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Jo C.
Jo C., Barrister
Category: Law
Satisfied Customers: 71132
Experience:  Over 5 years in practice
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Around 6 weeks ago I bought a 2nd hand car from a car dealership,

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Around 6 weeks ago I bought a 2nd hand car from a car dealership, while driving home from work this Easter Monday I had to pull over on the motorway, because the car was suddenly overheating. The head gasket had blown and I'm now having to pay for a new engine to fitted, the engine and gearbox only had a 1 month warranty, but the fault must have been there when I took possession of the car.
Jo C.
Hi.
Thank you for your question. My name is ***** ***** I will try to help with this.
What would you like to know about this please?
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

I went to a car dealership rather than try a private seller because I thought I could trust them to sel me a car without any hidden problems, do I have any course of action I could take to at least get some contribution to my costs for the new engine. It's not good for their reputation for them to have sold a car that has lasted a mere 6 weeks, could I threaten to post details on facebook for instance?
Yes, you are perfectly free to complain truthfully as loudly as you like.
You need to be very careful what you do say if you intend to complain on the internet though to avoid defamation.
But as long as you tell the truth, while they may not like it, there is no much they can do about it.
Can I clarify anything for you?
Jo
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

Shortly after buying the car I did notice that the heaters weren't working (the weather was cold at the time). I had to go back for them to MOT the car (it was due to expire very soon) and I mentioned this to them tehy offered to fix this but it didn't seem that urgent so wasn't too bothered, but now I feel like it may be linked to what caused the problem, since heat was obviously not being removed from the engine well enough. Not being a mechanic I didn't realise what the lack of heat from the heaters meant, but I think they should have realised.

Do I have a case if I can prove they did not check the car properly for faults before selling it?

It depends.
Yes, you certainly do have a sale of goods act argument. They may try to argue that the fault was worsened though because you didn't return the vehicle. Difficult to say whether that is likely. Generally speaking if whole engines have to be replaced that tends to suggest a fault was allowed to continue without repair.
If you can show that they must have been aware of it though then you would have a contributory negligence argument.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

Just thought I'd say thanks for the advice. I didn't leave a tip sorry (I had to used all my money and loan some for a new engine), but I have shared the website on my facebook status.
No problem at all. Thanks for the sharing.
All the best.
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