[webwysard]

Originally Posted by Masterplan

It was bought from Arnold Clark. Never again. As soon as it was out of their forecourt, they washed their hands of it.

I've also seen a Cooper S, that should cost me ~£340 a month. 09 plate with 8000 miles on the clock. So going to look into that too.

Im exactly 9 months worth of payments short of the settlement figure. But by that time, the car will have done 40,000 miles and who knows what could have went wrong by then. At the moment it's got a years MOT, so trying to use that to my advantage too.

It's turned out to be a nightmare, just hope I can figure this one out!

Why dont you trade in your car for another cheaper BMW i.e 1 series(116,118,120), there are two advantages of that, first, you can get quite a reasonable money for your BMW and secondly the finance rate would be very acceptable. Try that first and see how it goes, as it seems like that the main reason for your concern is to get rid of your car.

[parapaul]

Originally Posted by Vaheed1

I have to agree with others on taking the negative equity into those cars - why don't you buy a car for the £2k that you have saved for your deposit - sell the BMW - keep paying the payments until you've caught up on your negative equity and settled the balance. That way, you will still have a car - and the peace of mind that your catching up to your payments. Surely, the negative equity in a 3 year old BMW can't be THAT great? Once the finance is settled, sit down and make a calculated decision for your future car.

£2k won't get you a brilliant car, but if you look hard enough - there's some real good bargains out there.

Having been in a very similar situation, this would be my advice, too.

I'm still making repayments on a loan for a car I traded in over a year ago. If I'd had £2k saved, I'd have bought a £2k car, sold the other one and settled any outstanding finance as quickly as possible. It's going to be another year or more before I'm straight with money again, but once I am, I'm going to be a lot more careful next time.

Edit: Alfa is the car manufacturer, Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet

[davyk31]

Yes warranty without the top level recovery option is about £32 per month if you pay monthly.
Out of the cars you have mentioned I would go Cooper S as its residual values are miles higher than the others so you aren't wasting as much in depreciation.

[Kerr]

Originally Posted by Vaheed1

I have to agree with others on taking the negative equity into those cars - why don't you buy a car for the £2k that you have saved for your deposit - sell the BMW - keep paying the payments until you've caught up on your negative equity and settled the balance. That way, you will still have a car - and the peace of mind that your catching up to your payments. Surely, the negative equity in a 3 year old BMW can't be THAT great? Once the finance is settled, sit down and make a calculated decision for your future car.

£2k won't get you a brilliant car, but if you look hard enough - there's some real good bargains out there.

I'd guess the car is on HP meaning he can't sell the car without paying the debt owed.

I still stress strongly to contact trading standards.

[Falmouthboy]

The old saying "I wouldn't start from here" springs to mind - I would have rejected this car long ago, but you are where you are.

Is the car currently working OK? Even if it is still take my advice, but term it 'total loss of trust in and pleasure from the car'.

You need to reject the car - simple as that. You can demonstrate that ownership has been a disaster. You need to swallow your anger towards Arnold Clark as that is who you need to be dealing with as they sold you the car. Address the letter to the 'Dealer Principle' and make sure you point out their poor aftercare as well as the problems with the car. This is important, because BMW UK are very hot on 'poor customer service' from their dealers.

Copy the letter to BMW Customer Service (hopefully someone on the site may be able to PM you a named person and best address to use). Copy your letter to the Trading Standars office that covers the dealership and finally the HP Company as they have an interst in the car.

Set your sights on them giving you the full current retail value for your car and settling any early termination penalties on you HP. Then look at a Cooper S (but only a 2nd Generation), this will hold it's value well. I would imagine Arnold Clark has a Mini Franchise - most BMW dealers do.

Don't make the mistake of trading in for the Cleo or Mito - as others have said - good money after bad.

The exteded warranty is a 'plan B' so long as others can confirm that this will cover the issues experinced in the 320i - remember it's 'Insurance' and whilst a good policy, nothing like the manufacturers warranty.

So - whatever you do - don't give up without a fight here otherwise whichever way you go, you will be out of pocket.

And finally - I would start another thread about rejecting a car as clearly you may miss out on the wealth of expertise on the subject within the forum with the present post title.

[Masterplan]

Originally Posted by Falmouthboy

The old saying "I wouldn't start from here" springs to mind - I would have rejected this car long ago, but you are where you are.

Is the car currently working OK? Even if it is still take my advice, but term it 'total loss of trust in and pleasure from the car'.

You need to reject the car - simple as that. You can demonstrate that ownership has been a disaster. You need to swallow your anger towards Arnold Clark as that is who you need to be dealing with as they sold you the car. Address the letter to the 'Dealer Principle' and make sure you point out their poor aftercare as well as the problems with the car. This is important, because BMW UK are very hot on 'poor customer service' from their dealers.

Copy the letter to BMW Customer Service (hopefully someone on the site may be able to PM you a named person and best address to use). Copy your letter to the Trading Standars office that covers the dealership and finally the HP Company as they have an interst in the car.

Set your sights on them giving you the full current retail value for your car and settling any early termination penalties on you HP. Then look at a Cooper S (but only a 2nd Generation), this will hold it's value well. I would imagine Arnold Clark has a Mini Franchise - most BMW dealers do.

Don't make the mistake of trading in for the Cleo or Mito - as others have said - good money after bad.

The exteded warranty is a 'plan B' so long as others can confirm that this will cover the issues experinced in the 320i - remember it's 'Insurance' and whilst a good policy, nothing like the manufacturers warranty.

So - whatever you do - don't give up without a fight here otherwise whichever way you go, you will be out of pocket.

And finally - I would start another thread about rejecting a car as clearly you may miss out on the wealth of expertise on the subject within the forum with the present post title.

Thank you very much for your help.

I didn't think I would be in a position to dispute that give I have owned it for a year now.

This may be the best option for me, although I wouldn't know where to start.
Do I want to be raising this dispute with Arnold Clark, or the BMW franchise who fixed the car under warranty?

[Kerr]

Arnold Clark owns Harry Fairbairn.

[Falmouthboy]

You can only raise it with Arnold Clark as your contract of sale was with them. They may say why is this the first we have heard of it, so you will need to justify their poor customer service. The warranty work on the car will speak for itself.

It's not the problem of the dealer you have been using for your warranty repairs.

[Kerr]

The garage who carried out the repairs are only responsible for the repair work not the car.

If the car is not fit for purpose it is the dealer who sold it to you that has sole responsibility. Not even bmw have any legal requirement to help you.

I've been through the process to reject a car from Arnold Clark and until trading standards were involved they would not do anything to help.

Their argument carries more weight than yours.

Get in contact with them and your finance company. If the car is on HP it's owned by the HP company and they do take an interest fearing they might be left with a duff car.

[josh laurence]

As others have said , i would buy a cheap car with your 2k and try and get out of debt , in the long run this will make you smile again!

[urfankhaliq]

Originally Posted by josh laurence

As others have said , i would buy a cheap car with your 2k and try and get out of debt , in the long run this will make you smile again!

second that also. Why bother with finance if you will struggle with the repayments and the whole negative equity mallarky?

2k will get you a reasonable car. Save money and when you have more you can buy one out right. I paid 8 for mine outright, second (well third) hand, with 90+k on the clock and full bmw history. Yes its not a brand new car but its a very good car, looks great, drives great as its looked after well.

Do yourself a favour and dont bother with finance, just save up and buy the car when you are ready...

[Masterplan]

It does sound like the best way forward. Although will that not mean running both cars until there is no negative equity?

BMW Mini have offered me a product called a Negative Equity Loan. So if I take a Cooper S for example, and take a PCP this time instead of HP over 4 years. So 11,000 miles per annum, with the option to hand it back halfway through the term. Alongside my monthly car payment, is another payment that is clearing off the remainder of the negative equity of my current car. This can be paid off monthly, in full, or in large chunks at no extra cost. So after 3 months, I could have the negative equity loan paid off, and have cheaper PCP payments on a new Cooper S.

Am I missing something here, or is that a viable plan?

[mowflow]

Originally Posted by Masterplan

It does sound like the best way forward. Although will that not mean running both cars until there is no negative equity?

BMW Mini have offered me a product called a Negative Equity Loan. So if I take a Cooper S for example, and take a PCP this time instead of HP over 4 years. So 11,000 miles per annum, with the option to hand it back halfway through the term. Alongside my monthly car payment, is another payment that is clearing off the remainder of the negative equity of my current car. This can be paid off monthly, in full, or in large chunks at no extra cost. So after 3 months, I could have the negative equity loan paid off, and have cheaper PCP payments on a new Cooper S.

Am I missing something here, or is that a viable plan?

I don't know if it's viable or not as it's all to complex for me to follow. The one thing I will say is that all of these finance plans are made to benefit one person and NEWS FLASH, that ain't you.

Get the debt cleared anyway you can, buy something cheap and don't get into heavy car payments especially if they mean long term payment. You are young but there is more to life than owning a flash car. Life's only going to get more complicated (and expensive) so don't start out on the wrong foot with debt.

I wish you the best of luck with the situation.

[Falmouthboy]

If Masterplan wishes to clear himself of debt, he can of course do this if he is happy to run around in a £2k car. I doubt he will be able to reject the car and get money back though, so can only expect 'trade value' for the car. This will be about £2-3k less than the 'retail' value he should expect.

However, I don't think this is his point. He understandably wants rid of a car that he no longer trusts and has caused him nothing but trouble. He also wants to drive a decent, near new 'performance' car but doesn't want to pay any more each month for the privilage. Rejecting the car is his best opportunity to come out of this with the best possible deal on a nearly new car and similar monthly payments.

[mowflow]

Rejecting the car would be the best outcome but having had business dealings with Arnold Clark in the past I would be very, very surprised if they accepted the car being rejected after 12 months. It would be hard enough to get them to accept it after half this time and from experience Arnold Clark don't give a hoot about negative publicity. Particularly north of the border where nearly every car dealership is Arnold Clark (3 dealerships in my town and all 3 are Uncle Arnold)

It may be a different story if the car was from Harry Fairbairn/Arnold Clark BMW dealership as Masterplan could appeal to BMW customer services to lean on them as another poster stated. Masterplan hasn't actually confirmed this though.

For what it's worth I think that Falmouthboys advice is very sound and certainly what I would try first.

[jinjur]

Clio.......not just because they kick the ass off every variant of 335......but also because Alfa's are pig shit

End.

J

[Masterplan]

I have taken all your sound advice and contacted Trading Standards, who are extremely confident that I have a case. After speaking to them for a little over an hour, detailing the whole scenario, they have given me two possible scenarios:

1 - Write a letter to Peter Vardy BMW, stating that the level of knowledge and workmanship put into the repairs was not of a satisfactory standard, due to the number of re-occurring faults. State a desired outcome, and give them a reasonable time to respond.

2 - Write a letter to the current finance company, stating that the goods financed were not accurately represented at the time of purchase. Again, stating a desired outcome and giving them reasonable time to respond.

From those two scenarios, I cant see how I'd be able to fully reject the car? I'd maybe get some sort of guarantee at best. Regardless, I'd still have to drive the car about at them moment. That in itself terrifies me as I just cannot trust it. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.