Not upheld: quality of goods - rejection of used car under Consumer Rights Act 2015 complaint against Lendable Ltd trading as Autolend

Decision detail

Summary

Miss M purchased a ten-year-old used car with 75,988 miles through a hire purchase agreement with Autolend in December 2025 for £5,695. Within days of collection, she reported a tyre pressure warning light and a crack in the instrument panel glass cover, and sought to reject the car under the Consumer Rights Act 2015's short-term rejection provision. Autolend declined to uphold her complaint, and the FOS Investigator agreed. The ombudsman found that the car was of satisfactory quality at the point of sale: the tyre pressure warning light was not a fault but a normal system functioning correctly, and the cracked glass was visible during the test drive and represented wear and tear consistent with a vehicle of that age and mileage. Accordingly, the complaint was not upheld and no remedy was ordered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires goods to be of satisfactory quality as judged by what a reasonable person would consider satisfactory, taking into account the description, price, and relevant circumstances including the age and mileage of the vehicle. For a ten-year-old car with 75,000 miles, a reasonable person would expect some wear and tear. The tyre pressure warning light was not a fault but a normal system functioning correctly. The cracked instrument panel glass, while a defect, was visible and would have been apparent to Miss M during the test drive, representing wear and tear rather than a fault affecting satisfactory quality. The car's passage of its MOT supported the conclusion that it was safe to drive. Therefore, the car met the standard of satisfactory quality at the point of sale.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website