Sold a faulty car? The clock decides your rights.
Buy from a dealer (not a private seller) and the Consumer Rights Act is on your side — but what you can demand depends on when the fault showed up. Find your row.
Bought privately instead? Different rules — the car must match the description and the seller must not have lied, but "sold as seen" carries more weight. Tell us the details and we'll say which applies.
How people describe it when they reach us
The sorts of things people tell us when a car has gone wrong and the dealer has stopped helping. Over 250 faulty-vehicle cases have come to us.
The provisions a dealer hopes you haven't read
Buying from a trader brings statutory rights that no forecourt sign can remove. These are the ones that decide most faulty-car disputes.
ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, s.9Goods must be of satisfactory quality.
Quality is generally judged by what a reasonable person would expect given the age, mileage and price — a ten-year-old car isn't held to showroom standards, but it must be safe, durable and free from significant defects. This is the section most faulty-car claims are built on.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, ss.20 & 22The short-term right to reject — normally 30 days from delivery.
Where goods don't conform — because they're not of satisfactory quality, not as described or not fit for a made-known purpose — a consumer can usually reject them and claim a refund. Section 22 sets the short-term window, generally 30 days running from delivery rather than from the date of the order, and there's normally no obligation to accept a repair first.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, s.31A trader can't sign your statutory rights away — including with “sold as seen”.
Section 31 makes terms that exclude or restrict the statutory quality, description and fitness rights generally not binding on a consumer. This is why a forecourt sign or a line on an invoice saying “sold as seen” normally carries little weight in a trader sale, whatever the salesperson says about it. Private sales are different — there the rights themselves are narrower.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, s.19(14)Faults appearing in the first six months are usually presumed to have been there at delivery.
For the repair, replacement, price-reduction and final-rejection remedies, a lack of conformity that appears within six months of delivery is generally treated as having existed at delivery unless the trader proves otherwise (or the presumption is incompatible with the goods or the fault). It doesn't apply to the short-term right to reject, and after six months the position reverses — which is typically when an independent diagnostic report carries most weight.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, ss.23–24One repair attempt, then rejection or a price reduction.
After the short-term window the trader normally gets one opportunity to repair or replace. If that fails, the final right to reject or a price reduction generally becomes available — and a deduction for use is typically only possible on these later rejections, not within the first 30 days.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActMisrepresentation Act 1967, s.2If what they told you was untrue, that's a claim in itself.
Where a statement about the car's history, servicing or specification induced the purchase and turns out to be false, a misrepresentation claim can run alongside — or, in a private sale where satisfactory quality doesn't apply, instead of — a Consumer Rights Act claim.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗General information about the law of England and Wales, not advice on your case. Private sales are governed differently — the car must match its description, but satisfactory quality doesn't apply.
Four things dealers say. None of them end it.
That phrase does almost nothing in a dealer sale. The Consumer Rights Act applies to traders selling to consumers and can't be signed away on a forecourt.
Inside 30 days, the choice is normally yours. The short-term right to reject means a refund; you don't have to accept a repair first.
Not in the first 30 days. Deductions for use generally only come in on later rejections — this is the single most-attempted move in the cases we see.
The warranty sits on top of your rights, not instead of them. "We only cover engine and gearbox" doesn't touch a Consumer Rights Act claim.
This isn't small money
Amount claimed in faulty-vehicle cases
Faults that keep coming up
From JustClaim's own anonymised case records, refreshed monthly. Percentages are of cases where the amount was stated.
Five things worth gathering now
What pursuing it actually involves
Fix the dates
When you bought it, when it failed, when you first complained. We build the claim around the row of the clock you're on.
Reject it properly, in writing
A formal letter that says what's wrong, what you're demanding and by when — the step dealers most often respond to.
Court claim, prepared
If they still won't engage: a money claim drafted, checked and filed. We do the paperwork; the decision is the court's.
What JustClaim is: we prepare and file the paperwork for your money claim, for a fixed price shown before you pay. We're not a law firm, this isn't legal advice, and no outcome is ever guaranteed — what you get is the strongest honest version of your case, properly made.
Questions people in this exact spot ask
Can I reject a faulty used car and get a full refund?
Within 30 days of buying from a dealer, usually yes — that's the short-term right to reject under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. A significant fault entitles you to hand the car back for a refund. After 30 days the dealer normally gets one chance to repair before you can reject.
The car broke down after two months. Where do I stand?
Between 30 days and six months, a fault is presumed to have been there when you bought it — the dealer has to prove otherwise. They get one attempt at repair; if that fails, rejection is usually open to you, though they may reduce the refund for the use you've had.
The dealer says the warranty doesn't cover it. Does that matter?
Less than they imply. A warranty is extra protection on top of your statutory rights, not a replacement for them. A claim under the Consumer Rights Act stands regardless of what their warranty document says.
I bought it privately, not from a dealer. Is it different?
Yes, meaningfully. Private sellers don't have to provide satisfactory quality — but the car must match how it was described and they mustn't have lied about it. Misdescription and misrepresentation claims are still very much possible.
They want to deduct for the miles I've driven. Can they?
Not in the first 30 days. On later rejections a deduction for use is possible, but it should be reasonable — and in the cases we see it's often the point where a firm letter changes the conversation.
How much does taking a car dealer to small claims court cost?
Court fees scale with the claim amount, and our fixed price is shown before you pay anything. If your claim succeeds, court fees are typically added to what the dealer owes you.
They're counting on you giving up.
Two minutes to tell us what happened. We'll tell you which of your rights actually applies — and what it would cost to pursue — before you pay anything.
Claim what you're owed →