good running order.

The judge will decide or even split 50/50 (SOGA is no guarantee)

Others factors are relevant, too, relating to the Sale of Goods Act. Such as age of vehicle, mileage, service history.

It isn't a done deal you are automatically protected by it. If you do go down this route, you have to give the supplying dealer the opportunity of rectifying the fault first - send them a letter stating this with a deadline.

Most important - keep a cool head.

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

My fights with the finance company and not the dealer because its on a hp agreement I've been told by trading standards so this will be fun lol.

It comes under the supply of goods (implied terms) act 1973

I didn't want to say much about the dealer because I've known him a long time and I've put a lot of business his way to the amount of 20k in sales to my friend

Yes cars supplied under a finance agreement are a different matter altogether.

Do you have legal expenses cover on your home insurance or car insurance. If you have this additional cover you may be able to make a claim under your legal expenses cover and get a solicitor to sort it out for you.

I successfully claimed for a faulty TPMS system last year. (I had to claim using my home insurance as my legal expenses cover on my car insurance didn't cover SOGA issues) 56 TDV8 Vogue SE
9 Freelanders, 2x 2002 TD4ES, 2001 TD4, 2002 1.8GS, 2000 XEDI, 2x 2000 1.8ES, 2004 1.8 & 2000 1.8 GS (rolled)
91 Lotus Carlton (sold)
90 Lotus Elan (BRG)

If the finance company don't act/resolve to your satisfaction you would also have recourse through the Financial Ombudsman.

Playing devils advocate here and the garage supplied you with a 6month warranty and your gearbox went, I theory taking the dealer out of the equation as the car was still under warranty (thats why we use them to get warrantys with our cars) you would probably find most warrantys wouldn't cover you due to wear and tear on the gearbox. How much would all this solicitors stuff set you back? Not cast iron you would win in court so could end up with a big bill for court etc and still a box. I'm not sure which route I would be going down. Interested to see how this plays out. [img]http://www.fuelly.com/driver/rob2529/range-rover[img/]
04, 4.4V8, Vogue Oslo Blue with LPG.
"You can sleep in your car, BUT you can't race your house!!!!"

If something can't be fixed with a hammer....... You have yourself an electrical fault!

I totally agree with what you have said, but with a premium car such as this and the price I've paid for it you wouldn't expect it to break down with gearbox failure after just four and a half months and 5 thousand miles.

Traders get away with this because most people roll over and let it go, and the finance company's have a obligation to there customers to supply goods fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality.

Let battle commence lol

good luck Monty and keep us updated here in this thread..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

You might want to give 'Which?' Legal a quick buzz. You could cover your membership costs with one phone call. I've never used them but virtually every edition of Which includes a story which starts off sounding very similar to your situation.

a little good news my freinds just pulled out on a deal with him on a td6, so its costing him already.

special delivery letters are on the way to the dealer and finance company as we speak

IMO nobody can seriously expect a dealer/trader to pay for a gearbox that was perfectly fine and fit for purpose for over 5 months and 5000 miles!

This country has gone mad,rules,laws and do gooders with jobsworth hats on telling customers "yes its the dealers fault,he WILL pay".....No he wont if he has done no wrong,why should he?

SOGA is there for protection in downright dodgy cases(not just cars).Alas you still have to invoke this by way of court etc which any dealer who knows his stuff could drag on for years.Not saying he will but lets be honest here.....lets say your the dealer.....WHAT WOULD YOU DO AFTER 5000 MILES AND 5 MONTHS!!?

Me personally I would offer a compromise of either labour or labour/parts split IF IT WAS/COULD OF BEEN MY FAULT,it is just not fair in this country that the dealer/trader should fork out endlessly because some SUIT says he should!Its business,let the SUIT try and do it for a year,guarantee he would go tail between legs looking for other employment after giving all his profit away to dodgy customers pretending stuff has gone wrong etc when it has not......and that last bit is my point......THE DEALER HAS TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO RECTIFY OR REJECT YOUR CLAIMS otherwise everyone would just get there "mate" to fix it and produce a fictional invoice to the poor dealer.  If you have nothing nice to say,say nothing at all.

So, how long do you think a gearbox should last on a used car then ? 3 months ? 3 weeks ? 3 days ?
The courts have said (and SOGA agrees) that the price and age of the car do matter in whether a fault would or would not be covered.
You don't have to invoke SOGA through the courts. SOGA is the law of the land. You MIGHT have to go to court to force a dealer to comply with SOGA.
Any used car dealer (and I'm sure Gaz would agree) knows what is required of them under SOGA. If they don't know what the law requires of them, then they won't be in business for long.
Re the courts, and dragging cases out for years : wrong. Using the Small Claims Court (any claim under £5k) is cheap, quick and easy.
To your last point, re. the 'dodgy invoice from a mate' : using a VAT registered garage to carry out any work would be a requirement in any warranty claim case that went to a court. Failure to do so would result in the case being thrown out. Producing a false invoice would be fraud, and would be looked upon VERY harshly in a courtroom. In addition, the dealer has been asked, and has refused to rectify, or accept any responsibility. If they had offered 50%, or even 25%, then the OP might not have been posting in the first place.

Oh, I served as a magistrate for a few years, so I do know a little bit about the law. I also work in private industry, where I'm expected to turn a profit, so I'm not some do-gooding social worker type out to shaft these small innocent motor traders. My plan was idiot-proof ...




Until someone designed a better idiot