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Damaged mirror - how do I stand?


mjt
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I discovered the passenger door mirror housing on my recently-purchased used Titanium estate is quite badly damaged. I didn't notice anything when I viewed the car as the damage is mostly to the internal structure and although the body-coloured cover has some broken clips once it's in position the damage isn't obvious. The sales document has a disclaimer that they won't fix anything that isn't brought to their attention before the sale but I've since acquired proof via an internal document that it was picked up when the vehicle was inspected. Needless to say they're now refusing to do anything about it and I just wondered if I'd be able to get them under the 'not fit for purpose' part of the Sale of Goods Act.

Does anyone have any experience in this area and is able to offer an opinion on my chances?

 

Broken_mirror_2.jpg

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It's impossible to prove that it was present at delivery unless you can see it in any photos.

The seller has no way of knowing you didn't do that, sorry.

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As I said, they did know about it as I have a copy of an internal document that shows it was discovered during inspection after they bought it in.

In fact it was that document that drew my attention to it.

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Ah I didn't see that bit the first time I read your post.

How did you come by the document?

 

 

 

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I thought you must have missed it.

I think the salesman I was dealing with slipped up. I emailed him to query the fact the service book showed the last service was in 2014 and he emailed it to me to prove it had been serviced by them when they took it in. I'd looked in the service book and at first glance it showed a service about September 2015 but after I got it home I realised this was the date for the next service.

Mind you from what I could see the "service" only amounted to an oil and filter change, a check of the tyre tread depths, new batteries in the remotes and new number plates. Still it's only done 15K so there shouldn't be anything desperately necessary yet.

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The fact that you did not spot it when looking at it means you have no recourse of action, it does not affect the working of anything hence the garage did not replace it, why should they replace it? they will sell it as it is unless the buyer does a thorough check of the car and points it out, then they would likely offer to replace it for the sale. They are only obliged to replace any items that might make the car un-roadworthy.

You say you have acquired an internal document so it sounds like someone has given you something they should not have? which I assume you should not be in possession of, so using that against them is only going to get their back up and probably cause issues for staff that work there.

Of course being a main dealer I presume and you paying good money for the car they could offer to repair it as a goodwill gesture.

However I fear you won't get the outcome you would like by the sounds of it, we never check vehicles anywhere near enough when we buy them, people even do it with brand new cars and assume them to be absolutely perfect and notice something months down the line.

I would chalk it down to experience and replace it when you can personally.

Just my opinion of course.

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10 minutes ago, mjt said:

I thought you must have missed it.

I think the salesman I was dealing with slipped up. I emailed him to query the fact the service book showed the last service was in 2014 and he emailed it to me to prove it had been serviced by them when they took it in. I'd looked in the service book and at first glance it showed a service about September 2015 but after I got it home I realised this was the date for the next service.

Mind you from what I could see the "service" only amounted to an oil and filter change, a check of the tyre tread depths, new batteries in the remotes and new number plates. Still it's only done 15K so there shouldn't be anything desperately necessary yet.

It sounds like he sent you a dealer check sheet for general vehicle checks, it may have been noted as being damaged when inspected, for example if the wing mirror was faulty as in it didn't move etc then chances are it would have been replaced but as it was minor damage then it would have been left as is unless the buyer pointed it out before the sale.

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It was an internal invoice from the service Department I think.

It's not exactly minor damage - the frame is broken in several places, the indicator is threatening to fall out and it's a miracle the cover hasn't fallen off and blown away.

However I suspect you're right and I've already put out a request for quotes from the Automend Parts Gateway and have some likely candidates. If I can get a used one with the correct colour cover it won't break the bank but some are after-market parts with a cover in primer and I don't think I can get an acceptable finish if I try to do it myself with spray cans.

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It's a cosmetic issue, definitely not 'not fit for purpose'.  As above I think you'll just have to replace it yourself, doubt it's overly expensive though, must be quite a few in scrap yards by now.  Must admit I've never seen a mirror case crack like that, they usually fold either way to avoid damage.

Wasn't Marshall in Cambridge where you bought it was it?  I made the mistake of buying a car a couple of years ago, shocking service, never again!!

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No, it wasn't Marshalls, but I think they're all pretty much the same. Screw you for the maximum amount of money whilst doing the least they can get away with. They've often been called the modern equivalent of the old horse traders. A pretty accurate description I'd say.

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Yeah, it was my one and (so far) only time of buying through a main dealer, I expect to get ripped off by part time traders (and have been...) but thought it would be different with MD's, I was wrong lol.  I've had much better results buying privately than through any sort of dealer myself, not a fan of car salesmen as you can probably tell lol.

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15 hours ago, simcor said:

You say you have acquired an internal document so it sounds like someone has given you something they should not have? which I assume you should not be in possession of, so using that against them is only going to get their back up and probably cause issues for staff that work there.

Well, I don't think I need to worry about it causing issues for the staff because as I probably wouldn't buy from them again I wouldn't really have anything to lose and to be honest they probabably don't deserve my consideration.

Tom, it looks like I'm going to have to buy a new one and have it painted so it is likely to be pretty expensive. The only breaker who came back with a quote for a used OEM one turned out not to have a powerfold version when I phoned back. The others were all offering aftermarket new ones which would need painting anyway. I'd rather replace with a genuine one and as I said earlier I don't fancy trying to paint it with spray cans so looks like I'll have to grit my teeth and put it down to experience.

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Is the painted cap damaged as well?  If not, you can just use that on the new one.

I didn't realise they were powerfold ones, that will make it more expensive unfortunately. :sad: 

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Yes I did mention that earlier. I was hoping to re-use it but although there are no external marks some of the retaining clips are broken and it's only holding on by the skin of it's teeth.

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Yes I just got a quote from my friendly? Ford spares dept. The main unit with motors but less indicator, puddle lamp, glass and cap is £116. A cap, that comes pre-painted, is an additional £55. I think the original indicator and puddle lamp are ok although I haven't examined them closely and the glass is undamaged so hopefully I should be able to re-use all of those.

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Not being rude, but have you tried a spot of cheap superglue - if you can get it to hold, then since you didn't see the damage when you bought the car, you probably wouldn't notice it if it didn't come apart?

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I did actually use epoxy to repair it temporarily but the whole of the housing was too badly smashed up to easily repair. I've since bought a new housing and cap, transferred the indicator repeater, puddle lamp and glass and fitted it today. It looks like I'm going to have to get a new repeater lens, though, as I found that's also broken but it's holding in for the moment. The repair broke apart while I was working on it so it probably wouldn't have lasted long.

The Haynes manual I bought wasn't much help in taking the old one off, apart from showing where the fixing screws were. Phrases like "release the clip" don't help much if you don't know what it looks like or where it is.

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Crikey, you don't hang about lol!

I try to find videos on youtube for things that aren't immediately obvious, Haynes manuals are a bit vague sometimes.

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1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Crikey, you don't hang about lol!

Not once I've got the bit between my teeth. :biggrin:

Never thought of looking on You Tube and yes I do find the Haynes are pretty vague these days. More so than in the past I think. Not enough of the exploded diagrams that you used to find in the older ones and the quality of the photos leaves a lot to be desired. I generally buy them to get an idea of the construction and the torque wrench figures and the circuit diagrams are quite useful.

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My opinion, if they were aware of this and didn't tell you they are guilty of misrepresentation - whilst you had the opportunity to inspect the car, they deliberately made no attempt to make you aware of the fault.

 

Check what the Citizen's Advice website says about it.

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It's academic now as I've replaced it myself. Just for interest here's a couple more shots of the damage. I really can't work out how this has been caused, it looks almost as if something hit downwards on the bottom of the surround :-

 

Broken_mirror_4.jpg

Broken_mirror_7.jpg

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