Hi all,
I am posting on behalf of my partner.
On April 7 2016, my partner purchased a 2009 model Holden Commodore Omega for $10,990 from a used car dealership with an odometer reading just over 200,000km. He had purchased this car by obtaining a car loan through a finance company. Despite a few scratches in the paint, the car was guaranteed to be in good condition for the purposes of driving and moving items in the utility tray.
A few months later, the dash flashed a notification to "check engine". We went to a mechanic and had this fixed, however, a month or so after that it popped up again. This has been a recurring problem.
Yesterday (07/01/17), the dash notified that the car was beginning to overheat. My partner had recently checked water, coolant, oil and so on but put more coolant in. Today (08/01/17), the car began overheating again and went into safety mode, making it difficult to drive to the speed limit without the car making a loud rumbling noise and it shaking.
When we eventually safely made it home, we noticed that there was coolant leaking (cracked radiator) and steam coming off the engine, now making the car unable to drive only 9 months on. My partner is fairly sure that he was given a 5-year warranty through the dealership. Under the contract, the vehicle is said to have been checked before sale. It also stipulates that, under the Australian Consumer Law, the purchaser is entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. The purchaser is also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality.
My questions are as follows;
1) With respect to the car's age and the km's driven, is it reasonably foreseeable that such damage would occur within that time frame?
2) a.Would the issue with the radiator be considered a major fault under the ACL?;
and
b. If so, would the dealer be liable to pay for the costs of repair, or refund/replacement?
3) What are we entitled to do? He did have insurance, but due to end of year time off work he has been unable to continue payments and therefore is currently not insured. How does this affect the problem at hand?
Thank you for any help.
Kind regards,
I am posting on behalf of my partner.
On April 7 2016, my partner purchased a 2009 model Holden Commodore Omega for $10,990 from a used car dealership with an odometer reading just over 200,000km. He had purchased this car by obtaining a car loan through a finance company. Despite a few scratches in the paint, the car was guaranteed to be in good condition for the purposes of driving and moving items in the utility tray.
A few months later, the dash flashed a notification to "check engine". We went to a mechanic and had this fixed, however, a month or so after that it popped up again. This has been a recurring problem.
Yesterday (07/01/17), the dash notified that the car was beginning to overheat. My partner had recently checked water, coolant, oil and so on but put more coolant in. Today (08/01/17), the car began overheating again and went into safety mode, making it difficult to drive to the speed limit without the car making a loud rumbling noise and it shaking.
When we eventually safely made it home, we noticed that there was coolant leaking (cracked radiator) and steam coming off the engine, now making the car unable to drive only 9 months on. My partner is fairly sure that he was given a 5-year warranty through the dealership. Under the contract, the vehicle is said to have been checked before sale. It also stipulates that, under the Australian Consumer Law, the purchaser is entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. The purchaser is also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality.
My questions are as follows;
1) With respect to the car's age and the km's driven, is it reasonably foreseeable that such damage would occur within that time frame?
2) a.Would the issue with the radiator be considered a major fault under the ACL?;
and
b. If so, would the dealer be liable to pay for the costs of repair, or refund/replacement?
3) What are we entitled to do? He did have insurance, but due to end of year time off work he has been unable to continue payments and therefore is currently not insured. How does this affect the problem at hand?
Thank you for any help.
Kind regards,
