Guy J

Terrible experience. Be very careful!

I am just writing to warn people what to expect if you buy a car and have issues within 30 days. I bought a vehicle for 7k, which was said to have been serviced etc before purchase. The car had several warning lights come up in the first two weeks and then went into limp mode due to "low oil pressure" and "engine malfunction". I had the car towed to an VAT registered independent. The garage said that to identify the actual faults would be a relatively big job based on their experience of the make and model. Wearside Autoparc would not accept liability and tried to pass it onto warranty. The independent garage knew that Blackstar Warranties would not cover many of the things that were needed to accurately diagnose the fault. After a long back and forth between Wearside Autoparc and myself, where they wanted my car to be taken to some garage next to their yard, which has little online presence and looks like a shed in someone's back yard, I outright rejected the car under the Consumer Protection Act 2015 "unsatisfactory quality" clause. A 7000 quid car should not have broken down in 3 weeks. I sent a rejection letter and they did not respond. A few days after I sent a letter before action, which they now have, a company called Legal Solution 4 U (a dodgy motor legal advice firm that is a dissolved company, with no actual solicitors working for them) sent me an email saying that the car if fine and I need to pick it up or they will drop it off. When I rejected the car I stated that I refused any fixes as I rejected the car. They say they attempted to fix the car, which is against the legislation. I saw they sent an email to a wrong email address in response to my original rejection letter (they couldn't even make sure they got my email correct) stating some misinformed reading of the CPA2015. They currently need to respond to my letter before action, which if they do not respond I will be taking them to county court. Just think very carefully when purchasing a car and get a mobile mechanic to check the vehicle you purchase from Wearside Autoparc, as you don't want to end up having to go through all this.