Not upheld: unsatisfactory quality of goods supplied under hire purchase agreement complaint against BLUE MOTOR FINANCE LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Miss L purchased a seven-year-old used car with 94,442 miles through a hire purchase agreement with Blue Motor Finance Limited in March 2025. In September 2025, after driving approximately 7,000 miles, the timing chain failed rendering the car undrivable. Miss L complained the car was of unsatisfactory quality, claiming it must have been faulty at supply. An independent engineer's inspection concluded the timing chain pulled apart due to gradual wear commensurate with the car's age and mileage. The ombudsman found the car was of satisfactory quality at the point of supply and the failure resulted from normal wear and tear, not an inherent fault, and therefore did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which implies goods must be of satisfactory quality. For a seven-year-old car with over 94,000 miles, a reasonable person would expect more wear and tear and sooner need for repairs, but not significant defects or durability issues. Although the fault developed within six months (triggering a presumption it was present or developing at supply), the independent engineer's report provided credible evidence that the timing chain failure resulted from normal wear and tear commensurate with the car's age and mileage, not an inherent fault. The ombudsman found the engineer's findings more persuasive than Miss L's assertion that timing chains should last a car's lifetime.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website