Not upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against FIRST RESPONSE FINANCE LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs B purchased a used car (10.5 years old, 87,312 miles) under hire purchase from FRF in April 2023. The car developed a gearbox fault within weeks and was repaired under warranty by June 2023, with FRF accepting it was not of satisfactory quality. In June 2025, after two years and 20,000 additional miles, the car suffered another gearbox failure. Mrs B complained and sought to reject the car. The ombudsman found the 2023 repair likely successfully restored the car to satisfactory quality, and the later failure did not indicate a defect present at supply, particularly given the car's age (12.5 years) and mileage (over 100,000 miles) at the time of the second failure. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the Consumer Rights Act 2015 satisfactory quality test, considering the car's age (10.5 years), price (£6,500), mileage (87,312 miles at supply), and the reasonable expectations of a buyer. While accepting the car had an initial gearbox defect, the ombudsman found the 2023 repair likely successfully returned the car to satisfactory quality. The later failure in June 2025 occurred two years later after only 20,000 additional miles, suggesting the fault was not present or developing at point of supply. At the time of the second failure, the car was 12.5 years old with over 100,000 miles, making it reasonable to expect component failures. The ombudsman rejected the investigator's argument that a reconditioned gearbox should last 30,000-100,000 miles as unsupported and not accounting for the car's age and the nature of the repair.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website