Cool off period

tcofran

tcofran

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Hi there guys and girls,

My wife had a citi golf (she loves sh*tty golfs, but that's another story)... anyway.

She sold the car, and wanted to buy a new car. She then bought a 2009 citi storm with 13000km on the clock (cash), and took delivery yesterday.

There is nothing wrong with the car, but she now says she doesn't like the car at all. It drives hard, window squeaks when opening etc. I drove the car and tried to explain to her that its basically a new car and has to run in, so it wont feel like her old car....

So the question is, can she return the car ? Like i said, is there a cool off period ? she signed the papers on Monday btw.

cheers
 
I may be stating the obvious, but didn't she test drive the car?

Fadza will be able to answer this one.
 
she did test drive it, and then it was fine. I have to mention that while she didn't have a car she managed to hit my car against the gate (R9000 damage). so i wonder if she just isn't scared to drive, and is now blaming the car ? just a thought
 
The cooling off period, as I understand it, is only applicable when you finance the car and is honored by the financing house (Bank, MFC, etc). Since you bought it cash, I doubt whether you will be able to returning as part of the "cooling off" incentive.
 
I don't think there is a cooling off period on cars, but finance might have a clause for that.

Just something that makes no sense to me (or I am missing the point). So she had a Golf Mk1 and she traded it on a Golf Mk1 but now wants to return the Golf Mk1 because it behaves like a Golf Mk1 (drives hard, window squeaks when opening)?
 
Forget it... cool-off period goes out the window (if financed) if documentation is signed either on the dealer's premises, or at a bank. It would certainly not apply to a cash deal.

Make nice with the sales manager. It's the only chance you've got.
 
lcbxx said:
The cooling off period, as I understand it, is only applicable when you finance the car and is honored by the financing house (Bank, MFC, etc). Since you bought it cash, I doubt whether you will be able to returning as part of the "cooling off" incentive.
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I think there's more to it - the bank does not define the purchase price of the vehicle, thats between you and the seller, to expect them to say "oh, you don't like the car any more? ok, we'll take it" i don't think would fly. I'd expect the cooling off only applies to the financing of the vehicle - i.e. if you find a better deal at MFC vs Wesbank,
 
Last time I bought a 2nd hand car, the sales lady told me I had 30 days to return the car for a different one if I found that I did not like it. So it might be worth your while to try and speak to the dealer about a possible exchange.
 
JungleBoy said:
Last time I bought a 2nd hand car, the sales lady told me I had 30 days to return the car for a different one if I found that I did not like it. So it might be worth your while to try and speak to the dealer about a possible exchange.
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When i bought my ****ty golf it had a 30 day return from McCarthy VW, check your contract ?
 
Why don't you just take the car back and have them address the issues. Here's some ideas to start with:
1. A squeaky window winder can be lubricated, or at worst can be changed under warranty (presuming the car still has a manufacturers warranty at 2009/13,000km) along with the window seals if needed.
2. A hard ride could be something as simple as incorrect tyre pressures or a different/incorrect shock absorber compared to her previous car. Again, if one of the shock absobers failed at 13,000km, the warranty should take care of that.

If your warranty is out, there are thousands of "specialists" out there that knows these cars really well, and that would be able to sort you out for very little.

Of course if her problem with the car is not just related to the one or two problems that you mentioned, it may need more than my suggestion...

Hope you come right, Rudi
 
rudirautenbach said:
Why don't you just take the car back and have them address the issues. Here's some ideas to start with:
1. A squeaky window winder can be lubricated, or at worst can be changed under warranty (presuming the car still has a manufacturers warranty at 2009/13,000km) along with the window seals if needed.
2. A hard ride could be something as simple as incorrect tyre pressures or a different/incorrect shock absorber compared to her previous car. Again, if one of the shock absobers failed at 13,000km, the warranty should take care of that.

If your warranty is out, there are thousands of "specialists" out there that knows these cars really well, and that would be able to sort you out for very little.

Of course if her problem with the car is not just related to the one or two problems that you mentioned, it may need more than my suggestion...

Hope you come right, Rudi
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Its a golf its going to make noises like hell!!!! that's the thing with golfs they ride hard they not the easiest car to drive and everything rattles if you want a car that does not sound like its falling apart when you drive get something like a Toyota Yaris, Getz etc Personally I drive a Getz and its a joy to drive...
 
The i10 and the i20 are also great options and a whole lot safer. If you love your wife you would want her in tone of those.

The i20 looks very good because it was designed in Rüsselsheim, Germany - the same city where they design Opels like the new Corsa. Good thing that Hyundai "borrowed" a few styling concepts from the Corsa ;)
 
This is a difficult one.

If you can prove that the sales person deliberately misguided you in the purchase of the car, it can be returned. Some dealers (Renault) actually say that they will give you a full refund if you are not happy with the car.

We have just bought a car back where the customer was simply having second thoughts after driving it.

Best thing is to go to the Dealer Principal, if it was a dealership buy, and ask him if you can get out of it.

Personally I got a full refund on one of my cars, after a month, as a problem that was picked up on delivery was not fixed.

At all times, try and keep calm/civil in this sort of thing, as one you get the DP's back up, he might just give you the middle finger.

A suggestion would be to keep the car, and as you have just paid cash for it, try and sell it on Gumtree if possible and get your money back that way.

I have just read through the relevant sections of the CPA and it looks as if you might be able to get away with a short cooling off period. Each case is assessed separately, however, and you might have a problem explaining you way out of this one.
 
Rouxenator said:
The i10 and the i20 are also great options and a whole lot safer. If you love your wife you would want her in tone of those.

The i20 looks very good because it was designed in Rüsselsheim, Germany - the same city where they design Opels like the new Corsa. Good thing that Hyundai "borrowed" a few styling concepts from the Corsa ;)
Click to expand...

I don't usually like to question someone's personal taste in whatever it is, but I have to agree with Rouxenator here. The safety of these cars are questionable, and she may be better off in something that has some basic safety features such as airbags and ABS. I bought my wife a Getz 1.6 A/T years ago, later gave it to my baby sister when she went to varsity, the little car is still running fine after 5 years and more than 100K. They can be picked up for very little as many rental firms are letting them go for newer models.

Let us know how things turned out for you.
 
Fazda has some very good points there - try taking it up with the DP if you are not satisfied. Although if you read the complaints in CAR magazine each month you will see quite a few DPs (not only from VW) are very hard when it comes to being flexible in favour of the client. If they are very rigid then perhaps you can try to trade it up on a Vivo with ABS+EBD, sounds like she might need it ;) But the best car in that price range at the moment is the New Spark LS for R125k. Not only in terms of safety and reliability but if you look at the parts basket it comes in the cheapest, good news if you are accident prone.
 
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