What rights do you have to return a car under an auction warranty. I havn't bought at auction for a quite a while. A few years ago I bought a smart looking car sold by a large main agent as all good with a warranty. On the test drive I found poor acceleration and top speed about 15 mph down, which I imagine the dealer had also noticed. I returned well within the time and asked to reject the car. After a brief look they said nothing wrong only needs a service. It turned out to be a burned out exhaust valve which I had to replace at my own expense.
What should I have done and how insistant should I be in similar circumstances. I am intending buying at auction in the near future but probably ex fleet rather than risk a trade in from a dodgy dealer.
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Depends on the way the car is sold. 'With warranty' usually warrants major components only for up to an hour after the sale itself ends. That's it. But warranty does cover things like clocking, title, etc. 'On engineer's description' and 'without warranty' mean exactly what they say.
HJ
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I understood that with BCA you had until the end of that day's sale to dispute major items on cars sold with the BCA inspection report...?
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I thought that was what I wrote, but Smokie is right. You have the same time limit as with 'with warranty' to dispute an engineer's report.
HJ
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I thought that in the above case the exaust valve would count as part of a major componenet, the engine. It was returned well within the hour. I knew somthing was wrong but not what and the auction didn't seem to want ot find out in case they had to take it back. Punters can't be expected to carry a compression tester.
It was not a BCA auction by the way. I wonder if some auctions would have tried harder or possibly it would make a difference who the customer was.
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I had an interesting problem when I bought my Xantia at auction.
The advertised features (I assume part of the contract) on the car included all the usual extras plus guaranteed mileage (unusual at many auctions) and full main agent service history and 2 weeks short of full MOT.
One extra not mentioned was the ABS fitted as standard on this level of trim. A few months later I notices some sort of ECU was disconnected. I re connected it and the ABS warning light came on.
Well, I had to find a replacement ABS ECU (fortunately a cheap 2nd had one popped up) I got the whole system checked out by a specialist, ECU fitted, problem solved. The total expense was around £130.
So HJ would you say that...
I bought the car wih an MOT that was probably dodgey to say the least, although it has since passed another MOT with minor work
The Full main agent service history was defective, as this was probably not picked up.
Thirdly, dealers have a responsibility to at least ensure they are not putting death traps in the auction. I suspect that a harassed sales exec was pressured into getting rig of this without incurring expense. To anyone that knows the car, the unfastened connecter is pretty obvious.
....or do you disagee?
Not that going back to the auction 9 months after the purchase would have helped my cause!
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I,m going off the point a bit, but I am constantly amazed at how some people are able to get a car to start up and run through the auction hall in a "satisfactory" condition. Sometimes it is only moments later that the car then dies. A dealer friend bought a rover at auction when the oil was topped up smoke appeared from everywhere yet it seemed to be ok in the hall. On another occasion a Skoda got about 100yards outside the auction then died. I don,t know if it is true but I was told that you could clear fault codes on older Renaults by disconnecting the battery. The time it took for the code to reappear was usually longer than the time it took to drive through the hall.
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Often the auction drivers are given a few quid to nurse a car through and be 'helpful'with any questions.
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There is a general misconception that MOT's warrant the state of a car for the duration of the certificate's validity. All an MOT certificate does is prove that the car was roadworthy when it passed and that you need to have it retested within 12 months.
To put this another way -
The MOT is a valid statement about the state of the car at the instant that the tester passes it. As soon as you drive away, that condition is not guaranteed to remain true for the next 12 months.
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The fact a car has full main agent service history does not mean that everything is kept in A1 condition.
All items refered to in service schedules will have been checked but unless you have all the invoices you do not know if there has been any recommendations for work to be done that have been ignored by the owner (such as your ABS ECU is faulty and requires replacement ). The dealer must stamp the service book as serviced even although there is outstanding recommendations.
The only way to truly satisfy youself is by chatting to the servicing dealer to find out if there has been any work recommended by them that is still outstanding to their knowledge. This of course can be awkward at auction as the car may have come from the servicing agent , so they will be less willing to discuss.
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