Not upheld: goods not of satisfactory quality under hire purchase agreement complaint against Zopa Bank Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs O purchased a used 8-year-old car with 101,293 miles via hire purchase with Zopa for £12,495. The car broke down within 24 hours with a fuel leak, which was repaired by the dealer at no cost to Mrs O. Several months later at 107,352 miles, the engine seized. Mrs O sought to reject the car, claiming it was not of satisfactory quality at supply. An independent engineer inspection concluded the engine failure was caused by a piston cooling jet solenoid fault unrelated to the initial fuel leak and was not present at point of supply. The ombudsman found the initial fault was remedied by repair satisfying the consumer's rights, and the later engine failure was not linked to or present at point of supply, therefore not upholding the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015 standard of 'satisfactory quality', considering the car's age (8 years), mileage (101,293 miles), price (£12,495), and that a reasonable person would expect trouble-free motoring for at least a short time. While the car developed faults, the initial fuel leak was remedied by repair satisfying the consumer's rights. The later engine failure was caused by a different defect (piston cooling jet solenoid) unrelated to the initial fault, and the independent expert evidence confirmed this defect was not present or developing at point of supply. The ombudsman found the independent report to be the most reliable evidence available and rejected the consumer's challenges to it in the absence of equally persuasive expert evidence.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website