Legal Assistance with Car Purchase Problems | Legal Aid

Questioner

We bought a 14 year old car from a car garage. This car belonged to an old woman and had only 41,000 km on the counter. After 2 months there appeared to be a crack in the engine block. Garage thought we had been driving too long with a red light burning on the dashboard. This was certainly not the case, my husband immediately filled up the oil and parked the car. Then a new engine block had to be installed. We were told by telephone that it was covered by the warranty, but when I picked up the car I received an invoice for no less than €2100. It doesn't feel right, can you advise us what to do?

Lawyer

Regardless of the warranty, I find it strange that your garage would carry out a €2,100 repair on your 14-year-old car without your express instructions to do so. By law, you may not expect much from a 14-year-old car, regardless of the age of the previous owner and the very low mileage. On the other hand, if the crack in the engine block already existed at the time of purchase, this should not be at your risk; however, it may be difficult for you to prove that the crack was already present at the time of purchase. You have apparently driven for 2 months without any problems, while I estimate that this would have been different with an engine block that was already cracked at the time of purchase. I assume that you have already paid the bill. In any case, file a registered objection with the garage as soon as possible, stating that you have paid incorrectly since it was promised that it would be settled under warranty and that you believe you are entitled to a refund of the amount paid incorrectly. If you have legal expenses insurance, please inform them of this matter as soon as possible. Finally: you speak of a guarantee. What kind of guarantee do you mean? If it concerns a BOVAG guarantee (https://www.bovag.nl/thema-s/de-zekerheid-van-bovag-garantie) then there is in any case an arrangement on how the dispute between you and the selling garage should be settled.

Questioner

Thank you very much for the quick response. We would have a 3-month warranty on the car. Because we could not pay the €2100 in one go, I made a down payment of €1000. The other €1100 should be paid in 3 installments. However, I did not sign for this. I'll get to work on it.