Dealer sold car with outstanding safety recall

[L91 EON]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 30 November 2023 at 11:35

[blue_haddock]

The dealers are perfectly entitled to get it repaired at a cheaper independant garage instead of a main dealer

Parts and labour costs at a merc main dealer could be two or three times higher than an indy garage.

If you want everything to be done by a main agent you should have purchased an approved used vehicle.

[MrBen.911]

Clearly the dealer should fix it, but I can't see they should be responsible for paying the OTT labour rates for a main dealer to do it.

As for the recall, if I was buying, say, a BMW from a BMW dealer, I'd expect them to have dealt with any o/s recalls, but otherwise I'd be very surprised if they did.

[J1990]

Maybe I've been lucky in the past but since when did a recall have any associated costs? When I had the EGR recall on both of my BMWs it was collected from me, courtesy car for the week and then returned free of charge to my workplace.
If you've asked for additional work to be done then the dealer not agreeing to those rates seems fair but I thought the manufacturer had a legal duty to correct any safety recalls free of charge.

[MrBen.911]

J1990 said:

Maybe I've been lucky in the past but since when did a recall have any associated costs? When I had the EGR recall on both of my BMWs it was collected from me, courtesy car for the week and then returned free of charge to my workplace.
If you've asked for additional work to be done then the dealer not agreeing to those rates seems fair but I thought the manufacturer had a legal duty to correct any safety recalls free of charge.

The recall will be free. Fixing an air con fault is an entirely separate issue!

[andymc]

plus the "work" they find, why should the selling dealer pay three times their rate to fix something? If you wanted a main dealer car then buy one

[Panamax]

Surely by definition every recall will be a "safety" recall, but "safety" comes in different flavours. Most recalls get dealt with as and when parts are available and then typically during a routine service.

[L91 EON]

[halo34]

L91 EON said:

It’s supposed to be an important one regarding corrosion of steering rack bolts causing it it to become detached.

You can book it in for the recall with a main dealer as its covered by them - the aircon is a separate issue.

Its a risk of accident yes, but statistically unlikely I would expect.

[Jamescrs]

I think OP you are mixing up two separate issues and I don't think using the safety recall lack of action to get the seller to pay main dealer prices to repair the aircon is going to work, paying the main dealer prices will likely wipe out any of the sellers profits in the car.

[geeks]

L91 EON said:

. Am I being unreasonable asking them to stump up the cost of the repair at sytner considering all of the above.

Yes

[Sheepshanks]

L91 EON said:

While I was looking through the paperwork to see if I could see any history on it I found a previous service invoice stating the car had an outstanding safety recall in place.

It can't have been that big an issue or the dealer would have carried it out while they had the car in for service, or refused to give it back until done.

[halo34]

L91 EON said:

Then don’t sell cars with outstanding safety recalls inconveniencing customers that have paid good money on good faith when the issue of the recall and I also think they knew the air con either had an issue or they re gassed it not knowing it had an issue which were both pre existing.

Its getting sorted via independent and the recall can be done via manufacturer - what are you looking for?

[Sheepshanks]

L91 EON said:

It isn’t they’ve said they’ll fix it depending on cost.

They could have asked you to take it back to them.

[Sheepshanks]

L91 EON said:

It was a specialist that left it on the bottom of an invoice is capital letters so they obviously thought it needed taken care of.

Ah, fair enough. Think it comes up on MOTs now, too.

[Sheepshanks]

L91 EON said:

Not with that active recall that they sold it with

Get that done and then take it back?

To be honest, buying cars at a a distance is a can of worms - I bought one once from a brand where the nearest dealer was an hour away and that was a right pain, taking it back seemed to take pretty well all day for the two round trips with drop-off and pick-up time.

[halo34]

L91 EON said:

It isn’t they’ve said they’ll fix it depending on cost.

If its a recent purchase thats a warranty/garage challenge - but the recall can be completed by a manufacturer.

[halo34]

L91 EON said:

At the end of the day they’ve took the piss in the fact they knew it had an outstanding recall and didn’t tell me. It’s an offence for a dealer to sell a car with outstanding safety recalls. They could’ve just accepted they’ve done wrong and scratched my back a little and they wouldn’t hear from me again.

Back to my point - there are solutions, but it seems you want more from them?

[halo34]

Good luck !

[Trevor555]

L91 EON said:

For my inconvenience I want all the work done in one place and one time. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. Instead they’ll be reported to trading standards.

Let us know if your tactic works.

And let us know how easy it was to contact/report to trading standards.