Have you ever bought a dodgy car?

Hi, I'm Lisa and welcome to my blog.  

 I am writing this out of sheer frustration and anger.  

 Who am I angry and frustrated with?

Well the garage I bought my car from, the court system, the laws on starting and striking off ltd company's and the lack of free advice available to people that find them selves in a situation like this. 

I have decided to write this blog to name and shame the people and garages allowed to get away with ripping people off.  I will share contact details of authorities and people who I have gained information from along the way in case it does help anyone and all what I write on here is the truth and can be backed up by evidence.

What I would like to ask is for people to share this blog and if you have been ripped off buying a car please let us know your story and lets see if something can be done in the future to stop this.

Have you ever bought a car from a garage and been over the moon with it only to be let down?

Back on 15th November 2014 I test drove a black BMW 320D from a garage called The Hatchback Car Centre in Peterborough. 

The car drove lovely and I was really excited.  My husband and I went back to the garage and put a cash deposit down and arranged to collect it the following Saturday as long as they replaced the front electric window mechanisms as they were not operating correctly.  Rachel, the owner agreed and a deal was done.

Saturday 22 November 2014 we went to the garage to pick my car up.  We paid the rest of the balance in cash, completed the forms for the new log book, was given a warranty leaflet with who my warranty was with and then the keys and off we drove.  I was driving my lovely black BMW with tinted windows, not every-bodies cup of tea but it was mine.

During the first week and a half the car starting to have banging, knocking and squeaking noises appear.  They were intermittent except the banging/ knocking noise I got when I started or turned off the car.  The windows that I believed were mended had broken.

On Wednesday 3rd December 2014 I broke down on my way to work and had to call the AA out.  I was told by the AA that the crankshaft pulley bolt was loose.  I spoke to Rachel who said I could get a local garage to fix it and she would pay for it, great I thought, although it had broken down they were going to get it fixed quickly.  She also asked the local garage to look at the windows and to give her a price.

The repair work was paid for but the windows were too expensive for her so we arranged for her guy to collect my car on 9th December 2014.  My car was returned on Thursday 11th December 2014 and on Saturday 13th December 2014 the windows had broken again.

On the Sunday, 14th I had decided if I was entitled to my money back I would as I had given the garage plenty of opportunity to repair the windows and lots of other faults were coming to light.  On Monday 15th December 2014 I rang the consumer advice line and asked for their advice.  I explained the situation and was advised I was entitled to a full refund under the sale of goods act 1979 and gave me a reference number in case I needed them again.  Later that day I emailed the garage and also sent the letter recorded delivery as advised to do stating I wanted to return the car for a full refund under the sale of goods act.  On the Monday evening two men turned up to take my car to have the windows repaired again.  As you can imagine I am fuming and concerned.  I tell the garage I want a refund and if I had let the car go I would have no money and no car.  I didnt let them take it.

Wednesday 17th December 2014 I rang Rachel at The Hatchback Car Centre and asked if it was ok to return the car as she had refused to sign for the letter I sent her.  She said she would not refund me and because I did not tell her about the other faults straight away she wasn't sorting them out.

I have warranty I thought...  On the Thursday 18th December 2014 I telephoned the warranty company off the leaflet she had given me and spoke to a lovely gentleman who said they had no record of my car on their system.  I telephoned Rachel and asked her to confirm the warranty company as the company she had given me had no record.  After a couple of names being thrown in the air she gave me another warranty company name which I rang.  Guess what, my car was not registered here either, infact they had not registered any car with the warranty company at all.  They were ignoring the telephone calls from the rep of the warranty company also.  Later that evening I had an email from Rachels husband, Darren at The Hatchback Car Centre saying my warranty was with them and I had reached my limit.  What limit I thought, there was no mention of them covering the warranty and definately no mention of a limit.

That was it, on 22nd December I sent a before court action letter, I sent it normal post, recorded delivery and I also drove the hour and a half to hand deliver it.  The recorded delivery letter was refused again and returned to me.  On 31st December 2014 as I did not feel safe driving the car I completed a SORN and sent this off.  On 9th January 2015 I received a letter from DVLA saying only the registered keeper can SORN a vehicle and sent me a V62 form to complete.  On 9th February I received the log book and was able to SORN the vehicle.

After several letters from the courts going backwards and forwards I had a court date of Monday 11th May 2015.  Rachel did not attend court, I put my case forward and was awarded the judgement against The Hatchback Car Centre.

Pictured below are Darren and Rachel.  Darren is Rachel's husband but it always seems to be her that is dealing with things.