I finally got the response from the finance ombudsman earlier today and it was not the news I was hoping for. They rejected the claim on several grounds, including the car’s age, the mileage at purchase and he said he was satisfied reported issues had been sufficiently fixed…

How he could possibly come to this conclusion I will likely never know. There is no point in me appealing as he already has all of the information I can possibly give towards the case.

So here I am now, stuck with a car that is broken, is going to cost me potentially thousands to fix when the clutch and gearbox finally go, and I still have £1,700 to pay on the finance. Selling the car will only get me back about £2,000 part exchange if I’m lucky – so in essence I’ve lost at least £3000 on this piece of crap car.

I thought from the beginning I was at least in with a chance with the finance ombudsman given that they are the governing body for finance, and they are government operated meaning it’s not in their interest to “fix” the outcome of the case. I would have thought they’d be a little more forthcoming especially given all of the evidence supplied. Apparently not.

My advice to everyone is research your future car and be absolutely sure you want to buy it knowing it’s common faults etc before you commit. This is exactly what I will be doing for my next car.

You live and learn.