Mis-sold car warranty

[Rover110]

Last year, just before Christmas, we bought a secon-hand car from a main dealer of that brand in England.

We had agreed to pay their asking price.

We were then told that if we paid extra for a three-year warranty we would get two annual services thrown in.

I read the small print of the warranty (we had to fight to see it at all before we would agree to it) and couldn’t see any mention of the services in the agreement so I insisted that the salesman wrote down on the warranty paperwork that we would get two services.

We would not have purchased the warranty were it not for the fact that it gave us two services - which at main dealer prices was fair value.

We have since discovered that the two services came with the car anyway (because the original buyer paid for the first 5 services and they should be transferred with the car). And that second-hand cars sold through main dealers should come with s one-year warranty. But the three-year warranty starts from the day of purchase.

We approached the manufacturer and although they sounded supportive they since said it is up to us to take it up with the (franchise) dealer.

We would like to get the remaining services put in our name so we can take the car to be serviced at a closer garage (still a dealer for that brand) and a refund of the price of the warranty.

Do ee have any hope of achieving this? If so, how best could we go about it?

(I might add that it isn’t a Rover)

- Rover110

[GoSeigen]

You have my sympathy, buying a used car is fraught and making all those decisions in can be testing, especially if under time pressure. Warranty, like insurance can be a money-spinner for the seller and you did well to stand your ground, read the terms and get the extra clause about the free services inserted.

That said, there are several details that seem quite material some of which which you have discovered after the fact. I think it's important that you get as firm evidence as you can of each, preferably in writing. For example, you state that a dealer is in any circumstances required to give a one-year warranty but without saying where this obligation arises. Is it the law, is it the dealer's own rules? It's not clear to me and may be a weak link in your argument if you can't support it with good evidence.

When you're sure of your position I would write a letter to the dealer stating clearly the rights and services that you believe you acquired already with the vehicle, whether you'd bought a warranty or not. Then let them know that, as per agreements entered into when you bought the vehicle, you expect those to be honoured in addition to the two extra services and three years of warranty that you paid for separately; and give them a reasonable deadline (one month?) to respond with reasons if they are not fully in agreement.


GS

[Rover110]

Thanks for that.

The dealer's website claims that all cars come with a "generous warranty".
The extended warranty paperwork explicitly states 36 months. There is no mention on that paperwork of it being an extension from 12 months or whatever.

We have been contacted by the manager of the branch. He claims that our purchase was only for (an extension of) 24 months - contrary to our paperwork.
But he is making sympathetic noises about the salesman's claim that we needed to warranty to get the free services, saying that the salesman "has form" in that respect.

The manager has asked us to send what evidence we have. We shall see where it goes from here.

[quelquod]

We have been contacted by the manager of the branch. He claims that our purchase was only for (an extension of) 24 months - contrary to our paperwork.

This is very common with extended warranties but it should make it clear in the documentation that the standard warranty period is included in the overall extended duration.

[Rover110]

An update on this. The dealer has now refunded the car warranty.
We were told we would be refunded about a week ago. I held back on posting this until the money actually arrived in my bank account. Which it has now.

I'm glad the dealer did the right thing when challenged. But still annoyed that their salesman misled us at first.

- Rover

[DrFfybes]

Salesmen are generally economical with the truth in order to generate profit, the Toyota I bought from a small place near Glastonbury was "Fixed Price, no haggle".

OK, but it came with minimum 6 months MOT as part of their RAC approval scheme, and when I paid the deposit I checked and it had 6 months and a week, meaning 6 months and 2 days when I'd collect it. I asked for a fresh MOT, no dice. I pointed out the 6 months was barely there and they asked me to pay half, so I said "OK, I'll collect it on the Monday instead". This made it 1 day short of the 6 months, so they did an MOT for free, then asked if I could collect it on the Friday anyway

Then they offered the service and warranty - "it will be due one, there's no service book". However having phoned Toyota before paying the deposit, the car was still under their 5 year/100,000 mile warranty which transferred to the new owner (and hey, it's a Toyota), and they had a Full Service History on their database. I wonder what happened to the Service Book.

Annoyingly the aircon has just failed, 104,000 miles and out of warranty. Although I suspect the stone through the condensor wouldn't have been covered.

Paul

[Dod101]

Salesmen are generally economical with the truth in order to generate profit, the Toyota I bought from a small place near Glastonbury was "Fixed Price, no haggle".

OK, but it came with minimum 6 months MOT as part of their RAC approval scheme, and when I paid the deposit I checked and it had 6 months and a week, meaning 6 months and 2 days when I'd collect it. I asked for a fresh MOT, no dice. I pointed out the 6 months was barely there and they asked me to pay half, so I said "OK, I'll collect it on the Monday instead". This made it 1 day short of the 6 months, so they did an MOT for free, then asked if I could collect it on the Friday anyway

Then they offered the service and warranty - "it will be due one, there's no service book". However having phoned Toyota before paying the deposit, the car was still under their 5 year/100,000 mile warranty which transferred to the new owner (and hey, it's a Toyota), and they had a Full Service History on their database. I wonder what happened to the Service Book.

Annoyingly the aircon has just failed, 104,000 miles and out of warranty. Although I suspect the stone through the condensor wouldn't have been covered.

Paul

I do not think that Service Books where they stamp each service are used any more. Certainly for my current Q5 I do not have one but the main dealer has the record on their database. And of course you then rely on the service indicator that comes up on the dash when it is due.

Dod