My wife and I traded in our trusty Audi A4 (7 years old) for a 2014 10k miles ford Ka, as she is no longer doing long commutes and only does about 8 miles a day, plus there's lots of talk of cities like ours penalising diesel users for bring their cars into the city, so we thought we were doing the right thing.

Week and a half later and last night the engine light came on with an injector fault error. Car lost a lot of power and was quite juddery.

The user manual said it could be driven as long as not pushed too hard and to get it checked. She took the car to work this morning and when nearly at work the engine light started flashing. Manual says if this happens the car should not be driven and there may be catalytic converter damage.

Got the car picked up by the RAC who showed us the various error messages and said he sees it a lot as it is a Fiat engine and often they get water ingress into the engine or cylinder.

The garage phoned to say they will look at it as soon as possible but asked my authorisation to charge in case the issue isn't covered under the remainder of the cars manufacturer's warranty. I explained that as it was purchased less than 2 weeks ago if they weren't careful with how they dealt with this, we would be returning the car and asking for a full refund. She changed her her tune and said ignore the authorisation this and they will phone with an update.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, if they don't fix this 100% and can assure me no other damage has occurred such as engine/cylinder etc then I will be beginning the return process.

Has anyone gone down this route and also what would your thoughts be on accepting the car back if they fix it but won't comment on any further damage or wear caused by the problem?

Cheers. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

Have a read of the following as it may help

http://www.consumerrightsexpert.co.uk/buyi...ights.html

Or just ask me You have a 30 day refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I could go into further detail but at this stage there seems little point going into the complexities.

How much was the Ka please? LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Ka was £5995 but trade in for Audi was £7100 so they gave us cash too.

After speaking to my wife we are now not sure we even want it repaired if we have the option of handing it back. Engine faults worry me somewhat. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

By all means reject the car whilst still in the 30 day period then. The value of the sale is within the small claims court limit which is why I was asking.

This is an unusual set of circumstances though. You have already relinquished ownership of the Audi and you are not out of pocket as they paid you cash. If they caved in and took the car back, the only sensible conclusion is for them to give you the cash value that the Audi was worth less what you have already been paid. I suspect if they wanted to give you the cash for the price of the Ka, they would try squirming around and say the market value has dropped now, blah blah blah. Not having any of that!

The 30 day time limit for a refund stops ticking during the period of any request for repairs and repairs being carried out I should also add. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Last edited by The Doctor on 2nd May 2017 5:19 pm. Edited 2 times in total

Thanks Doc. We would only be looking for the £5995 back as anything else would be chancing it I would have thought.

Will they likely put up a fight and can they get out of the refund?

Cheers. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

Just edited the above slightly. The law is clear now where it wasn't before. The new legislation shows that if a product falls short of the implied terms of quality etc, you have the right to a refund. They are on a downward slope if they try to challenge.

If they have already carried out a repair or made a start, they might argue that you have not given them chance to resolve it before changing your mind and rejecting the car. If they have fixed it and all is well with it, you would struggle to reject it then because they will say they have solved the problem. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Cool. Will make decision tonight and call them first thing in the morning if we decide to reject. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

Decided to reject the car. Considering it only has 3 months warranty we have concerns that other damage may have been done with the misfiring cylinder.

Will call them in the morning and let you know how it goes. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

Hopefully they have not already begun a repair. Should be straightforward if they haven't but I would be interested to know what they say. Still busy with hospital visits but I'll keep an eye on this  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

If they had I would have expected them to have called me to let me know what the problem was and whether or not the warranty covered it.

I'll get them first thing in the morning though so hopefully before anything is done. Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

True, all should be well.  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Just on the off chance they claim their policy is to give a refund up to say 7 days from purchase and not beyond that (unlikely I admit), S.22 of the Act has your back: "An agreement under which the short-term right to reject would be lost before the time limit passes is not binding on the consumer." LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Ok, spoken to someone who has taken details and will call back. I have realised that we had the head unit replaced with an aftermarket one as the car didn't have Bluetooth. We still have the original - how should that be dealt with and should it affect the process? Learned to drive in 2011.
Bought a Micra - great little car
"Upgraded" to Kia Sportage - hated it
Proper upgrade to FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - tailgate paint issues, fuel gauge rewire, transfer box failure at 36k miles, clutch at 60k
Reconditioned diff at 70k ish
Sold at 84k and now on a DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental

You'd probably be best changing it back for your benefit but other than that it's not a major factor. It certainly doesn't void your rights. Wait and see what they say. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey