Not upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against Toyota Financial Services (UK) PLC trading as Redline Finance

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S purchased a seven-and-a-half-year-old used car with 86,363 miles under a hire purchase agreement with Redline Finance in May 2025. Within six months, he discovered a coolant leak from the water pump requiring repeated top-ups. He complained that the car was not of satisfactory quality at the point of supply. Redline Finance arranged an independent inspection which concluded the leak was not present or developing at supply, noting that significant coolant residue would be visible if the fault had existed from the start. The ombudsman upheld the inspection findings and rejected Mr S's additional complaints about undisclosed bodywork repairs and service history misrepresentation due to insufficient evidence, finding the complaint not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires goods to be of satisfactory quality. While acknowledging that a fault within six months normally suggests it was present or developing at supply, the ombudsman found the independent inspection report persuasive evidence that the water pump leak was not present at supply. The inspector's reasoning that significant coolant residue would be visible if the fault had existed from the start, combined with the car's age (8 years) and mileage (90,000+ miles), supported the conclusion that the fault was due to reasonable wear and tear rather than a pre-existing defect. The ombudsman rejected allegations of bias in the inspection without evidence and found insufficient proof of undisclosed bodywork repairs or service history misrepresentation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website