It occurred to me a few days ago that this issue with my car has been going on for almost 10 months now, and that I will have owned the car 1 year in around 1 month from this post… How you’re probably wondering, has this not been resolved yet? The answer is time wasting by several parties.

I originally opted to reject the car 4-5 months after purchase when I found out I had the right to do so under the sales of goods act. From that point, everything has been slow. The finance company admittedly were fairly quick, organising the report within 2 weeks, but their report took a further 2 weeks to come through and was ultimately pointless because the finance company said no to my rejection request.

I then went to the finance ombudsman and this took weeks to even get rolling. Every time they contacted the finance company it was at least a week before they got a reply from them. When they did finally get the reply it was up to me to wait for the ombudsman’s decision. They kept asking for more details, which is good, because I want them to know the whole story. But the information they had was, in my opinion, more than enough to conclude in my favour (though I would say that, but you should see the evidence for yourself).

So here we are months later and I think we’re finally getting somewhere, and then they ask for another report to be done on the car. In my eyes this will prove nothing because what they want to know is the faults that existed at purchase, but all they can prove now with this test is what faults it has now. In any case, they won’t proceed without it so I have no choice. Thankfully for me, they’re making the finance company pay for it.

That brings me to yet more set backs. I contacted my local garage who got back to me quickly saying they couldn’t help. Fair enough, it was worth a try. They directed me to a local company who could do the reports so I got in touch. That’s where more problems started. They were far from professional. I had to keep chasing e-mails because they weren’t replying, I had to call them to give more details only to be told “oh, well, I’m not sure we can help, let me review the information again…” etc. 3 weeks down the line I’m growing impatient and my last 2 e-mails have gone ignored for over a week. I sent one last e-mail asking them to make a decision or I would go elsewhere. Later that day they said they’d spoken to their MD and they were not able to help me. 3 weeks to be told they couldn’t help me!!! Gah!!!

So now I have to find another local company I did a search and quickly found one. They are just down the road from where I work making it ideal. I sent them an e-mail and an hour later they said they were able to help me. I sent all the information I had and they said they were definitely able to help as they deal with such things all the time. Fantastic! I’ve got a quote off them and it’s been forwarded to the ombudsman who will forward it to the finance company next week for approval. Once I have their approval I can finally get it booked and done. At this rate I might actually have a decision by the end of the month or early March. Fingers crossed!

So what’s to learn from this experience? Well, don’t be so patient if you want things to move quickly. If you’re not getting the answers you’re looking for, move on to someone who will give you them. Oh and don’t buy a VW Passat either…