Hi,
We bought an used car from a dealer. The dealer did not say the engine had a big problem even though it had passed roadworthy.
The car has 230k+ km on the clock and is 18 years old. While I didn’t expect it to be perfect, as the dealer’s company advert said they did lots of tests with every car that went through their hands, I thought it should be all right. Also, when we went to see the car, the sales person said there was a problem with a leak and hence there was a noise and they’d fix that before handing the car to us. So, I thought it was good that this guy told us the problem before we jumped in for a quick drive. They did fix that problem but there was a bigger problem that they didn’t tell us.
After buying the car, there were some problems with engine start at times and the fume smelt bad. While it had passed roadworthy, I suspected something wasn’t quite right. So I took it to a mechanics near me who said some oil was getting in to the combustion chamber and hence the problems. To solve that would mean a costly rebuild. In all, the engine was bad.
The dealer did not tell us about this problem. I didn’t know there was such a problem when buying it. If I thought it required a c.$10k rebuild, then I wouldn’t have bought it. I went to the dealer about this and the guy kept on saying consuming oil was nothing, lots of cars did that. To my mind, just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it’s right. While the car had passed roadworthy and there isn’t a trail of smoke that’d call the police over, I feel the dealer should have told us about this.
While there is a five year warranty, that covered $1k on engine at a time only. Enough for some minor faults like a Welsh Plug but not enough for piston rings and valves for a rebuild.
Now, do I have any chance in winning a case here if I were to take it to court?
Thanks
A rather disappointed car buyer
We bought an used car from a dealer. The dealer did not say the engine had a big problem even though it had passed roadworthy.
The car has 230k+ km on the clock and is 18 years old. While I didn’t expect it to be perfect, as the dealer’s company advert said they did lots of tests with every car that went through their hands, I thought it should be all right. Also, when we went to see the car, the sales person said there was a problem with a leak and hence there was a noise and they’d fix that before handing the car to us. So, I thought it was good that this guy told us the problem before we jumped in for a quick drive. They did fix that problem but there was a bigger problem that they didn’t tell us.
After buying the car, there were some problems with engine start at times and the fume smelt bad. While it had passed roadworthy, I suspected something wasn’t quite right. So I took it to a mechanics near me who said some oil was getting in to the combustion chamber and hence the problems. To solve that would mean a costly rebuild. In all, the engine was bad.
The dealer did not tell us about this problem. I didn’t know there was such a problem when buying it. If I thought it required a c.$10k rebuild, then I wouldn’t have bought it. I went to the dealer about this and the guy kept on saying consuming oil was nothing, lots of cars did that. To my mind, just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it’s right. While the car had passed roadworthy and there isn’t a trail of smoke that’d call the police over, I feel the dealer should have told us about this.
While there is a five year warranty, that covered $1k on engine at a time only. Enough for some minor faults like a Welsh Plug but not enough for piston rings and valves for a rebuild.
Now, do I have any chance in winning a case here if I were to take it to court?
Thanks
A rather disappointed car buyer
