Any legal eagles about? Urgent help needed!

[Tully1980]

Hi,

My stepson bought a 2017 Ford Focus (1.0 Ecoboost 125 manual) from a Ford dealer back in July 2018.

About a month ago, the gearbox developed a fault whereby it wouldn't go into reverse (all other gears are fine). My stepson took it straight back to the dealer who advised that they 'should' be able to repair it under warranty. The car is less than 18 months old and has 10,000 miles on the clock (4,000 of which have been covered by my stepson since he bought it).

They have now come back to him to advise that Ford have looked at it, and deem that the damage is as a result of "excessive wear and tear" and is therefore not covered under warranty. They also want £3,500 to repair it.

We are adamant that the damage was not caused by my stepson (the car is his pride and joy), and we think that Ford are essentially either trying to get us to cough up for what should be a warranty repair, or they are trying to get us to pay for damage which was present before my stepson purchased the car.

The car is financed through Ford.

Where do we stand in terms of our legal rights, specifically with regard to our rights to reject the car under the Consumer Rights Act (I believe we are within our rights to do this as he has had the car less than 6 months, and the garage has had the opportunity to repair it but has not provided a satisfactory response)..

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated!

Thank you

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[Damo H]

Hi,

My stepson bought a 2017 Ford Focus (1.0 Ecoboost 125 manual) from a Ford dealer back in July 2018.

About a month ago, the gearbox developed a fault whereby it wouldn't go into reverse (all other gears are fine). My stepson took it straight back to the dealer who advised that they 'should' be able to repair it under warranty. The car is less than 18 months old and has 10,000 miles on the clock (4,000 of which have been covered by my stepson since he bought it).

They have now come back to him to advise that Ford have looked at it, and deem that the damage is as a result of "excessive wear and tear" and is therefore not covered under warranty. They also want £3,500 to repair it.

We are adamant that the damage was not caused by my stepson (the car is his pride and joy), and we think that Ford are essentially either trying to get us to cough up for what should be a warranty repair, or they are trying to get us to pay for damage which was present before my stepson purchased the car.

The car is financed through Ford.

Where do we stand in terms of our legal rights, specifically with regard to our rights to reject the car under the Consumer Rights Act (I believe we are within our rights to do this as he has had the car less than 6 months, and the garage has had the opportunity to repair it but has not provided a satisfactory response)..

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated!

Thank you

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

Not sure about your legal rights etc, but have you tried searching to see if anyone else online has had similar issues with the same gearbox. Gives more weight behind your arguement then

 

[Jimbobcook]

Again not a legal person but I've just come from a 2015 125 1.0 ecoboost manual and I absolutely hammered that balls of that thing as it was a company car. There is no way you got it that soon from excessive wear and tear lol I red lined it in pretty much every gear from 1000 miles to 74,000 in 2 years...

How do you get excessive wear on reverse only lol

I would speak to your citizens advice for some help with the legals. I think if they go down the excessive use route you have to try and prove otherwise I guess...

 

[RADIOTWO]

Again not legal expert but a mate had a problem with a ford and was getting sticky about the Warranty but you need to
inform the finance company, in his case they helped him fight the case

 

[Tully1980]

Thanks for the replies

We've now opened a case with Ford (just to get an 'official' response prior to considering potential further action).

We've also informed the finance company, as advised. They have offered to open an investigation with Ford if we do not receive a satisfactory response from them.

Really appreciate the help, thank you

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[Mr Pig]

I know someone who worked in a Ford dealer for thirty years and she said there is no way she'd adise buying a car from them. They tried to rip her off, twice, and she worked there!!!

 

[Husbandofstinky]

If it were me I would submit a query to the Honest John web site.

I did have a question over legal matters and they responded within 24 hours.

I have seen questions like this on their Q & A's and would suggest to have a quick look to see if you can find anything via a search.

It is of course all free and might at least give you a bit of an insight.

 

[R3k1355]

Where do we stand in terms of our legal rights, specifically with regard to our rights to reject the car under the Consumer Rights Act (I believe we are within our rights to do this as he has had the car less than 6 months, and the garage has had the opportunity to repair it but has not provided a satisfactory response)..

At or under 6 months the dealer is required to provide proof that the fault was not there at the time of purchase.
99% of time this isn't possible, so the case falls in favour of the buyer.
The law was changed to help kerb dodgy dealers who try and offload heaps of crap onto unsuspecting buyers.

If do take them to court you'll win easily, but don't threaten legal action unless you're prepared to go through with it.

 

[Tully1980]

At or under 6 months the dealer is required to provide proof that the fault was not there at the time of purchase.
99% of time this isn't possible, so the case falls in favour of the buyer.
The law was changed to help kerb dodgy dealers who try and offload heaps of crap onto unsuspecting buyers.

If do take them to court you'll win easily, but don't threaten legal action unless you're prepared to go through with it.

Thank you

Latest is that the dealer now wants to invite an 'independent technician' to inspect the car to try to ascertain whether it's a warranty issue or not. We're now fairly confident that the dealer is just stalling and putting off the inevitable. As you've said, if there is damage to the gearbox then it's going to be virtually impossible to prove that it wasn't there prior to my stepson purchasing the car!

We're fully prepared to take legal action if the dealer won't fix the car under warranty. We're not denying that there may be damage to the gearbox, but we're not prepared to accept (unless it can be proved 100%) that the damage was wholly caused by my stepson in the 3-4 months that he's owned it!

 

[Sharpy]

My parents had an issue with VW and a new golf they bought. They ended up paying for a solicitors letter to be sent to the dealership, that got the attention of the dealership and things started moving after that. It was annoying they had to go that far but it does seem that tehy will generally try and stall as long as possible in the hopes that you just go away.

There is no realistic way the gearbox should have failed in such a short period of time, back in the day I used to hammer my cars really badly, J-Turns hand brake turns etc but never had a gearbox fail. I would suggest there was a defect in the manufacturing process to be honest.

 

[R3k1355]

Yea tell em to F-off and fix it, no need for an 'independent technician' to inspect it, especially one they send round.

Quote the relevant bits of consumer protection law at them, it usually indicates you know your rights and aren't going to roll over.