Upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against BMW FINANCIAL SERVICES (GB) LIMITED trading as Alphera Financial Services

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S purchased a two-year-old car via hire purchase with Alphera in October 2023. From July 2024 onwards, the car experienced repeated failures of its EGR system, DPF and turbocharger, requiring multiple repairs despite being relatively young and low-mileage. The car broke down in June 2025 with significant exhaust system failure, and Mr S requested rejection in August 2025 after losing faith in the vehicle. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding the car was not of satisfactory quality due to premature failure of critical systems and Alphera's failure to properly resolve the issues through multiple repair attempts. Alphera was directed to end the finance agreement, take back the car, refund the deposit, compensate for impaired use and distress, and pay interest.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires goods to be of satisfactory quality. For a two-year-old car with 30,000 miles, a reasonable person would expect durability appropriate to its age, price and mileage. The EGR system, DPF and turbocharger are expected to last far longer than the 41,000-46,000 miles at which they first failed. The pattern of repeated failures to the same related systems within one year, culminating in a breakdown, demonstrates the car was not durable and did not conform to the contract. Section 24 of the CRA provides that after one repair or replacement, if goods do not conform, the consumer has a final right to reject. Alphera had multiple opportunities to repair the car but failed to rectify the underlying issues. The independent report completed after repairs were made carries little weight as it cannot assess the condition at point of supply.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website