Author: Nona Bowkis
Published: August 16, 2016
Reading time: 2 minutes
This article is 6 years old.
Read our disclaimer keyboard_arrow_down
This website content is intended as a general guide to law as it applies to the motor trade. Lawgistics has taken every effort to ensure that the contents are as accurate and up to date as at the date of first publication.
The laws and opinions expressed within this website may be varied as the law develops. As such we cannot accept liability for or the consequence of, any change of law, or official guidelines since publication or any misuse of the information provided.
The opinions in this website are based upon the experience of the authors and it must be recognised that only the courts and recognised tribunals can interpret the law with authority.
Examples given within the website are based on the experience of the authors and centre upon issues that commonly give rise to disputes. Each situation in practice will be different and may comprise several points commented upon.
If you have any doubt about the correct legal position you should seek further legal advice from Lawgistics or a suitably qualified solicitor. We cannot accept liability for your failure to take professional advice where it should reasonably be sought by a prudent person.
All characters are fictitious and should not be taken as referring to any person living or dead.
Use of this website shall be considered acceptance of the terms of the disclaimer presented above.
We had a case a while back whereby a customer complained that our dealer had put their and their son’s life in danger by selling a BMW with run flat tyres. They took issue with the fact that the vehicle was not advertised as having run flats – essentially claiming the vehicle was not as described.
We wrote to the customer on behalf of our client to point out that many BMWs are fitted with run flat tyres as standard and so there would be no reason for our client to specifically point this out. We referred her to BMW who have stated that run flat tyres meet the highest standards in terms of safety and handling characteristics and therefore their claim of endangering lives was, at best, unfair.
We heard no more from the customer but I noted a similar case has been reported recently by the FOS following a complaint to a Finance Company. In that case, the customer claimed that they were told the vehicle did have run flat tyres when it didn’t and so they wanted compensation as they felt the vehicle was worth less without the run flats. FOS looked into this and found the advert did not mention run flats and in any case, even if it did, there was no difference to the value of the car and so there was no loss.
No loss = no compensation.
Case closed.
