thanks for all your replies.

I have returned the car and as of yet I haven't heard anything from welcome.
I will keep you all posted

Liana

Hi. Forget the fact that you cancelled THEIR insurance policy, since (i assume) you bought the car on hire purchase your claim is against the finance company and not the dealer. You need to prove that the car was not of satisfactory quality when you bought it. Although you have had the car for just over four months the fact that you have a catalogue of problems probably helps your case. I also assume that the RAC man gave you a report of defect?

Fortunately, because you bought the car on hire purchase you have what is called a long-term right to reject. This means you can return the car to the finance company and ask for your money back.

Technically you aren't entitled to a full refund because the finance company can deduct an amount for the use you have had of the car. However, you can argue that this deduction should be waived because of the four months inconvenience you have experienced.

Hope this helps?

nosleep

I worked for Welcome Finance for several yrs and came across several people who had been mis-sold their cars or the cars were not road-worthy.

I know for a FACT that if you persist with your complaint and really threaten to come and dump the car at their office/refuse to make payments they will act. To be honest we were always told to threaten legal action despite the fact in the 5 yrs or so i worked for them they never once took anyone to court - simply because of the high interest rates they didnt want the bad publicity. The longer you hold onto the car the harder it will be to return the car and more liability you are likely to incur. Best bet is take it back and dump at their doorsteps with the keys with a letter telling them your position. Dont let them palm you off with threats - they are just empty threats of action.

Demand to speak to the branch manager of Welcome and tell them you want to return the car due to the fact it was mis-sold under the Sales Act.

Im not sure you will get a refund but im sure they will - IF you persist write off the loan and take the car back.

Finally my recommendation to anyone reading would be DO NOT buy from Welcome Finance. My own experience was they simply dont care once you sign on the dotted line. DO NOT take out their insurances they are utterly useless and can be found much cheaper elsewhere. You end up paying a high interest rate on-top of an already useless insurance policy.

Do speak to a Solicitor regarding your rights or even trading standards should be able to help. I look back with great regret that in my time working there i saw so much done wrong yet didnt do anything about it. They are vermin with little care for anything or anyone bar their targets and manipulating the public.

You can certainly ask.

You need to be clear what, if anything, they agree to with the return - preferably putting it in writing. A decent garage might call it quits but asking for a refund of all past payments after you have had use of the car for nearly 6 months is, in my view, asking too much.

If they don't agree to anything, they will sell the car at auction and then ask you to pay the difference between their finance settlement figure and the proceeds (perhaps plus some "costs").

Thanks for your reply but it doesn't really help me. The car is a renault scenic with a card instaed of a key and there is never any power in the battery.

I have spoken to my mum and I am going to take the car back to welcome as the car is only 3 years old and should have had all these checks done before they sold.

If I do this will I be liable for any costs and can I ask them for a refund of the payments I have paid so far?

The grinding sound when you start the engine is probably the cogs on the starter motor being worn and not meshing properly with the flywheel. A new starter motor will probably solve this but the flywheel is harder to replace (don't worry about that until the starter motor has been replaced).

The camshaft sensor is a small part that isn't difficult to replace on most models.

If you use a second hand or reconditioned starter motor, you should be able to get both jobs done with change from £200.

In the meantime, if the car wont start, put it into gear and push it slightly. It will be difficult to push but you only need to move it slightly to move the cogs on the starter motor/flywheel away from the worn bit. It might then start.

Hi I bought a car from Welcome on the 12th November 2008 and I have had nothing but problems since I bought it.
I have had the RAC out 4 times in the last month, Once on Tuesday 17th March and again today Thurs 19th March as the car wont start. The Rac have done battery checks and there isn't a problem with the battery or the connectors to it.
There is also a check emmissions light on which the RAC guy looked at for me and it is the camshaft sensor, the starter motor is also on its way out as the car makes a grinding sound when I start the engine.
The car only had 3 months warrenty when I bought it which was not explained to me at the time and the problems started before this expired.
When I purchased the car I took out the payment protection and mechanical breakdown insurance which I later cancelled as I already have a payment protection policy and I thought the mechanical breakdown insurance was similar to the RAC or AA etc so I cancelled that upon doing this no-one at welcome explained to me that this was infact my warrenty for the car and by cancelling it I would not be covered should the mechanical parts become faulty and need replacing.
I have spoken to them on numerous occassions and they said that without the mechanical breakdown insurance they isn't anything they can do (the only advice they could give was for me to get a diagnostics done at a garage and then send them a copy of the report and then they would decide if they were liable to repair the car.
After reading other articles on various websites I doubt this will make any difference to the outcome.
I have looked on the trading standards website and they are at fault for selling goods not fit for purpose.

I really need some advice as to what I can do from here as I need my car for work and If this keeps happening I could lose my job.