Not upheld: goods not of satisfactory quality; rejection of hire purchase goods complaint against Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs F acquired a new car through a hire purchase agreement with VWFS in May 2024 and experienced multiple issues including a faulty petrol cap, wing mirror noise, and occupancy sensor failure. She accepted repairs for the confirmed faults but later requested rejection of the car in February 2025. VWFS refused rejection and offered £780 compensation (£580 rental refund and £200 inconvenience). The ombudsman found that while the car had faults, Mrs F had accepted repairs for all confirmed defects, and an independent inspection concluded ongoing issues were not present at supply. The ombudsman upheld VWFS's position that rejection was not warranted and found the £780 offer reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which implies that goods supplied under a hire purchase agreement must be of satisfactory quality at the point of supply. For a new car, this means it should be free from faults and remain fault-free for a reasonable time. While the car had faults (petrol cap, wing mirrors, occupancy sensor), these were either confirmed as present at supply or within the first six months, and Mrs F accepted repairs for all confirmed faults. The independent inspection concluded that ongoing issues would not have been present or developing at supply. Since Mrs F accepted repairs rather than rejecting the car at the time, and no evidence showed the car was unfit for purpose at supply, rejection was not warranted. The offered compensation of £780 was deemed reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website