Timeline

1/8/2025 Bought used car from independent dealer 90 miles away. Took out a 6 month warranty through them with an independent warrant company they offer through their car sales. Paid for all by bank transfer.

September- October car started having various and multipe faults ranging from small (missing wheel nut) to brakes and discs and engine light coming on (faulty brake pressure sensor) At the time I was unaware of my consumer rights but complained to dealer about the quality of the car. Faults were repaired and either covered by warranty or I was reimbursed by them for the repairs which they agreed could be done by my local garage.

November - engine service light reappears and engine warning light flashes a couple of times on startup. I express my dissatisfaction with the car via email. They tell me to go through warranty. Day after car suffers major engine failure. I express via numerous phone calls to them they need to take the car back and have 1 chance at repair as i have now been reading up on my consumer rights. Citizens advice confirm this with me.

Car towed to my garage for diagnostics report, confirms combustion chamber misfires, report by them say engine rebuild needed (head gasket, timing belt etc) my garage did a quote for all the work needed out of courtesy, nothing else.

Dealer said they want the car back and the Car was towed back to a garage they use to repair their cars (they are just a dealer and do not have a garage on site (his words) weeks pass, not much communication but eventually confirm what my garage said. More time passes, just keep being told they are waiting for parts and as they are using my warranty to pay for repair, they are waiting for the okay from my warranty to go ahead. The next day, the repair is magically done!! They then demand payment for the remaining cost of the repair that the warranty wouldn't cover. I obviously challenged this in the days following, saying it was their one chance at repair. They basically claim because it my warranty used to pay that it was not their one chance at repair, they also say they were 'doing me a favours aswell as telling me they do not repair cars or happily refund their used cars because they break down! They then tell me unless I pay half the remaining balance (they will pay half) they will not release the car. I still contest this but feel I have no choice!

Collected car. Asked for invoice from repairing garage they tell me it was forwarded to the dealer. Immediately after collected i send a paid under protest email to show i am contesting that I should be paying! 

Once car is back with me I arrange for garage to do a diagnostics test. Codes found...

2968 – Intake Camshaft sensor.

My garage think the timing belt was fitted incorrectly. Engine is also.still tapping and idling high, struggling to start and stalling. 

Aswell as this these codes showed and the alarm doesnt set when locking....more new faults!

Footwell Module

A8C2 – Reversing light, right, Faulty

A8BF - Rear fog light/adaptive break light, left, Faulty 

A8BC - Tail Light right 2, side marker light, rear left Faulty

Instrument Panel 

A559 - Terminal power supply switched off

I send final rejection notice and final warning before action email and recorded letter as advised by citizens advice. I explain the new faults.

The car is now off the road as it is unsatisfactory and I was not prepared to keep using a faulty car with a possible failed timing belt repair incase more damage is caused, nor was i willing to keep paying for diagnostics.

They then ignore all communication!! 

In late December I then proceed with Alternative Dispute Resolution. Unfortunately the dealer is still refusing a refund. I cannot add the mediation response as it is a screenshot of their email. But they are unsure where I stand legally and advise that I take legal advice.

People keep telling me to take them to court as he is breaking consumer law. However I am such an anxious person and a single mum of 2, with enough stress going on, how sure can I be that I will win the case?

Does anyone have an advice and do you believe I have a strong case?

Looking for some advice. On Wednesday 25th Feb I test drove a car with Big Motoring World and decided to proceed with the sale (following initial visit to branch on 24th Feb and initial test drive). I asked if I could reserve the car until the following Monday (2nd March) to give me time to arrange funds to purchase the car outright. Following some aggressive sales tactics regarding the extended warranty, I was given the ultimatum that they could only hold the car for more than 3 days if I took out the extended warranty. I reluctantly agreed and paid a £500 deposit and signed a finance agreement for the extended warranty (and a proportion of the car sale to make up the minimum £3k for finance).
 

I have since had time to think about this and decided not to proceed with the sale as it left a very bad taste (felt like I had essentially been blackmailed), amongst other things i.e they refused to charge the battery (PHEV vehicle) so I could assess during the second test drive. I confirmed in writing (via email) on Sunday evening (1st March) explaining that I would be withdrawing from the purchase (including finance agreement as per 14 day cooling off period) for reasons stated above. I also requested a refund of the £500. 

I am yet to hear back. What should my next course of action be? I expected a phone call on Monday 2nd March) asking where I was to collect the car but I’ve heard nothing. Should I follow up with a phone call?

Do I need to directly notify Black Horse Finance of the withdrawal/cancellation of the finance agreement? Or does the email to Big Motoring World suffice with regard to notification within 14 days?

Thanks in advance

In January 2025, my driving test was cancelled at short notice (1 hour before the time of the test) by the DVSA due to driving examiner being unavailable.

Since then, I have tried a number of times to claim compensation for £160 of Out-of-Pocket expenses via the OPEC team at DVSA for the cost of my driving instructors time and car (as I believe I have the right to do so) but have been refused a refund multiple times. It appears as though each time I send through the requested evidence, the guard-posts change and I am, yet again, unable to receive compensation. They say that my driving instructor charges over the national average but this is because I live and learn in London and so, naturally, the cost is higher. In reality, the Out-of-Pocket expenses for the cancelled test are much higher than the £160 I am looking to claim - from the pre-test driving lesson to the work missed etc.

My driving instructor has never seen the process be so difficult for other students and so I thought it was about time I reach out for further help.

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated. This has been deeply frustrating, especially with the way the DVSA treat/earn so much money off of learner drivers.

Not sure how to begin here. Driving for almost 20 years no issues no points no accidents etc.

A vehicle collided into me, causing significant damage to my vehicle, possible write off (all cosmetic but that’s just insurance for you)

I found out quickly afterwards that my insurance had expired a few days prior and the new policy I had taken out with another provider started the following day (my error)

As I have no policy in place, how do I go about dealing with the other parties insurance company? I have never been in an accident before so I have no idea how to deal with this issue as I have never dealt with insurance companies before.

Should I reach out to them as the registered keeper/owner of the vehicle or as the driver of the vehicle? What would be my best course of action to minimize my exposure as much as possible? I have a suspicion they will attempt to take full advantage of me knowing I have no legal body fighting in my corner.

All the advice I can get is appreciated,

many thanks!

First name: xxxxx

Surname: xxxxx

Address: xxxxxxx

Telephone number: xxxxxxx

Email address xxxxxxxc

Date of incident: 27/07/2025

Time of incident: 15:05

Location: Ferry road Fazakerley

Detailed description of the incident and why you hold Liverpool City Council responsible: I am a taxi driver and picked up a fare from montrovia crescent to moor park at 14.58 & travelled down ferry road & went over a speed bump & heard a thud.
I find this speed bump to be of an excessive height and you can clearly see the marks on top of the speed bump plus the camber of the road were the speed bump is makes your car lower when travelling over them.

Details of damage: My vehicle is serviced on a regular basis with a added vehicle inspection every time.
Upon on getting my vehicle serviced i asked the mechanic to check the rattle i was hearing when the car was idle saying i have only noticed it from when travelling over a speed bump & heard a thud on traveling over it.
He inspected the vehicle when the service was due only to find the bumper had popped out of place & the reinforcement plate underneath was damaged & now needs replacing.

Reference number: xxxxxxxx

...........................

Dear Mr xxxx
 

Kind regards

Xxxxxxx
Insurance & Claims Officer

November 
                        Enquiries to:  xxxxxxxx
                        Direct Line:    xxxxxxxx
                        Our Ref:   xxxxxxxxcx
                        

Mr xxxxxxx

Dear xxxxxxx

Re:      Claim for Vehicle Damage

I write further to previous correspondence.

Having reviewed my file, I can inform you that liability is denied.

Liverpool City Council operates a regular system of inspection in the locus area. We are satisfied that the Authority has a defence to this claim.

The carriageway is routinely inspected on a yearly basis and when an inspection was undertaken on 17th February 2025, the defect identified in your photographs was not of an ‘actionable’ nature to warrant repair.

I can confirm that when my Inspector attended the locus on 24th September 2025 for the purpose of his report, he noted the following measurements:-

(A). 72.52mm (B). 74.32mm.

The Highway Inspector had advised that there is no legal limit for the height of a speed cushion. Guidance states a height of no greater than 100mm. 

I am consequently instructed to deny liability for this claim.

Yours faithfully,

Xxxxxxx

Xxxxxxxx
Insurance & Claims Officer

I have sent picture of the speed bump with loads of scrape marks from other vehicles plus an estimate for the work to be carried out 

I rented a Zipcar few months ago now and x1 tyre burst on my trip.. I had to pull over called the advisor, everything seemed fine. Told me to leave the car and get a taxi, as she couldn’t find any assistance in adequate time to come out and support - I think because it was a Bank Holiday.

Cut to months later I’ve been charged £429. Cost for x2 tyres (?), fittings and towing.

I’ve been emailing customer support and happy to pay for the x1 tyre that burst, they’ve supplied photos, fair enough. But I’m contesting why I’m being charged x2 and also towing as I was advised to leave by the advisor over the phone.

‘This time we are sorry to inform you that both tires were found ripped after your booking, we believe you are responsible for the expenses made to replace them.’

This x2 has come out of nowhere as I stated that x1 tyre was flat and in previous emails they have only mentioned ‘tyre’.

Also, I’ve asked for itemised invoice, as they’ve just sent me a basic Zipcar invoice and god knows how they reached these prices. This was their response to that -

‘Regarding your request for the road service receipt, unfortunately we are unable to provide you a VAT invoice for the recovery and tires replacement as requested. The reason for this is that with a fleet of nearly 3000 vehicles, as I am sure you can understand our vendor recovers multiple vehicles on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for us and therefore bill us on a monthly basis for the service, meaning we do not receive individual invoices for each vehicle.’

Also they stated this -

‘Further more and after reviewing the call made on the day we found out that although you where advised to look in to the spear wheel cavity where the locking wheel nut was located, you replied that there was nothing found there, resulting in the need to recover the vehicle.’

Now I’m no car maintenance professional, so I had no idea what I was looking for.

In my emails back and fourth they have made numerous confusing mistakes, they finally provided images of the 2nd tyre and I honestly cannot see any damage just general wear and tear, they are really clutching at straws. They also randomly decided to give me a refund of half the towing cost? 

‘Our apologies for any misunderstanding as we see that we wrongly emailed you 2 pictures of the rear tire and for the wrong wording used on the initial email. Please find attached bellow the photo of the front tire where damage is noticed on the tires wall. About the Locking wheel nut, after further reviewing the call on the day and seeing that you attempted to find the tools needed for the repairs, so to avoid the vehicles tow, we now exceptionally made sure you receive a 50% discount on the towing cost. We are sorry to inform you that as we see the tires damage reported during your trip, we are unable to take any other action and would like to note the importance of checking the vehicles tires thoroughly before starting your trip. Regarding your request for the maintenance invoice, unfortunately, we are unable to provide you a VAT receipt. The reason for this is that with a fleet of nearly 3000 vehicles, as I am sure you can understand our vendor recovers multiple vehicles on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for us and therefore bill us on a monthly basis for the service, meaning we do not receive individual invoices for each vehicle.'

So I was getting nowhere and they pretty much said the decision is final at managerial level

I decided to get in touch with my Natwest bank for a debit chargeback of £362.32 (taking away half the towing cost they have already refunded).

I didn't hear anything from my bank for 10 days so got in touch and they said it had been rejected?!

I had no email from them so I need to call them tomorrow and find out why.

Any advice and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much. 

Purchase in December 2024 - providing all standard requested used car details:

I bought a used VW ID.4 from Big Motoring World (Blue Bell Hill) in December 2024 with a mileage of 28871. The registration plate is WR21 VYB; it's a 1st edition model first registered in 2021. It had come from Arval as an ex-lease vehicle. I paid £21,048 in total by debit card, split between two cards with different banks: £2,048 on my everyday NatWest debit card and £19,000 on a First Direct debit card, funded by a private First Direct bank loan taken out for the purpose of buying the car. (I continue to pay the loan off in monthly instalments.)

I visited the dealer in person to test drive and purchase the car. This was 80 miles from home. I initially visited and test drove the car on 15th December 2024 and returned to purchase it on 20th December 2024 (more on that below).

It was sold with an MOT dated 6th June 2024, which according to the government MOT history site was carried out by Castle Point Motors Limited in Benfleet at a mileage of 22,916.

Current situation

The car is currently at the service department at Group 1 Volkswagen in Colchester. After a loud engine noise had suddenly developed on Monday this week, particularly associated with braking, I limited the car's further use and booked it in for diagnostic inspection on Friday just gone (31st October) and this Monday 3rd November - they had anticipated requiring it for two days to investigate and road test the issue. They have diagnosed a total loss of oil in the EV engine which will have caused damage, hence the noise, and advised the EV engine needs to be replaced - so I would say it is no longer driveable.

In one sense their inspection is independent, but at the same time, previous work which may have been at fault had been carried out by Group 1 Volkswagen in Southend, within the same company/dealership network. They may have done work for Big Motoring World before the sale.

I have not asserted a right to reject the car - I was not aware of this - but I suspect it is too late?

The service representative overseeing the work with my car called with an initial update around 2pm on Friday. At this stage he explained they had identified that all the oil had leaked from the engine leaving none in there at all, hence the noise, and explained this would have damaged the engine internally as it had still been running without oil. He said that this was "as the result of" previous work that had been carried out by Group 1 Volkswagen in Southend towards the end of 2024 and that he had contacted them, copying his managers, asking how they wanted to proceed given that the leak and damage as "as a result of" their work. During the call he was very careful about the language he used, but despite the care he was taking, used that "as a result of" phrase consistently several times during the call. He also said that one of his colleagues in the workshop told him that increased engine noise had been flagged on a visual health check conducted on a previous visit to Group 1 - but this concern was never shared with me, nor was any health check report ever shared with me, on the two previous times I have taken it into and collected it from Group 1 Colchester. He said that if they had to complete the work in Colchester it would take them weeks to months, due to a backlog of specialist EV work. He hoped that the Southend dealership might perhaps be able to complete the work sooner. 

He called again around 5pm to report that having heard back from the Group 1 Volkswagen Southend dealership with "more information" about their work, it was not related after all, and they were not offering any support. He gave a quote of a bit over £8700 for parts and labour to repair the vehicle. I questioned their change of opinion about the leak being "as a result of" the previous Southend work. He said the Southend staff said if the leak/fault had been a result of their work, this would have become evident much sooner, not only a year later. I pointed out that it was not yet a year later when Group 1 Colchester had apparently identified the engine noise concern but not flagged it with me. He put me on old to speak to a manager, then came back to say the manager wanted time to look into this in more detail and would get back to me on Monday.

I am awaiting their call on Monday but want to be well prepared for that, and ready to set out my intent to dispute the matter rigorously and set out what my potential next steps will be (unless they come back with a plan to resolve the matter satisfactorily without a ~£9000 bill for me). 

Potential issues of dispute with Group 1 Volkswagen Colchester

• As mentioned above, the service representative said on Friday that they had previously identified a concern about the engine noise on a health check - but this was never shared with me. Had it been shared, I'd have had earlier notice of the issue to dispute with Group 1 Southend and/or Big Motoring World, and it might have limited subsequent damage. They'd had the car in for work in July 2025 and again 24-25th September 2025. I am not sure which occasion they were referring to since I was never told about the health check.
   
• In addition, I contacted Group 1 Colchester on 29th August 2025 thinking that a service was due, as the service schedule for the ID.4 is every two years regardless of mileage and the Big Motoring World documentation said it had been serviced aged 2 years on 11/9/2023 meaning the next service would be due in September 2025. The representative I spoke to told me that he could see an extensive servicing history within the Group 1 network including a service completed in 2024, and advised the car was not due for service for another year. I asked for a copy of their service records which he emailed, but this PDF 'printout' was a 30 page document and not in consistent chronological order, so I am afraid I did not persist in going through it in detail and just accepted his advice.
  
  I now believe this was incorrect, as the (different) service representative overseeing my car on Friday told me - on the basis of the same records - that the car had not been serviced and was due a service, which I immediately agreed to have done while they had the car this time alongside the fault investigation work. Again, had the car gone in for the service I had been looking to book in September, this fault might have been identified earlier.
   
• I see the change in tune about their opinion on the link to previous work done in Southend as an issue as well. I have not been convinced by the limited reasoning provided for this.

Potential issues of dispute with Big Motoring World

When purchasing the car, I was shown a "service history" document listing 4 items:

• 01/06/2021 PDI at mileage 0 by Volkswagen UK
• 11/09/2023 Inspection Service at mileage 18924 by Group 1 Southend VW
• 01/02/2024 Brake fluid service at mileage 20167 by Group 1 Volkswagen Southend
• 21/11/2024 Multipoint inspection at mileage 28,871 by BIG MOTORING WORLD

In the extensive Group 1 service record subsequently shared with me by a representative at Group 1 Colchester on 29th August 2025, dating back to the car's original pre-delivery inspection, there is no inspection service listed in September 2023. There is substantial customer complaint and recall work around then, but no full service inspection is listed. I have attached these logs to the post, in original jumbled form and in a chronological summary I made. 

I am therefore now questioning whether the 'record' of this inspection service was falsified by Big Motoring Group. The vehicle should have been serviced at 2 years of age, around then. I cannot see any record that it had ever had an inspection service.

If Big Motoring World had contacted a Group 1 dealer to obtain the records then presumably they would have had access to the same records I was provided a copy of (the brake fluid service date and mileage match exactly while the pre-delivery inspection is 2 days different) which, if it really happened, would include that inspection service given BMW listed it as done at Group 1.

There is a significant body of other work carried out on the vehicle including some quite significant parts replacements, various repairs and several recall replacements. None of this was shared by Big Motoring World - or perhaps it was not shared with them by Group 1. But the service record shows significant work involving the EV engine shortly before my purchase, which I was never made aware of, along with a catalogue of earlier work in the car's lifetime. 

When purchasing the car I was also given a Big Motoring World “200 point inspection” report indicating a pass in all categories, dated 25/11/24 rather than 21/11/24 as on the “service history”, which included engine oil level and leaks and engine noise level as items that had been checked and passed.

On the date of my initial viewing and road test, 15th December 2024, we were on the point of completing the sale when a manager came out at the last minute to explain that a dashboard warning light had come on while they were preparing the car and he could not sell it to me that day. Instead they would take it to a VW dealership to check and resolve the issue before completing the sale. In hindsight, I should probably have walked away. They assured me the issue had been resolved and I completed the purchase on 20th December, driving the car away and 80 miles or so home smoothly without any dashboard warning lights or issues.

I had been working under the assumption that this work was done by Group 1 in Southend, but I now realise there is another VW dealer nearer to the Blue Bell Hill BMW location which is not part of the Group 1 network. I perhaps need to approach them to find out if, what and when they did any work on this vehicle.

Potential issue of dispute with Group 1 Volkswagen Southend

The work carried out by Group 1 Southend late in 2024, which the service representative at Group 1 Colchester referred to on Friday 31st October, saying he believed the leak and subsequent damage was "as a result of" this work, was described in the logs I obtained from a different representative at Group 1 Colchester on 29th August 2025 (attached) as:

Quote

Noise from gearbox. Confirmed very slight click towards centre of rear of vehicle when changing directed. Connected charger, GFF, no relevant faults stored. Located TPI 2071137, carried out extended roadtest and confirmed it applies. Will require removal of e-machine and gearbox with repairs as listed in TPI to resolve. De-energised system, drained coolant, removed drive unit, stripped down, repaired using new bearing, nuts and bolts, rebuilt drive unit. Filled with 3L gear oil. Refit to vehicle. Re-energise system, bleed coolant with 12L coolant/distilled water mix. Carry out 4 wheel alignment. Road test, fault now resolved.

Invoice logs for the same work say:

Quote

Coolant drained and filled. HV system deactivated and activated. Electric drive motor, rear, removed and installed. Rear cover plate removed and installed. Vehicle front and rear measured. Repair drive unit. Battery loaded. GFF/guided functions. Investigate noise from gearbox.

Parts listed on the invoice entries include "SEAL" and "Seal comp". The Group 1 Colchester representative referred to the work having involved removing and replacing the EV engine and resealing it and he initially said it was those seals that had failed resulting in the oil loss.

The entries are oddly duplicated. There are 6 log items all describing this work, all at mileage 28868 and all under order number 62648 – a complaint entry dated 29/8/2024, two invoice entries dated 5/11/2024 with different invoice numbers and almost identical text, and three invoice entries dated 30/12/2024 (which is after I had taken ownership of the car on 20/12/2024, so definitely some time after the work was done): two with third and fourth different invoice numbers and one reusing a number listed on 5/11/2024.

It is therefore unclear exactly when this work took place and whether it is what happened in between my two visits to Big Motoring World on 15th and 20th December 2024 or before then.

Other issues/costs incurred

A (presumably entirely separate) issue emerged in May 2025. In around February 2025, the Volkswagen app (for remote battery status, starting air conditioning, etc) lost its connection to my car. This had been occasionally intermittent until this point, and based on forum posts that seemed to be quite commonly the case across the ID family. The car did still have working internet and GPS connections, but never managed to reconnect with the app. The app features were 'nice but not necessary' and I had not expected them in the first place so I did not view it as a big deal and left it. In May 2025, though, an over the air infotainment software update got stuck part way during a trip away from home in the Peak District and never managed to complete itself in the following weeks. On our return journey, the car's GPS location got 'stuck' in Derbyshire despite our return to East Anglia. This in turn broke the speed limit display system and rendered the car's adaptive cruise control unsafe: it would randomly jump the car's speed based ona speed limit change somewhere in Derbyshire rather than on the roads we were on, be that jumping to 30mph on a dual carriageway or up to 60mph in a residential 30mph limit area.

These issues were investigated and resolved at Group 1 Colchester in July 2025 costing me £594. During this work they identified the internet connection module was faulty and needed replacing, which would cost around another £600 but could not be done yet as the part was not available. In the meantime the car was safe to use again, including ACC and speed limit display, but I might continue to have app connectivity issues and should not attempt any OTA updates.

I did not suspect any foul play from Big Motoring World but took this up with the VW themselves despite it being outside the 3 year warranty on the grounds this was an unreasonable software fault, not something mechanical, and a very unsafe one at that. Group 1 Colchester contacted me to say they were going to cover half the cost of the work as a goodwill gesture, as the car had been Group 1 a lot, and the brand had agreed to cover the other half, leaving me with nothing more to pay beyond the original £594. I accepted this resolution. The work was carried out on 24th and 25th September 2025. I was not given any paperwork confirming the work completed despite asking for this on collection of the vehicle. I was told it was not yet finalised because it was involving the warranty company but that it would be emailed in due course.

Costs incurred so far since the major fault developed have been £14.39 and £5.71 for temporary full comprehensive insurance for use of a car borrowed from my brother for two pre-planned trips during the week even before my car went into the dealership and, since Friday's news, just over £12 to add me as a named driver on his insurance policy for the remainder of its term (well into next calendar year) so I can continue to borrow it while I am left without a car. But I must commute to work daily, and borrowing his car will not always be possible every day.

So total other costs of just over £626, but mostly not related to the engine issue.

Next steps?

What should my next steps be? What should I be prepared with/for on Monday's call?

I will certainly ask for a written record of our conversation and a written record of Friday's phone conversations (I have already written down my account of it in detail, while it was fresh in mind). I wonder if I should ask permission to record Monday's call (I believe my Pixel 6 can do this).

Is it worth requests for more information from any of the parties involved, or from that other VW dealership located nearest to Big Motoring World (Blue Bell Hill), at this stage?

In our conversation on Monday should I mention options like the Motor Ombudsman, or just refer to small claims court proceedings as my next step if we cannot reach a mutual resolution?

Do you think I do have something to dispute here, or am I being unreasonable? How would I approach the dispute given the different parties involved? Does it matter that I was not the customer for Group 1 Southend's work on the vehicle, which took place around a month before I purchased it?

PS: I should perhaps have clarified that the purchase price stated above included some additional protection (alloy/tyre repair cover and SMART scratch repair cover) but no extra warranty.

Sorry - the chronological summary of the service history document that I posted above was badly formatted - Excel columns split across different pages unhelpfully - so if it's useful, this version is much clearer. I'll ask for the original to be removed if possible. Thanks.

WR21 VYB Group 1 service history as of 2025-08-29 chronological summary extracts.pdf

Thanks so much for your time and any advice.

The car is priced at £18,750 and requires a service, plus some cosmetic work (scratches, etc.), which they said would take about a week to complete. The car had just come in, hence why it was not ready. The car will be ready for collection in a day or two.

I’ve been told they don’t accept full payment by credit card. Initially, they asked for the remaining balance via bank transfer. After querying this, they said I could pay £7,000 by debit card and the rest via bank transfer.

I contacted my bank for advice, but unfortunately, the adviser I spoke to was not in the UK and didn’t fully understand my concerns, so I’m turning to this forum for help.

I have the full amount available in my account, but I’m currently between jobs and worried I won’t be approved for finance due to lack of recent income. So I’m planning to pay outright.

My main concern is this:
How can I protect myself when paying such a large amount by bank transfer, especially in the event any issues arise with the car after purchase?

Any advice on best practices, legal protections, or alternative payment methods would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

You may be entitled to a redresss if you bought a car on HP or a personal purchase sceme prior to 2021 when finance companies did a deal with lenders to include

a higher commission rate without informing the borrower. Barclays, lloyds ,Santander etc were all involved in the miss -selling. So some of you could be getting quite substantial refunds.

I was driving up this road and just beofre a junction I heard a massive thud, I had just driven over a metal frame for one of those triangle men at work signs. There was no way to have seen it. Same colour as the road and laying flat. I was annoyed but got out and put it behind a wall along with the thin 2mm thick triangle part which was also in the middle of my road. 

I drove on into town and when I got back placed car on drive.

It was only when I got out I noticed black splodges all on my drive.

Got it on main road and put tray under it. 

The road sign had pierced my oil sump. 

long story short it cost me £200 in tow fees and garage fixing it as well as about what will be £50/60 in new stone on a stone drive.

I rent and landlord will not be pleased. 

I emailed the council insurance claim department and they have asked for this.

Post address  

v5 

MOT Cert 

Copy of insurance  

It’s the last one that is worrying me

 I don’t trust or like insurance companies  

I feel they are going to try trip me up in any way they can.

I did not tell my insurance company, I have no need to.

But are they trying to pull a nasty one?

I can u see stand they want to make sure I was insured but I sense ulterior motives here? 

 It seems Hertz are trying it on anyway through debt recovery company harassment.

26/3/2025 collected Hertz rental car booked through Holiday Extras using American Express credit card. 

 Additional one way rental charge applied even though booked and paid as one way through Holiday Extras.

31/3/2025 disputed Hertz charge requesting American Express to stop payment.

31/3/2025 emailed Hertz to dispute charge as paid through Holiday Extras.  Holiday Extras declined involvement.

10/4/2023 Hertz confirmed charge valid and did not acknowledge payment through Holiday Extras.

30/4/2023 American Express confirmed to Hertz that charge invalid. Hertz accepted and case closed by American Express.

28/4/2025 CCI Credit Management Limited letter received instructed by Hertz requesting payment of $AUD 423.10 debt outstanding.

29/4/2025 American Express declined involvement as case closed with Merchant accepting charge and well after 120 day policy for resolution.  

Suggested contact CCI and confirm case closed with Amex with no debt due.

I have a similar issue whereby I filled my car up with petrol at a SHELL Garage to the value of £29.99 and when I went to pay the transaction was unauthorised.

The timing was outside customer service operation and I couldn’t resolve the issue there and then as I didn’t have any available cash. I willingly gave all my details up the cashier and said I would be back to pay my dues. 

instead, I was met by a different cashier on the two separate occasions I went back who refused to take payment and referred me to Forecourt Eye.

And like this CAG’er, I refuse to pay an admin fee and the only you pay now is online through FORECOURT EYE

Is there no recourse other than to report them to the FTO?

But apparently had only paid for the goods not the petrol. 

 I believed I had paid for everything and left.   

Got a bill in the post plus the £30 forecourt eye charge.   

Seems unreasonable as I did everything you would expect of me to make payment.

If this happens to you.   

Contact the shell garage and ask them to sort it. 

Some garages can and others can't depending on what system they use. 

 In my case they could not sort it.

The advice I got from citizens advice was that I should hold shell in breach of contract for taking the wrong payment. 

The breach of contract makes them responsible for any other fees you have been charged. 

The best way to do this if you have time is to contact shells complaint and make the breach of contract complaint give them 7 days to respond. 

Offer to mediation to resolve the issue. 

 Ideally you want to do this quickly so you can just avoid paying the fee all together, if you pay if you would have to go to court to reclaim the extra costs.   

Hopefully shell will just sort it out at this stage. 

 Ideally get shell to admit it is their mistake in writing or verbally so your case is clear.

As far as Forecourt Eye is concerned your best bet is to make a trading standards complaint about them. 

 The key to the complaint it that they wont let you pay the petrol bill with out paying for fees they have attached (which you don't accept as due). 

 In other words they are pursuing you for a debt and causing undue distress by not letting you make payment on that debt. 

 The distress comes from the extra fees you are attracting from a bill they wont let you pay.

 If enough people make this complaint hopefully they will be taken to task.   

They are unregulated so FTC and ombudsman cant do anything.

My renewal came up , and I called to discuss and negotiate the price.

During the negotiation, I was asked If I use my car for business use, I advised no I don't, but I do have 2 places of work. Monday I may choose to work from site A and Tuesday I may choose to work from Site B. The operative said that I needed business use then as I'm going to different sites.

I explained Im not doing this for business, Im not traveling from site A to Site B the same day. I am choosing to go to a different site on a different day, and I am remaining there from start to finish. I won't have anything in the car or be transporting anything business related. They said because im travelling to multiple places of work I need it. Again I reiterated its commuting and isn't BU.

I went on their site and pulled the information which is very vague, but in terms of car insurance I also don't need business insurance as I am travelling to a "single" place of work. its no different to someone working at their site one day and then working from head office the next.

We couldn't agree and here I am cancelling with them - 13 years membership.

The site says this - 

Sorry to bother you with this, I have tried searching but probably was not using the right terminology or searching the right sections. 

I am in the process of preparing to take this company to court, I have the amount I want to claim, I will be adding on the interest, I also want to add on compensation but have no idea what a fair amount is.

I have kept all communication with them via email, they apologised straight away and offered a 50% refund, I refused and informed them that this was not acceptable.

I used the letter of claim template, asked for a full refund and the weekend charge my parents had to pay for their vehicle as it was not dropped off before 5pm due to the failure of the vehicle I rented. 

This works out to be the sum of £518.28, I said that this is a fair amount for them and I would accept for a quick resolve.

Their vehicle was not safe for the roads, caused a lot of stress on an already stressful time and caused a financial burden of no small amount for my parents, if they paid that in full I would leave the matter and not seek any further damages or compensation and that they had 14 days to reply. 

(There was damage to a lot of the wood items from the van being tipped up on the recovery vehicles and being moved from van to van in the dark and wet by two tired, soaking wet, pee'd off blokes. )

Over several emails they agreed , asking for the invoice from Enterprise rent a car first.

They asked for my bank details and said it would be passed on to their accountant and I would receive the full amount within 30 days. 

Needless to say I have been messed around, I have sent two or 3 chasing emails to the main email account and two email addresses the admin girl CC'd in one time and had no response. 

I sent an email on Sunday 06.10.24 to all 3 email addresses -

Quote

 

It has now been over a month since the promised refund. 

I have reached out several times and waited, to give you the benefit of the doubt. 

At end of day tomorrow if I still haven't heard from you, or the money (£518.28) is not in my account, I will go forward with pursuing the refund using the small claims court and I will also be seeking compensation. 

 

The events that I need to work out a fair amount of compensation from.

(I do not have photos of all the scratches and scrapes etc to the oak sofa's, arm chairs and all the other bits and bobs, I do not have time or the mental energy to go and get them either, there is too much going on right now. 

I may be able to get my parents to get some, but most of it is still in storage and they are up to their necks in repairing an old house they have bought. )

I rented a Luton van from the above company to be picked up by myself on the 01.08.24 and dropped off the next day on the 02.08.24.

I was not expecting it to be in tip top condition, but it was a joke from the moment I saw it on the forecourt.  If I wasn't desperate I would of walked. 

The list of issues is extensive and documented but a few are - It had no windscreen wash, the screen was filthy on the inside, the usb plugs and cigarette lighter did not work so no charging. The temperature gauge was faulty going straight to maximum even when cold. It was filthy inside and out, banged up all over. 

The main issue being it made a strange noise while driving that I thought was the brakes, but wasn't too noticeable or bad at first. 

I drove straight to Shropshire to get the last of my parents stuff from their house, they had a van as well and we drove back to Bristol morning of the 2nd. 

On the way the noise got much worse very quickly, at 12.26 lunchtime I had to pull over at a garden centre as the roads were not safe to stop on, the front passenger wheel was impossible to touch and keep your hand on. You could feel the heat radiating from it. 

I told my parents to carry on with the journey, they got to the storage unit and were unloaded by about 14.30pm.

I called the rental company who gave me a number to phone, a recovery vehicle arrived at 13.40. 

The recovery agent checked the vehicle over and said that it was not fit for purpose - 

After jacking up the front passenger side he grabbed the wheel, pushed and pulled it, forwards, backwards and side to side. The wheel clunked in all those directions, there was a lot of movement, he then tried to rotate it and it did not want to move. 

This was described to me as a destroyed wheel bearing, his actual words were "if you had carried on any further the wheel would have collapsed in on itself".

Also of interest, he noticed that there was a new axle nut and collar on the driveshaft\axle, his words were that "they are obviously aware of this problem and tried to fix it but not bothered replacing the wheel bearing whilst its off the vehicle." 

Something else he noticed was the wheel arch over the back passenger side wheel was rubbing on the wheel and wearing away the plastic, I deliberately evenly distributed the weight and did not place the heavy items all on one side or at the back. It appears that there is damage either to the wheel arch or something else that side because something doesn't look right with the wheel arch. 

There was scoring on all the brake discs noticed by the recovery agent, he did not like this, stating that the disc needs to be smooth in order to have maximum contact with the brake pads, that is how you stop a heavy vehicle carrying cargo, all the brake discs on the van, (I felt them myself) were fully of ridges and areas with deep scoring. His words were "this only happens when you put new pads on old discs".  

The end result of the inspection was that the vehicle was not road worthy in his opinion, a collection of his thoughts minus the swear words "it should never have left the site, it is not fit for purpose, It is a dangerous vehicle, someone could of been hurt."

Also of interest, on the paperwork for the recovery it said that the van was a 2014 plate, which it clearly wasn't.

Unfortunately the recovery agency did not want to take me the full length of my journey, they only agreed to drop me off at the Gloucester services and arranged with another company to pick me up and take me to the storage unit I was supposed to be meeting my parents at to unload the vehicle. 

I was dropped off in a lorry bay and left in a van with no working cigarette lighter, usb ports, a smart phone I had been using as a satnav with next to no battery and a service station with no plugs you can use and a grumpy cleaner who refused to let me charge my phone. 

The second vehicle did not turn up, I used the last of my battery to contact the main number again about 6pm. 

10pm I was finally picked up. I arrived at the storage unit gone midnight in the pouring rain. 

My dad and I had to unload my van and put the stuff in to their van and drive it the short distance through the car park to the back of the building to unload it again. It took 5 trips and we did not get back to my place until 3 am. 

I advice all drivers not use tesco fuel specifically Diesel 

i just got £50 worth of diesel exactly on saturday 19:27 from Dudly tesco fuel station

after 7 minutes of driving then the engine started playing up almost like running out of diesel

so went off do had to live on the main road unsafe location without my choice ...

whats ur tips on this matter where should i take my car to check out n what are the procedure ..

appreciate ur tips on the view.

I made a transaction yesterday around 19:30 with a dealer from Derby, part exchange my 13 plate Rav4 to their 15 plate civic.

They drove to my place to inspect the vehicle and give a valuation.

He although gave me an idea that it would be around £3000 but is subject to change if any other major fault is found.

during this phone call I obviously declared that my vehicle is Cat N, very limited service history (only receipts i kept during my ownership), and also that i have had the car for  around a year now.

they (2 guys from the dealer) arrived at my place, they inspected my car and test drove it.

I sat at the back and the guy driving was telling the other guy (sat in the passenger) all the things he noticed and feels.

He felt that the gear box was sticky and can potentially go.

He asked me if i noticed this.

And i replied with that not really but i said that i thought it was just the difference in driving a different car for a week or so (we had another vehicle that we mainly drive).

the vehicle in question was just sat in our drive, we didnt have our insurance renewed on it because we want to have another smaller car.

I initially offered £1500 for my car and their car was on £6700 but was willing to knock £200 which would bring it down £6500.

i said to the guy that i would not accept £1500, may all in all money to add for their car was £4500, which would value my rav4 at £2000.

they accepted, we shook hands, he gave me the keys and green slip and other doc and i proceeded with the bank transfer.

after 2hours around 22:00 ish, the guy rang me, said that they broke down (lights came on and was like in limp mode) and will be back at my place to cancel the transaction.

he came down my house, irate and said we will take that car, refund you the money and £100 to have my car recovered at a Tescos somewhere.

He was very confrontational and intimidating whilst his friend/business partner was all calm.

i then decided to call the police since i felt like i wasn't secure having 2 guys in front of our house, also to get legal advice on what to do.

we were advised that this is a civil matter, should they want to take it further, i will just get a letter of the post.

guys what should i do,

did i do the correct thing?

Am i required to give back their vehicle, and end up with a broken vehicle.

At present there is no issue with our Jeep and no issue driving the vehicle.

The recall is regarding the High Pressure Fuel Pump that could fail prematurely. 

A HPFP failure may introduce internally failed component debris into the fuel system which could potentially cause fuel starvation. 

Fuel starvation may result in an unexpected loss of motive power which can cause a vehicle to crash without prior warning. 

Our concern is that our Jeep dealership have told us it may be several months before they can get the replacement pump.

We cannot be without the use of the vehicle for several months and do need to use the Jeep in the meantime for towing as we have holidays booked. 

However attached to the recall notice there is a pamphlet from the DVSA and it states specifically that it is an offence to use a defective vehicle especially if involved in an accident or other traffic offence.  

It could also affect the vehicle insurance and lastly putting passengers or occupants of the vehicle in danger is another concern.

We are wondering of the legal aspect and if we should continue to use the vehicle as several or more months is a very long time?

Is there anything else that we could do as we do not want to be suffering a financial loss due to our holiday booking etc as at present we cannot even trade in the vehicle. 

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Many thanks.

I bought a new car which came with a 5 year Warranty.

When it was 4 and a half years old, a component failed.

The Dealership did not arrange to repair it despite repeated requests.

After 7 months, I commenced a legal action for the cost of the new part.

The Dealership are now offering to supply a reconditioned part, saying that’s the manufacturer’s policy.

I’m insisting on a new part.

The Consumer Rights Act states that if something was bought new, it should be replaced with a new item.

I’ve had a scary letter from their Solicitor which is designed to frighten me.

I’ve told the Dealership that UK consumer law overrides manufacturer policy.

The case hasn’t come to Court yet but I welcome your views.

Thanks

Around the middle of June I had issues with my car when I got back from a 2 week holiday, no power at all when trying the ignition, i got my neighbour to jump start me and thought it was more likely to be because it's been stood 2 weeks and needed a kick.

From then on it's been fine untill last week the ignition won't start again, no power at all. Yesterday I called a few garages and explained and they said it sounds like an electrical issue and to bring it in today.

Called up around 4pm, the guy said the fault was a tracker. I informed him I don't have any tracker to my car, he said it's a RAC GPS insurance tracker that's causing the battery to drain.

I have never had RAC car insurance in the whole 4 years I have had my car, so its obviously the previous owner.

Paid £125.00 to the electrician mechanic just to basically unplug it.

I feel absolutely peed off and think I should invoice RAC to pay for it!

What do you guys think? 

We bought it on finance arranged by Junction 17 who in the past have been really good and this was the 3rd car we had got from them.

   It had 80,000 miles and 9 months MOT.  Not one to take warranties on cars one was sneaked into the deal at £500 just before the credit check and rather redoing the credit check I left it on. 

So once we had added the interest for the finance the warranty will be closer to £700. 

We drove the car away and apart from small issues like the drivers door window not closing and having to be reset we was fairly happy with the car. 

The infotainment was stuck on downloading which Jaguar have quoted £250 to diagnose but I was too late to see that fault to return the car. 

We took the car for a service in March 2024 as the one claimed to be on the car was not in the service record. 

So we took it to an independent agent in Bury St Edmunds close to where we live who charged us £550 for the service. 

They informed us of the oil leaking from the turbo and its imminent failure. 

So we put a call and claim into A1 Approved who declined the claim based on the fact the turbo had "not failed". 

Stupid when the failure of the turbo could potentially destroy the engine.  We tried to argue the point but got no where.

Used Cars Peterborough | Junction 17 Cars

WWW.JUNCTION17CARS.CO.UK

---

Used Cars peterborough - All our cars are approved as standard. Find out what sets us apart from other motor dealers and why our customers rate...

Fast forward to June 2024 and the car has done 4,000 miles since we bought it and guess what the turbo went - luckily we was quick to stop and so stopped too much damage. 

The turbo had to be replaced and so we applied again to A1 Approved to be told the claim was denied due to "Wear and Tear" and the fact we knew the turbo had a pending failure! 

I even spoke to the director who was very dismissive and declined the claim.  In fact they had declined the claim in under 20 minutes from making the claim.

So we appealed and they sent an "independent" engineer down who not only told them it was wear and tear on the bearing, but also the turbo was NOT faulty when we bought the car - not sure how he knew that without seeing the car 6 months ago. 

So not only do I have a worthless warranty but also had a £3200 bill for not only the turbo but the manifold which was bodged up, and a valve which had to be replaced.  Plus now having lost faith in the car and in such negative equity stuck with it until I can raise the balance of the finance and trade in value.

I see many people have had similar issues with A1 Approved on here and wonder if they have been successful in any action as I am taking them to small claims court.

Any advice would be great thanks

I'm a member of a car club and have been a member for many years.

I booked to hire a car through the car club for this week. Booking was from 8am on 2nd July - 6pm on 3rd July.

With this Car club you get a smart card when you join and you use this to unlock car.

I went to collect car yesterday morning at start of booking. Arrived at exactly 8am. I tried to unlock car and it would not unlock.

Had to ring the car club and it took nearly 2 hours to get through to someone only to find out they had forgotten to activate booking.

They eventually activated booking and was finally able to unlock and access car at 10.10am.

On unlocking car I discovered inside was really dirty, mud everywhere, food all over seats. I then noticed damage to out side of car, dents and scratches.

I took photos of everything and contacted them straight away to inform them of state of car and sent photos.

I was sent around in circles but they acknowledge damage was there when I got car and I was told to clean car my self.

I urgently needed to get my youngest son to a hospital appointment drove car a few miles to my home and cleaned it my self.

If I hadn't needed to get to this hospital appointment urgently I would have cancelled booking and refused to take car.

after hospital appointment I took my youngest son home then had to collect my oldest son and do some shopping.

After this we started driving home when we heard a Loud bang followed by another Loud bang and car tilted to passenger side.

I was driving on a 60mph road but thankfully was driving slow 30mph as there was alot of traffic around.

I managed to just about keep control of car and brought car to a stop. Got out to check what had happened and found both tyres on passenger side had blown.

Rather shocked and shaken up I rang car club straight away to explain what had happened.

They rang the AA then rang me back.

They told me AA would be coming out and would tow car to my house as garage's were closed for day.

She gave me a number and told me to ring AA my self and give them more information as to where I was.

I rang AA and they said they would be with me within 2 hours.

Awhile after phoning AA some one from the Car club phoned me back again and again confirmed car would be towed back to my house and that they would arrange for it to be towed from my house to a garage the following day.

She said she would phone me back later in the evening after 9pm to give me more information about what would happen the next day.

AA arrived and AA man said tyre were in a poor state and look like they had been scrapped across something and this had weakened them.

I did notice marks on tyres even caught it in photos I sent to car club in the morning but thought it was just dirt and dust. Obviously I was wrong.

Car was towed back to my house. I sat by phone until midnight last night but no one phoned back.

Still no one phoned this morning so I rang the car club, I spoke to atleast 4 different people and kept continually being cut off.

One person I spoke to said they can't have car collected and fixed until 8th July.

My booking ends tonight, they fine you you if you don't return car on time. So I'm concerned that as I can't return car tonight that I'm going to Be fined alot and charged for car until 8th.

What are my rights, can they fine me and charge me until the 8th when it's not my fault and out of my hands.

Also can they charge we for the replacement tyres.

As it is I've already had to pay out over £100 for booking for a car I've barely been able to use.

As far as I'm concerned they hired out a car to me that was in poor condition and unsafe.

I'm lucky me and my son were not injured. If I had been going faster I'm sure I would have lost control.

Still haven't been able to speak to any one properly as there phone lines are a mess.

I've tried emailing but no reply.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

Is there anything I should do to protect my self from being held responsible.

Like said I have plenty of photo graphic evidence.

Any advice much appreciated

Thanks in advance

Just seeing if anyone can help as looking online for help is like going into a worm hole. 

The clutch went on my Ford focus estate,

the mechanic firstly bought a clutch and the supplier gave him the wrong clutch but in the correct packaging (this firstly set off alarm bells).

He then received the correct LUK clutch kit with flywheel and it has been slipping and he thinks it is down to a dodgy clutch plate but as it was bought as a kit he has removed all the kit and currently replacing with a sash kit. 

My question is really

where would i stand in regards to getting a refund for the original kit?

being a clutch its obviously not the same as returning a broken spanner ..... clutch companies are notorious of not honouring their warranty etc. 

Can i just add the clutch clipping occurred within 2 days and was purchased 2 weeks ago. 

I purchased a car from Big Motoring World on 10th December 2023 for £14899.00. On the 15th December I had a problem with the auto start stop function of the car in which the car would stop in the middle of the road with a stop start error message. I called the big assist and the car was booked in for February.

The BMW was with them for a week and it came back with the auto stop start feature all fine and all error codes cleared on the report from big motoring world. within 5 days I had the same issue. Warning light coming on and the car stopping. I called big assist again and the car was again booked in for an other repair in May.

Car was taken back in may, they had the car for a week and returned with the report saying no issue with the auto stop start feature and blamed my driving. Within 5 days of having the car back it broke down again. This time undrivable. I had the rac pick my car up and take to Stephen James BMW for a full diagnostic.

The diagnostic came back with the car needing a new fuel system as magnetic swarf was found. 

I have sent big motoring world a letter stating all the issues and that under the consumer rights act 2015 I have asked for a replacement vehicle. all reports from Stephen James BMW have been sent over to big motoring world.

Big motoring world have come back and said they will respond to my complaint within 14 days for the date of my complaint letter.

I am not feeling confident on the response from them, what are my next steps?

Thanks in advance.