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25/11/2011 08:27:54 PDC Posts: 1

I purchased a 14 month old used vehicle about 20 months ago from an authorised main dealer. Within a few days of ownership I raised a concern regarding the way the semi-autiomatic gearbox operated but was told that there was nothing wrong. I had the issue checked out again a few months later as I was becoming more concerned and finally at the first service (11 months after my ownership) a fault was diagnosed with the gearbox. The vehicle was repaired and returned to me, but I rejected the repair as the vehicle was worse than when I had taken the car in. The resulting work took approximately three weeks to resolve and meant the replacement of two more gearbox components. The dealer admitted that they were fairly convinced that the issue was due to the fact that they had fitted a modification to the car (fitting cruise control) when they had first ordered it from new for the previous owner and that this feature was not compatible with my car. I expressed concerns over the longer term suitability of the car with the feature (which is a feature I had specifically been seeking in a car and why I had purchased this particular car), the dealre offered me a free main dealer comprehensive warranty extension when the original one expired to give me piece of mind. I said I would consider it or I might seek a replacement car, ultimately I accepted the warranty as I was unable to find a replacement car that I could afford (due to the initial depreciation on mine). Seven months later the gearbox failed again, which resulted in a further three weeks in the workshop being repaired under warranty and again involved several attempts to resolve with the manufacturer getting involved. The dealer has again returned the car and agrees that the fault is most likely due to the cruise control and I do not believe that they have confidence that the problem will not reoccur and I am not convinced that it is properly fixed. As a result I have asked them to buy the car off of me or replace it with a similar car and I am prepared to put some money into getting into a replacement car. The issue I have is that they have offered me the standard 'book trade price' for my car, which means I have lost out significantly and I do not beleive that this is a fair situation. I purchased the vehicle outright and have budgeted to replace the car, four years after purchase by saving £375 a month as the car would have depreciated at about £300 a month over the duration of my ownership with the mileage I do, however after 20 months I have put aside £6,000 (slightly less than my target) but the cars initial depreciation is steep and has lost £10,800 in the same time leaving me with a deficit of £4,800. The dealer has offered me a replacement car 'at cost' but I think this represents a discount of about £2,000 from the normal price, so even with this I am still £2,800 out of pocket. I am trying to get an independent view of what is fair under the circumstances and where I should take my case to try to get to a position where I am not at a financial loss through no fault of mine.

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