Locked Rear Diff. Help!

[ScottyVC]

Hi,

Last Friday I bought a 2004 Rav4 D4D with 130,000 miles on, from a 2nd hand car dealer.

It had passed it's MOT on Thursday (as a condition of the sale)

I taxed and insured it, drove it to work, then home. (maybe 8 miles?)

On Sunday I set off from West Yorkshire to Durham in it, got on the motorway after 10 minutes of city driving got up to 70mph and...

The rear wheels locked without warning pitching me into a 360 spin across the lanes.

Luckily no one else was on the road as it was early and I spun to a stop just off the hard shoulder.

I managed to get the car to go onto the hard shoulder out of the way, but it felt like the front wheels we dragging the rear ones, and one i'd got it a few yards I couldn't move it anymore.

I have no idea what to do about this, the car is back with the garage that MOT'd it, but I'm scared they are cowboys.

Is this a problem? Is there a simple fix? Any advice would be very very welcome.

As it happened no one was hurt and (apart from the rear wheels not moving) the car is unharmed, but if there had been other road users, or if I'd spun right instead of left it could have been a very different story.

Thanks

[Parts-King]

You have a great number of rights with the Consumer Rights Act 2015, basically, if goods are inherently faulty when you buy them you can ask for a full refund within 30 days IN LAW, so if you are worried about them being sharks and want to go down that route, it should be straight forward

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

[ScottyVC]

I've had a look into that & can see that I could get a refund.

Do you know if the Tax I put on the car (£265) and the insurance cancellation fee (£25) are eligible to be included in the claim?

[Parts-King]

That is a difficult one. IF you went to court you could probably claim your costs, if they just want to refund you, then I would be firm and polite but tell them you also expect to recover your costs. You would only lose a months Tax, sometimes you have to put things down to experience, you bought a 130K mile car, a bitter pill but better than losing your full purchase price. One thing about going down this route, you have to put everything in writing, post it recorded delivery stating what you want (repair, refund etc)

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/the-second-hand--car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights

[ScottyVC]

Thanks for the advice. Is this an issue with the Rav4 I should be aware of or is this an unlucky one off?

[Parts-King]

I think you have been unlucky, but at higher mileages you cannot predict what might happen.

What is the garages response?

[TomdeGuerre]

Garage response:

Long sharp intake of breath.

Never had any trouble like that before.

It was OK when it left here, you must have hit something in the road.

Get it delivered back here and we’ll take a look at it.

After customer leaves, dealer calls eBay seller: About that axle you sold me, well there’s a problem.....

[dervdave]

No oil in rear diff