Ford Focus 2005 Pas Fault

[PJ72]

Hi,

I've been having some problems with my 05 Focus. The power steering pipes started leaking and caused the reservoir to completely empty. Luckily the steering still functioned and I didn't crash, and it seems that the pump is undamaged.

The dealer I bought it from refused to repair the vehicle for free. I bought it less than 3 months ago and done about 1500 miles in it. There is a total of 75k miles on it now. they are saying that it is normal 'wear and tear' and that I should expect these kind of things on a car of that age etc. The car was advertised as 'in original and immaculate condition, you will not find better'.

Anyway, I've written to them several times and it's come to the point where I've demanded the reimbursement of the repair costs (nearly £400) or i'll take them to the small claims court.

According to the Sale of Goods Act, they have to prove that the vehicle wasn't faulty when I bought it. If they can't, then they should offer a free repair. My argument is that I have driven it normally and only contributed about 1-2% of the car's total mileage, therefore the fault was present when I bought it and steadily got worse until the reservoir emptied.

The garage that repaired (and other people I've spoken to) have said that the part is 'modified' from the original design due to an inherent fault. Could I angle this into the argument? Would it be possible to get something like this in writing from a Ford service centre or someone similar?

What do you guys think?