Criminal Negligence - or not

By : Forum Member
Published 20th November 2014 |
Read latest comment - 22nd June 2015

Hi.... heres a good one for you.  An extremely well know motor company sold me a brand new well known type of van.  It has a constant intermittent stalling issue which makes the vehicle dangerous as there is loss of brakes and steering which has resulted in a number of near miss accidents.  I had returned the vehicle to the dealership with the arrangement that they would road test the vehicle daily to find the fault and it was agreed for them to do this over the course of 1 month.  I had alternative vehicles of my own to use so no problems there.  After a week the dealer asked me to collect the vehicle stating that the road testing had revealed nothing.  I was able to catch them out by stating that the tracker I had fitted on the vehicle had indicated that the vehicle had not been road tested and had indeed not left there premises.  I am still battling the dealer and wish to know if their actions where criminal in any way.  If any one has any thoughts on this I would be most grateful.  Thanks


Steve at AnyTime UK
Comments

Hi Steve

I'm not a criminal expert or even a consumer law expert, but i have had plenty of dealings with car manufacturers in my time with various issues and interesting outcomes!

My first suggestion would be to email/write to the dealer where you bought the van from. You need to give them a written report of the problem and wait for their reply. You now have a written chain of events.

Clearly they have failed to take you seriously and that would majorly annoy me. Your next step (IMHO) is to complain to the service manager at said garage and if necessary escalate that to senior management or if they are part of a chain speak to a manager/director of them.

If you still don't get anywhere then go to the manufacturers/distributors in the UK. I would have thought by then that someone would have listened and have taken you seriously.....

I took on my local Audi dealership in September- long and short i got to director level of the chain of owners of the local garage, resulting in a half price service and going to another local(ish) garage in the same chain, 

I also took on a Renault dealership a few years ago regarding a gearbox issue on a 3 1/2 year old car -that resulted in going all the way to the top and spoke to Renault UK and pushed my way to a senior manager in their complaints department -  i got them up to 70% contribution for a new gearbox, before deciding that my best option would be to dump the car.

Best of luck with getting your issue sorted.

Feel free to PM me for any further tips/advice or even bounce a few ideas around 


Clive

Hi Steve, it may be worth seeing if the motor dealer is a member of a professional tradebody, such as Motor Codes, Bosch Service Centres, VBRA etc. They normally show off any credentials on their website.

You can also do a search on the TSI website:

www.tradingstandards.gov.uk - Car Dealers


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

I'm not sure about criminal negligence but to prove other types of negligence you have to show they failed in their "duty of care" (I'm not a solicitor, I just work for one so this is my take on things!)

There's a process you have to follow to make a claim, I guess it would be the same or very similar. The first stage is the Preliminary notice, which is where you basically write to them and state your argument and that you are preparing to make a claim, they have 21 days to respond. 

I can PM you a few links to articles on our website that may help? Or most solicitors give a 30 minute consultation free of charge so it may be worth calling a legal expert? 


Thanks,
Michelle

No crime committed, but i'd be onto trading standard regardless, and go as high as you can in the dealership plus contact the manufacturer with a warning you will go public with it. Stay professional, write professionally - don't whine and moan and make it personal or emotional (I was really upset that you....), stick to facts and figures and actually what happened. Letting them know how you feel let's them know how to deal with you based on how you appear to come across (emotional mug they can mess around with, for example).

Stay factual and they cannot guess your next move and will take you more seriously. If you use certain words they may also believe you have sought legal advice. Words like Duty of Care, Negligence, Insurance Risk and so on.


indizine
indizine

Thank you everyone for all your advise - most appreciated.  The story is much longer than my original explanation... it went on for 18 months or so with total denial by the dealership that any fault existed.  Unfortunately the whole process took its toll on my health - which was September 2013.  I was out of action from then, through 2014 and have only recently just returned to work.  Depression of the deepest kind - dont mind sharing that with you as its fact... caused by bullying abuse by those involved.  Im recovering so all is good as far as it goes.  The van however has sat rotting since that time and Im trying desperately to summons the courage to pick up all the threads and continue my case as I can neither sell the van or return it.  I can not afford legal fees.  I also dont mid telling you that this dealer is <name removed fro legal reasons>.  Ford Motor Company are of no use at all as they say that my contract is with the dealership and they cant help me.  I have felt as if there is a conspiracy between parties to withold information about a known problem and that I am the only one in the world with such a problem.  To fight an ongoing problem for 18 months takes its toll on you... believe me.  Sooner or later I will raise the bar and fight on.... till then..thanks again all.


Steve at AnyTime UK

Is there no ombudsman you can refer the case to??


indizine
indizine

Hi Steve, really sorry to hear it's impacted your health. Some people don't realise the stress these issues cause.

I'm afraid, due to a conflict in interest I've had to remove the name of the dealership.

But I can tell you this particular dealership is monitored and comes under the Motor Codes Scheme, which in turn falls under the Trading Standards Institute Consumer Code.

If you go to the Motor Codes website you can lodge a formal complaint or you can phone them directly on 0800 692 0825.

Motor Codes has to follow up consumer complaints and can act as a mediator between aggrieved parties. If you have any problems, by all means let us know.


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Is there no ombudsman you can refer the case to??”
 

Posted at the same time  The ombudsman in this case is MotorCodes.


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Steve R

Sorry for breaking protocol / naming etc / my apologies.

Thank you for your advise and Motor codes details..... I will definitely be in touch with them soon as even if nothing even comes of it it is important that the facts are logged with them.  Since my last post here, in fact immediately after my last post here, I was inspired to write to the Directors of the said company once more and they too now know the inpact of their actions.  I have asked them 3 specific questions relating to the deception used by them and their intentions moving forward.  I doubt I will recieve any worthwhile reply however it is my only way forward to eventually end the problem.

I really appreciate the kindness shown here

Onwards and Upwards

Cheers all

Steve


Steve at AnyTime UK

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