Not upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited

Decision detail

Summary

X purchased a used car through a hire purchase agreement with VWFS in September 2025 for £15,999. The eight-year-old vehicle with 33,698 miles had paintwork defects on the bonnet and passenger door that became apparent after collection. X obtained independent reports confirming lacquer runs and patchy paintwork requiring resprays, and formally rejected the vehicle in October 2025. VWFS declined to unwind the agreement, offering only £150 as goodwill. The ombudsman found that while paintwork imperfections existed, they were cosmetic issues consistent with a reasonable person's expectations for a used vehicle of this age and mileage, and therefore did not constitute unsatisfactory quality under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, resulting in the complaint not being upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015 standard of satisfactory quality, which requires goods to meet the standard a reasonable person would consider satisfactory taking into account description, price, and relevant circumstances. For an eight-year-old used car with 33,698 miles costing £15,999, a reasonable person would expect the car to be in generally good condition for its age and mileage but would not have the same expectations as for a newer vehicle. While the evidence showed paintwork imperfections including lacquer runs and patchy paintwork, the ombudsman found these were cosmetic issues that did not materially affect the vehicle's use, safety, durability or overall integrity, and were consistent with what a reasonable person might expect from a vehicle of this age and mileage.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website