Faults on Delivery - New Car Woes

[davestan]

Dismayed to find that on delivery of our Megane hatch there were:
1. A number of small dents on all doors
2. Badly stained rear bumper...and
3. Paint defects on the roof.
Looks like patchy effects on the paintwork. The cars a metallic orange/red(flame red).
I have taken a photo to show the effect the best I can. There is often a line defining the outine of the patchy area - one side is shinier than the other. Clear coat? Its mainly on the roof area but also there is a "line" across each of the rear pillars and on the upper door. The line shown in the pic for eg. is on the roof and around 60cm.
I'm not sure whether it is an actual factory fault in the paint or poor delivery preparation. I have tried polish to no avail.
This is the most worrying as no one seems to know what caused them(nearest guess seems to be some reaction with the plastic coating that comes on the car).
The car is back with the dealer who hgas promised to rectify my concerns. The paint work however is one of those things that I fear the remedy(maybe respray) may be worse than the problem.
I'd be interested if anyone has noticed similar on their cars - or hazard a guess what it may be.
Mechanically all seems OK.

[davestan]

I did notice the dents but I was not overly worried as I knew they could be easily repaired by the paintless dent guys(which they agreed to arrange). It was only when I got it home and in the garage that I noticed the paint defects.

[IainMW]

A very poor PDI by the garage (would it be an Arnold Clark dealership?)

I personally would not have handed over the readies if I had seen these on collection and I suppose you would not have either.

The stains on the rear bumber could be the protective wax that has run out of the bottom of the rear hatch, I have had something similar on my Laguna. I cleaned it off with a little white spirit and then Auto Glym bumper gel.

If I were you I would be looking at asking for some compensation from the garage for supplying damaged goods. (A free first service would be a starting point)

[IainMW]

Why? He inspected the car (maybe it was dark or he had sunglasses on lol) before he bought it and as far as we know it had those problems on the forcourt. As far as we know they didn't say they'd fix them before he picked it up either, apart from the doors he didn't even notice until he got home and actually inspected the car. Why should the garage compensate you for not having a proper look? Besides they sorting it all out so whats the problem? Compensation FFS! Compensation is one of the things dragging this country down.

Good points, some of which can only be answered by davestan, but why the attitude?

In his reply to you davestan states that he did notice the dents (no mention of the scratches/paint defects or the stained bumper) so he had given the car an inspection, possibly not as thorough as he should have done. Put yourself in his position, you shell out a fortune on a brand new car and when you collect it and come home you find it has defects, naturally you would be disappointed and aggrieved too. My point is that if the supplying dealer had done a decent PDI then these faults should have been picked up before the new owner drove it off the forcourt.
The garage has promised to rectify them so hopefully he will be happy with the end result, and it goes someway to appeasing this somewhat shaky start to his ownership of the new Megane and dealings with them.

[IainMW]

He inspected a car, all the faults were there to be seen, so far we're not talking about any faults with the engine or anything deeming the car driveable which could not have reasonably spotted by a prospective customer etc. The dealer is happy to put it right so why suggest compensation? I find this jumping on the compensation bandwaggon dispicable tbh, I hate it. He didn't have to buy it.

Taken from the Sale and Supply of Goods act 1994

Implied term about quality .
(1) In section 14 of the [1979 c. 54.] Sale of Goods Act 1979 (implied terms about quality or fitness) for subsection (2) there is substituted— .
“(2) Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality. .
(2A) For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances. .
(2B) For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods— .
(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied, .
(b) appearance and finish, .
(c) freedom from minor defects, .
(d) safety, and .
(e) durability.

Your having a go at me about suggesting the possibly seeking a little token compensation over this issue (which davestan does not have to pursue) and yet in a reply to another members post about problems he is having with his dealer you tell him to contact Consumer Direct about making a claim.


Which side of the fence are you on?

[davestan]

He inspected a car, all the faults were there to be seen, so far we're not talking about any faults with the engine or anything deeming the car driveable which could not have reasonably spotted by a prospective customer etc. The dealer is happy to put it right so why suggest compensation? I find this jumping on the compensation bandwaggon dispicable tbh, I hate it. He didn't have to buy it.

Freddymercurystwin, The fact is that sometimes you don't notice problem issues prior to picking up the car. Car forums have many such stories. I have not raised any issues of compensation - I just want things put right by the dealer from whom I have bought other vehicles in the past. Some of your comments are ridiculous like "he didn't have to buy it", and "Why should the garage compensate you for not having a proper look?" and are not helpful at all. As to your obvious personal issue with the "compensation bandwagon" - well don't project that one on me.
I thought this board was about sharing experiences , I had a less than happy new car delivery experience, OK , maybe I sould have gone over it more thoroughly prior to delivery but I certainly didn't expect you to "put the boot in"!!

[dalefletcher111]

The sale of Goods Act cannot be taken literally with respect to second hand goods, by their very nature they are unlikely to be in the same condition as new goods, are you really saying it is reasonable for a car Dealer to ensure every single minor defect on a second hand car is put right before sale?

Within the Sale of Goods Act 1979 which the 1994 Act builds on, in reference to second hand goods you'll find this:
(2C)The term implied by subsection (2) above does not extend to any matter making the quality of goods unsatisfactory—.
(a)which is specifically drawn to the buyer’s attention before the contract is made,.
(b)where the buyer examines the goods before the contract is made, which that examination ought to reveal, or.
(c)in the case of a contract for sale by sample, which would have been apparent on a reasonable examination of the sample.]

I may be missing something here but isnt it a new car? not used or second hand?

[IainMW]

Given the title of the post it seems to be implied that it's a new car (I have also assumed this from reading davestans first post)

Dismayed to find that on delivery of our Megane hatch there were:...

Second part of the post is that I'd be interested to hear of any one else's new car delivery woes and how/ if they were resolved(negative I know, but hey it may help in that I know I'm not alone! )

Given the state of the current financial climate and lack of new car sales there is a strong chance this car is new and has been sitting around on the dealers lot since last year, in which case the Sale of Goods act would be relevant. Until this is confirmed the argument is going to drag on!

[davestan]

Given the title of the post it seems to be implied that it's a new car (I have also assumed this from reading davestans first post)

Dismayed to find that on delivery of our Megane hatch there were:...

Given the state of the current financial climate and lack of new car sales there is a strong chance this car is new and has been sitting around on the dealers lot since last year, in which case the Sale of Goods act would be relevant. Until this is confirmed the argument is going to drag on!

Thats correct the car was sold new (had 15 delivery K's on clock) but build date was a year and a bit prior so it probably had been in storage. BTW Iain appreciate your comments and info, Ta!
Anyway if your interested I'll let you know how it turns out -apparently Renault have now inspected the vehicle but not provided the results of this to the Dealer yet.

[IainMW]

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davestan; thank you for your comments please keep us informed of your progress

[Ray]

thread moderated.

keep it on topic. Not locked so DaveStan can tell us how he went on. Some interesting points regarding sale of good act for others to read.

just to add my 2p.. i was given the checklist to tick off and sign off BEFORE viewing the car. i didn't tick off bodywork but sales guy wouldn't budge off his desk until it was all ticked and signed by me before showing me my car.