Declan J

Do not use

Myself and my partner purchased a 2011 Vauxhall insignia Sri from TF Car Sales in March of this year on finance. Upon first look they came across a friendly independent car garage that cared about their customers. We test drove the car and all we could see wrong with the car is that the window mechanism on the drivers side door was loose. They said before we took the car they would MOT it, the results for this was that it failed on emissions and an oil leak. They assured us this would be sorted and they would also fix the window mechanism. We collected the car and for the first day or so it seemed fine apart from the window mechanism had not been fixed. We then noticed a misfire and an engine warning light, ABS and check stability rack. We took the car back and they said they would sort it as we have a 3 month warranty, this is when all the trouble started. Between March and July the car had been in and out the garage at least 15 times for numerous days at a time, it had also been to the Vauxhall’s specialist to try and find the issue. We still had an oil leak, misfire and the warning lights on the dash. The car also wouldn’t start first time. They kept assuring us they would fix whatever the problem was. We then started to notice a change in the garage and upon taking a closer look realised that a lot of cars were scraped, scuffed and dented. I warned the garage that the head gasket was going as my uncle is a mechanic and he could tell straight away. They dismissed this and of course the head gasket went. We went to collect our car where the car garage then said we had to pay half towards the work that they had carried out or they wouldn’t give us our car back even though the car was still within the three month warranty period. We had no idea they had carried the work out as they did not check with us before proceeding. It’s to my understanding that legally they can’t carry any work out without informing us first. It was after this we started a complaint with the finance company to try and return the car and get out money back. After the head gasket the problems still persisted. The car would rev on its own, on the way to a hospital appointment the car turned itself off with no warning in the middle of a busy road; so again the car went into the garage and after receiving the car back we noticed an awful smell, after speaking with the Vauxhall specialists it turned out the garage had neglected to fit a pipe back onto the engine and so all of the exhaust fumes were coming straight into the car. This is highly dangerous and my pregnant wife was also sat in the car. This situation went on and on and after TF Car Sales refused to take the car back the finance company had to send an AA mechanic out to assess the vehicle to prove the garage had failed at least one repair. The AA mechanic provided a list of faults including ECU, short circuits, bearings in the engine, a steering rack leak, engine coolant leak, oil leak which was supposed to have been fixed in the MOT, alternator and basically that under no circumstances should we drive the car as it was unfit and unsafe. The car garage still tried to dispute taking the car back and avoided the finance company at all costs. When the finance company did eventually manage to get ahold of the garage to try and speak to the director to explain they had no option but to take the car back and refund us. It was the director Terrance Fletcher that answered however he kept saying he was not the director of the company and the director was busy and they’d have to wait a few weeks to speak to him. Even though he is down on the books as the director and introduces him self as the director. When the car garage finally accepted liability and took the car back they then accused us of scratching the bumper, although that was there upon purchase and most of the cars on site are battered. So finally after 6 long months of battling with the car garage we have finally been able the return the car