Ok, basically, nearly 5 weeks ago we bought a 4 year old car from a local(ish) dealership. They did the MOT the day before we bought it - it had a faulty boot but they agreed to fix that and did so.
As soon as I started driving it it had an intermittent message saying 'check power steering'. I told the dealership about it and they claimed never to have seen it, which is I suppose fair - as I get it maybe 1 out of 5 times I turn on the ignition. Their own garage did a diagnostics check eventually, but their kit wasnt good enough so they couldnt find the actual problem although they could see there was one.
Ive had the car checked by a fiat dealership today and it basically needs a new steering wheel column. (might not be that exactly but thats the gist) The fiat garage called the warranty company and warranty apparently doesnt cover this specific fault (and it was only £300 cover anyway, its going to cost £1000).
I am as you might guess severely miffed to put it lightly. I've told the dealership to that effect and the bloke who sold us it is 'talking to his boss'. But Im not hopeful. Have we got any leg to stand on or should we just pay it and seethe quietly?
As far as Im concerned the goods werent of merchantable quality, so to speak. However the grey area is whether they are liable because they didnt know about it. Although I got the error warning pretty much as soon as we got the car and told them so (well I told the bloke who sold us it), as I said the message is intermittent, so they probably didnt see it, or could claim that. He said 'the did a full check on the car' presumably meaning the MOT, but its not something that would be checked I imagine as you need to know theres a fault to get a diagnostic kit out. I dont know this for sure. I dont know anything about cars.
Can anyone help me out on this one.
Also do I get it fixed or leave it at the fiat garage. Its undriveable. So I am without a car which is a nightmare.
As soon as I started driving it it had an intermittent message saying 'check power steering'. I told the dealership about it and they claimed never to have seen it, which is I suppose fair - as I get it maybe 1 out of 5 times I turn on the ignition. Their own garage did a diagnostics check eventually, but their kit wasnt good enough so they couldnt find the actual problem although they could see there was one.
Ive had the car checked by a fiat dealership today and it basically needs a new steering wheel column. (might not be that exactly but thats the gist) The fiat garage called the warranty company and warranty apparently doesnt cover this specific fault (and it was only £300 cover anyway, its going to cost £1000).
I am as you might guess severely miffed to put it lightly. I've told the dealership to that effect and the bloke who sold us it is 'talking to his boss'. But Im not hopeful. Have we got any leg to stand on or should we just pay it and seethe quietly?
As far as Im concerned the goods werent of merchantable quality, so to speak. However the grey area is whether they are liable because they didnt know about it. Although I got the error warning pretty much as soon as we got the car and told them so (well I told the bloke who sold us it), as I said the message is intermittent, so they probably didnt see it, or could claim that. He said 'the did a full check on the car' presumably meaning the MOT, but its not something that would be checked I imagine as you need to know theres a fault to get a diagnostic kit out. I dont know this for sure. I dont know anything about cars.
Can anyone help me out on this one.
Also do I get it fixed or leave it at the fiat garage. Its undriveable. So I am without a car which is a nightmare.