Who is responsible for returning a car? Buyer or Dealer?

[Phil 1]

I sold a Daihatsu Copen to a guy who lives 145 miles away from me. He met me at my local train station. He test drove the car, tested the electric roof, all working great. He drives it home "it's absolutely perfect drives great best one I've seen".

2 weeks later, he says the roof/boot not working. He took it to a local garage who couldn't read the codes so he took it to a Daihatsu dealer who expect water ingress in the ECU. Quoted almost £1000 to fix! I'm sure my mechanic could get it working for much less.

Firstly, I am responsible for fixing it? It worked at the time of sale and there has been so much rain lately... how am I to know the car hasn't been parked in the driving rain or even in flooding!?

I sold the car with a 6 month warranty but it will not cover an ECU or many electric problems so we can't claim on it.

Is it the customer's responsibility to drive/transport the car back to me? Or is it mine as a car dealer?

Cheers

 

[Jack Regan 116]

As far as I understand the rules now if it's  within the first 30 days of the date you sold it , the punter has to prove the fault was there at point of sale , after 30 days you have to prove it wasn't there. If you did have to give money back I reckon it would be down to you to collect it

it was obviously ok at point of sale or he wouldn't of bought it, my advice ..help him out with in reason , (depending on his attitude ) don't roll over to easy.

[Wheelerdealer1 91]

I'm guessing you know the answer here Phil, and I agree it probably wasn't water ingress at the time of sale but rather happened after with all this rain we had, but how would a small claims court see it ? They would side with the buyer, if he went legal that is, it might not be your pure responsibility to get the car back to your place, but to avoid him going the main dealer route and then claiming off you , I would go get the car

[Okay dokay 3]

I think that the buyer made the decision to buy a car 145 miles away, and the court would consider this. You need to offer reasonable resolution unless you have a PDI check sheet the buyer signed which states roof was operational in which case you do not have to do anything.

 

In any case, refund or repair, I'd be asking he brings it back.

[Rory RSC 596]

Bring it back to you. Is it a hassle for the buyer? Probably but if he wants the car fixed free of charge then that's his best option. 

Some customers are very nice and reasonable people. Some just love to make a massive song and dance about things. 

 

I would not not entertain the idea of going and collecting a customers car. It would not IMO be reasonable to expect a used car dealer servicing customers nationwide to go and repair cars on the driveway or collect them from customers who could be anywhere from 0-400+ miles from them. 

[SC Derby 259]

Thats my view ^ RS Car Sales

At the end of the day, our location is FIXED, we are where we are and that doesn't change - it's the customer that chooses whether to buy locally and perhaps pay more or travel to get a better deal.

[It's me 615]

hi Phil

you wont win on this one in my opinion

i would negotiate a package with customer to return the car so your mechanic can fix it and buy him a return train ticket or arrange to have car collected and repaired in a reasonable time frame

if you dont then he can reject and you will be first offered arbitration

consider putting on your invoice all repairs are in house and its a term of sale all repairs need to be brought to place of sale if problems develop

if its any help ive been threatened with a lba today from a customer who now thinks terms we agreed were too much in my favour to reject on a technicality i will go to court on this one purely on principle

[SC Derby 259]

Don't forget in order to reject customer HAS to prove it was faulty at point at sale.

[Max Branning 149]

Write a letter to the buyer send it recorded delivery so there is proof.

State that if the car is returned then you will diagnose any faults yourself and if the car is indeed faulty then you will repair it free of charge. If the customer refuses to return it then that is his problem and you have done everything by the book. If you have something to prove the car was not faulty at point of sale even better ideally a PDI signed by the buyer.

 

[Steve92 80]

If it's a known fault Or it is ecu fail it from water ingress I would guess it's fairly easy for the buyer to prove it was faulty at the time of purchase. The BMW Z4 suffers a similar problem where the drain holes become blocked and the roof motor sits in water and dies.

http://www.copenworld.com/community/threads/roof-wont-open.878/

http://www.copenworld.com/community/threads/epic-roof-problems.2516/

 

 

 

[Phil 1]

I offered the customer a refund and he brought the car back to me. He really liked the car and said he would buy it back if I manage to get it fixed so that worked out quite well.

[It's me 615]

I offered the customer a refund and he brought the car back to me. He really liked the car and said he would buy it back if I manage to get it fixed so that worked out quite well.

dont

reweddings rarely work

sell it to a new punter if you can

[Steve92 80]

We resold a car to the same buyer, it was a civic and on the way home the clutch showed signs of slipping under load, we had never driven it far and at speed. We gave them there money back, gave them a lift home and then put a new clutch and dmf in it, they then came back and paid us again, they were happy because now had a brand new clutch and they liked the car.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Steve92