When we arrived in CH we went looking and found a nice 2nd hand car. I took it for a test drive and heard an odd sound in the gearbox. So the mechanic took it for a drive and said that the gearbox needs replacing.
So the dealer said they would put in a new gearbox, and that would be that. Anyway my first mistake was to put down a deposit under these circumstances but thats what I did.
So the current situation is that 6 weeks has passed and the car is still not fixed, so I have lost patience and plan to terminate the deal on the grounds that they have renaged on the contract by not providing me with a car.
The contract stating the terms is in german but it states deposit is non-refundable in the case of no sale but based on the circumstances, do I have any rights to terminate the sale and demand my deposit back?
I am not optimistic at this point, however if anybody has experienced similar I would be interested to know how they dealt with it.
Unf I have little exp buying cars after 10 carless years in the UK.
Ahem! Yes that is a rum deal, was there any talk about Händlergarantie, or dealer warranty? Or was it a "Gekauft wie gesehen" bought as seen deal, sorry to say but you may have a fight on your hands, shame and name the dealer!
Normally such a contract should stipulate what should happen in case the agreement is broken from either side. This is usually stated as a percentage of purchase price payable from the side which did not meet their obligations. Thus if the garage have failed to provide the agreed product by an agreed date (is there one?) they may be liable to pay you. However, there may be no clear breach of contract if no delivery date is set.
Having been through such a purchase, it is clear to me that the contract wording can be heavily skewed in favour of the car dealer, after all they write the contract. In my case, the car being purchased had mileage recorded as seen, but the contract stipluated that I was guaranteeing the mileage of my trade in car. Completely the wrong way round in my opinion as they are the professionals and i'm just a consumer. It also took the car dealer a couple of weeks more than agreed for them to bring the car to the agreed level.
By the way, is anyone else suspicious about the relationship between dealerships and the MFK inspectors ? Both cars I have purchased here have had sub-standard (in my opinion) handbrakes, and these are meant to be tested as part of MFK. Both dealers have refused (on the basis they said they don't have one) to provide me a copy of the MFK report.
I seem to recall that if you buy a car from a second hand dealer, and it turns out to be unsatisfactory, then you have some rights to demand another vehicle from the dealer - this is consumer law, and overrides any contractual terms. I'm sorry it's so vague, maybe I dreamt it! It was something my relocation consultant told me when we bought our first car here.
If you buy a car and the dealer does not deliver it and keeps your down-payment, it's not you, who breaches the contract, it's him.
What I would do (after carefully re-reading the contract and making sure, that you are in the clear), is to send the dealer a friendly registered letter and allow him a resonable time to fulfill his contract (2 weeks maybe?). Warn him, that if by this given date, neither your car appears fully repaired, clean and shining at your door step, nor your down-payment is back on your account, accompanied by a letter of confirmation, that your contract is in fact cancelled, you will turn things over to your lawyer and he will have to face the legal consequences, whatever they might be.
Unless, of course, it is a somewhat exotic car, that you bought, where long delivery times for replacement parts can be expected.
All the best
Can you use the deposit for a different car? Worth a go, if there is anything else satisfactory. Otherwise I agree with above, name and shame them.
R
Why german if you are in Lausanne? Seems a bit dodgy already.
What kind of car? 6 weeks is a very long time.
You should go back and ask for your deposit back and also ask them why they are using contracts that aren't in the legal language of the Canton of Vaud.
Get someone to read your contract and find out when they are required to deliver the vehicle. It will be in the contract as this is Switzerland.
Failing that, I would tell them that you are going to file a Pour Suite, which is a legal action that they pay money they own you as you don't have your car. The Pour Suite process is fairly cheap and is legally binding if you can get it done.
Good Luck.
I feel for you, but agree with other posters, it is not you that is breaking the agreement but the garage by not giving you the product.
I would suggest going there and talking to them openly and also see the possibility of maybe getting another car from them?
There isn't a "report" as such, just a checklist which they tick (or not as appropriate) as they test the items listed. Failing items get a brief comment but if the handbrake passed there will be a simple tick beside it. If the dealer had the car tested they will get a copy of the tick sheet.
The handbrake test is a check if it holds the car on a prescribed hill (there's usually an artificial one at the test centre).
all your story is rather geared towards negative hints. The garage owner seems to be well prepared for this foreseen situation (german contract, with non refund clause, trying to sell a broken car). I'd check with "office des poursuites" if other people are requiring money from them. If it's positive then it means then that's how they do business.
Best you can do is also to post name/address of garage as preventive action for other potentiel buyers from EF.
not so true, a friend recently bought a v10 diesel Toureg from a 2nd hand dealer, 3000KMS later and the auto gearbox is stuffed and need major work, this involves a bill of approx 8000 CHF . the dealer doesnt want to know, he has been threatened with legal actaion and ignores everything, 2 lawyers have said it will cost more to take the guy to court than to just get the job done by yourself.
He bought a V10 Toerag without a warranty
Did he do any research?? Gearbox is well known weekness on them.
Rule#1: On any vaguely new car - where a big repair could occur - get a warranty!
Yeah, and I wouldn't even buy a car from an individual without an MFK. I made the previous owner do the safety and emissions tests and remedy, i.e. correct, anything that was found to be wrong, before I would buy the car. He was happy to do that. I still had a few things not quite right but at least the rear brakes were fixed and the handbrake was correctly adjusted.
When I was talking to a dealer, the salesman said that he would be happy to present me with the original documents that certified the passing of the inspections for any car that we would purchase along with a year guarantee that nothing would go wrong. This was from ROC in Crissier.
Don't forget, no matter what happens, you will eventually have to get MFK and Emissions certification, somewhere down the road. So if someone won't do it for you, it is probably better to look elsewhere. Unless, of course, you find that you just have to have that particular car.
Thanks for all the replies
To clarify car dealer is near Solothurn, hence the German contract.
I got a call today saying we can pick up tomorrow, so we will see what transpires. Hopefully all will be good. I kicked up a huge fuss a few days ago, so it seems like they are worried I will walk
with regard to mentioning the dealer I wont do on a public forum, but they are in Grenchen so that narrows it down to about 5. If anybody really wants to know PM me and I will tell you
Hi sunnysan, thanks for keeping us posted
In the interests of fairness, I think a bit of positive feedback is due. We picked up the car on Saturday, tested it and it appears all is good. They put a full tank of petrol in it and where quite apologetic with regards to the wait.
So hopefully all is well that ends well. They seem to be playing a straight hand of cards so I think my initial fears have been put to rest.
I think it was more circumstance than anything else.
A new gearbox is not always the easiest part to order - sometimes they are in stock - but depending on the car and its age - the garage may have struggled.
Removing and fitting a gearbox doesn't take as long as you think - I reckon I have it down to around 6 hours* - and I'm not a professional. They can have one swapped in less time.
*BMW M3 gearbox
it was with a warranty but the dealer doesnt want to know and refuses all forms of contact....... so now the guy is stuck