rejection - part success

ChrisJ · Post by **ChrisJ** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 7:38 pm

Well here comes a long story

Got my black, red/black leather 2.0SE as an ex-demonstrator in June 2001 via an agent at a good price (at the time) of Â£16k. The car was registered on 1/3/01 and had around 2k miles on it.

But had loads of problems with it:
~ roof mechanism hydraulic failure (oil everwhere!)
~ numerous electical failures with roof mechanism
~ engine cutting out
~ however ... no leaks!

Had all the recall work done about 6 months ago and thought everything was okay with the roof and then summer comes and the electrical gremlins strike again

Phoned the supplying dealer about a month ago and said that my patience had finally run out and that I wanted a replacement car. Too many Saturday mornings spent at my local dealer, who has been excellent!

After looking at the warranty history the dealer came back to me and said that I had obviously had lots of problems (no kidding!) and he would see what he would do. He contacted the area manager and eventually came back with an offer for mine of Â£11.5k against a new one. Needless to say I was not very happy and rejected that offer outright.

He came back to me later and suggested that I logged an official compliant against the car with Peugeot, although he said that whatever I do I should not get angry with them (Peugeot) as that wouldn't do any good. Anyway I duly made the call and eventually the Peugeot customer services logged the official compliant and said that they would send a form to the dealer and would get back to me in due course.

Anyway today the dealer gets back to me and says that Peugeot are willing to give some assistance and he has now offered me a cost to change against a brand new one, on the road, of same spec (leather etc) of Â£4k. This is a better offer by over Â£1.5k and effectively values my car at just over Â£13k.

So do you think this is a good offer bearing in mind that I have done an additional 15k miles in the 15 months I have had the car and also I won't have to have the 18 month service done (now due) and my road tax is about to run out?

Seems quite tempting especially as my roof has now been unusable for 5 weeks :sad:

What do you think?

rob · Post by **rob** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 9:00 pm

best not to ask me coz the car I got as a replacement was just as duff as all the rest I had :sad:

Racing Puma anyone

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 9:10 pm

Given the age of your car, I would say its not a bad offer (though they can never put a price on all your inconvenience).

I got Â£13,100 when I sold mine back to my dealer last month (after scouting around for the best price available) and mine was an Oct 2001 (51 reg) 2.0 SE with red/black leather with 7,000 miles.

Robbie.

bergen · Post by **bergen** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 10:41 pm

First of all, the rules in Norway is like this: If a major problem (as leaks) isnt fixed after the third atempt you have the right to reject the car.

The rejecting rules is like this:
1) you have to pay 0.269 euros pr. driven km.

2) You will get payed back interest (about 11%) for the amount you payed for the car
They calculate the interest from the day you payed to the rejecting day.

This is the rules if you want your money back and not a new car.

If you want a new car the rules say that they swap it without charging anything.

If the case is obvious and its a serious dealer the problem usually get solved.
The problem is to define what a major problem is. But there are many cases from the court which states that leaks are a major problem.
Another problem is that the dealers not always are so serious. They often tries to get around the laws... but with a litle help from the puplic office for consumers rights the majority of the dealers give the buyer what he is titled to.

And thats where Im now.. the consumers office have the case, and we are waiting for a respond from the dealer..

I have no doubt that my case will get solved one way or another...

As you understand ChrisJ, seeing it from Norway and our laws, your deal is not so good.

ChrisJ · Post by **ChrisJ** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 11:02 pm

Bergen,

Thanks for the info. Those rules are interesting.

If I have drive 15000 miles which I think is about 25000km then the cost would be 6,725euro which is about Â£4,300 for mileage which is more that the loss I currently have. I don't understand the interest refund but I think the overall cost to change is similar ... which is surprising given rip-off Britain!

bergen · Post by **bergen** » Thu Aug 15, 2002 11:15 pm

quote:
I don't understand the interest refund

if you pay 14 000Â£ for the car and reject it after a year, the dealer have to pay you 11% of 14 000 wich is about 1500Â£. That is the price the dealer have to pay for the time you could have had your money in the bank. The dealer has loaned your money so to speak, and have to pay for that.

think that is reasonable, you pay for the use of the car and they pay for the "use" of the money....

ChrisJ · Post by **ChrisJ** » Fri Aug 16, 2002 8:58 am

Wow ... That seems a brilliant deal, especially as bank interest rates are so low. Somehow I don't think the dealers over here would go for that ... unfortunately.

Alex LS · Post by **Alex LS** » Fri Aug 16, 2002 3:18 pm

If you sued them under the Sale of Goods Act, they may have no choice in the matter. Depends on the details of your case really.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Fri Aug 16, 2002 3:34 pm

seems like a reasonable offer taking into account the age and mileage but not for your inconvenience. using my rejection terms isn't really comparable as mines had only done 2.5k miles and was only a few months old.

i would suggest asking peugeot to increase the offer but at the time of my rejection when i was haggling on the cost to replace value the general manager said feel free to go to peugeot but it will probably cost you even more. after getting him down to Â£300 i accepted

Tim B · Post by **Tim B** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 10:14 pm

If rejecting the car, the dealer is only legally obliged to give you all your money back at most.

To get more, you will need to take them to court, where the most you can get is all your money back, some of your legal fees, and if the judge is feeling generous then they may give you compensation or intrest rebate.

Alternatively they may only award the price of the car and you can be left to foot a large legal fee.

If the car is at fault the governing law is the Sales of goods act, section 14, in which a seller is responsible for delivering goods of a 'satisfactory quality' (a leak is not satisfactory)

Some dealers are also reluctant to offer replacements, as they cannot ensure a replacement won't leak, and by offering a replacement they are setting a precedent, hence why it will always be easier to get money back second time round. (As I am sure Rob will confirm)

Tim

Alex LS · Post by **Alex LS** » Tue Aug 20, 2002 1:15 pm

On 2002-08-19 21:14, Tim B wrote:
If rejecting the car, the dealer is only legally obliged to give you all your money back at most.

To get more, you will need to take them to court, where the most you can get is all your money back, some of your legal fees, and if the judge is feeling generous then they may give you compensation or intrest rebate.

Not true. You can also claim (and win) compensation for hire cars etc if it is shown that these costs were incurred as a direct result of the faulty goods.

i.e. If you go off on a holiday to France in a brand new car and the car breaks down due to an inherent fault, the costs of recovery, hire car etc can be claimed back.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Aug 21, 2002 2:58 pm

my dealer was happy to give me a replacement. part of the agreement was that if it was faulty i would be given a full refund as per one of the initial options i had.