Hey guys, my sister bought a '02 fiesta from a used car dealer in lyneham about 8 weeks, when viewing it the following was noticed, remote central locking not working, cd player won't play cd's, lacquer and paint chipped down one side, power steering fluid low. the garage agreed to fix all the faults, they are all listed on the sales receipt, the car has now been back several times and nothings fixed. first time they got their paint guy to touch up the paintwork, it's a completely different colour and he's missed all the lacquer chips, they said they can't do anything with the locking and stereo so tough, new steering rack on order. after much arguing key fob was tested by a mate on a sealey fob tester, it shows a strong signal emitted when buttons pressed so assumed working, after speaking to a local ford dealer they said the locking ecu's can fail so another has been sourced, today dealer fitted it still said they can't get it to work, if she wants cd player fixing she'll have to pay £100 for it and they forgot to order steering rack.

The dealer is affiliated to a main ford dealer (different one to the one i got advice about locking ecu), now do ford not have any diagnostics kit that they could hook up that will tell them whether the fault is with the fob or the car, the service manager from the ford dealer said they will supply a fob and program it at cost (£60) but salesman won't pay for it and im loathe to if it won't fix the problem, what happened to diagnostics and not just replacing parts? from speaking to a paint guy she knows apparently to fix the lacquer properly would require respraying that side of the car which he said would be about £500 which the dealer is never going to go for and i won't be happy if they fill the chips in with a touch up stick.

where should she go from here? im for telling them to have the car back and refund her money as they've failed to meet the sales agreement, problem with this is they'll drag there feet and the car runs well and seems reliable which is the important thing but i don't see why she should be paying another £700 to have it put right (which is incidently just over the amount we managed to get of the window price.) the other option i suppose is to write to the financial ombundsman but that will take forever and not sure if they' be any use?

cheers
chris

 

TBH I think she is silly for trying to buy a tatty car and expect it to be fixed up FOC to be a good car instead, and I think she is actually a fucking idiot for taking the car before the faults were rectified after it was agreed they would be, especially as that now means they can easily claim further damage done since the agreement made etc.
Could try citizens advice though for putting together an official looking letter to ask for rectification of the issues as per the receipt.

 

chip i appreciate the advice but don't call my sister a fucking idiot it's not really necessary

chris

 

Apologies for swaring about her, I should have just called her an idiot.

Hopefully she'll learn from this and be less of an idiot next time anyway

 

LOL!

I agree with Chip though. Would have never picked the car up /handed over the cash until the faults were fixed.

Total cowboy of a dealer aswell. Selling a car and promising to fix it "on the way" is recipe for disaster. You never know how expensive repairs might get and you probably end up conning yourself...

You say, the faults are listed in the sales receipt. Does it also say that they are going to be fixed?

 

+1

Apart from the fucking idiot bit

Your sister should of looked over the car on day of collection then refused to take delivery until the faults were rectified.

And thats coming from a car salesman, who would of made sure all faults were rectified before collection.

 

Sorry to hear about your sister mate, an internet search via Google etc can also be helpful, at least to inform you of relevent Authorities and bodies who protect 'the buyer' of products etc. And with a bit of luck, maybe someone on here will be able to be a bit more helpful and more considerate than that Chip clown, unfortuently the internet is full of people like him and looking at previous posts by him in the past, he's got a Chip on his shoulder.

I know not everyone on here is like him, just the usual few, you would find on any forum I am afraid. Anyway mate, best of look with sorting things out and no shame in sticking up for family, I wouldn't tolerate him speaking about my sister in that manner either.

 

+1 it should of been fixed BEFORE she picked it up, otherwise what would be the point of taking the car KNOWING there's fault's and going to be taken away to get repaired or not in this case

 

which dealer in lyneham was it? i know them all quite well

 

chippenham motor company next to the petrol station. the ford dealers there affiliated to is the chippenham motor co. ford dealers in chippenham. as mentioned earlier i think they've promised to fix the faults without realising how much they were going to cost but that's there problem not hers. it says on the sales invoice the faults are to be repaired. i came on here hoping a few of the more technical guys may know some more information about the locking issue, mainly how to identify if it's a fob issue or one of the control units on the car? the cd player is a bit of a non issue it can be replaced with a aftermarket unit and forgotten about, the paintwork some sort of arrangement will have to be made about the main issue as it stands is the locking

chris

 

Well the main thing is: Don't take the car anywhere else but to the dealer where she's bought it. If she has the fault repaired by anyone else she can't get compensation from the dealer and will have to pay the bill herself.

Regarding the locking issue. Things like that are quite often caused by faulty micro switches in the door locks.

Also, one of my customer's Mk1 Focus once blew the fuse for the central locking system. I don't know about the Fezzer, but in the Focus that fuse was located at the back of the fusebox so you couldn't see it without actually taking the fusebox out.

IMO, ECUs very rarely go wrong but dealerships and garages like to change them anyways (and secretely fix the actual fault) because there's big money in it...

 

all fuses have been checked over, including removing fuse box to see if there were any behind there. im leaning towards the fob being faulty even though it emits a strong signal but i can't believe ford don't have the kit to find this out without just replacing parts on a whim

chris

 

Does central locking work when you put the key in the lock or lock the door from the inside?

 

it works fine from the key and inside the car, just not with the remote button, tried the reprogramming method in handbook (ignition on and off 4 times, bong sounds press button) but it's having none of it, fob has known working battery in it

chris

 

contact trading standards .. take the car back and ask for a refund....

 

That's strange indeed.

Anyways, just tell them to get it fixed (or lower the price, or take the car back). Legally your sister is in the right.

The stone chips are a bit of a grey area but the key fob and radio problem will guarantee you success in court (and I bet they know that).

 

the stone chips aren't an issue, but in a couple of areas on the passenger a, b and c posts the lacquer has flaked off, the paintwork underneath is fine but if the lacquer isn't repaired moisture will get under it and more and more will flake off, to the best of my knowledge lacquer can't just be touched in and blended the way stone chips can and thats the bit that needs repairing properly

chris

 

+1

Such a common mistake people make, you must give the seller adequete time to rectify a fault before involving anyone else.

 

Tbh mate,laquer peel only usually occurs on newer cars after poor prepwork on previous painting.you could in theory just re laquer it but it will peel off again in the future so it really needs to be sanded off,re painted then re lacquered.

£500 sounds very expensive to paint the side of a car with minimal repairs,should be £300 max.

I'd say 100% that the key just needs coding up to the car,if the locking works off the key then it's got to be a transponder issue,ie the keys not talking to the ecu.

I'd expect a decent dealer to rectify the faults as a matter of course but unfortunately often they tell you what you want to hear just to make you sign on the dotted line.

You've certainly got a case if you wanted a refund but if it's only minor issues and she wants the car would it be better to look to getting a partial refund and doing the work yourself rather than relying on these imbeciles?

 

400+vat was the price given to repaint the side of the car, i know the lad his work is very good and it is silver too so matching it up isn't the easiest.

getting a partial refund would be the easiest option but id still need to take it to a dealer to have it hooked up to the computer to figure out what's going on with the locking, these guys have the kit there just not being helpful in using it even when it's the cheapest option for them.

chris