Something's gone wrong with the car — your UK rights, in order

The UK protects car buyers unusually well by international standards, and the protection stacks. Every regulated trader owes you the Consumer Rights Act 2015, every credit purchase owes you Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and every FCA-authorised lender owes you a documented complaints process backed by the Financial Ombudsman Service (The free, independent dispute-resolution service for regulated financial products in the UK. You don't need a claims company to use it.). What most buyers get wrong when something goes wrong is not knowing which of those protections applies to which problem — and asking the wrong body first, in the wrong order, wastes months of your legal timeline.

This guide sets out the correct order. It's written around the four windows the law itself uses: the first 30 days (short-term rejection), the first 6 months (reversed burden of proof), 6 months to 6 years (repair, replacement or price reduction), and the parallel finance-provider route (Section 75 and the Ombudsman). Do them in order and almost every consumer complaint about a used-car purchase resolves inside three months. Do them out of order and you end up in the small-claims track two years later.

First 30 days — short-term right to reject

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you a 30-day short-term right to reject a car bought from any UK trader — franchised dealer, independent, online supermarket, doesn't matter — if the car isn't of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described. Reject the car and the trader must return your money in full, minus any deduction for use only in specific circumstances. The 30 days run from the date you take delivery, not the date of sale, so if delivery is delayed the clock starts on the actual delivery day.

The mechanics matter. You must reject in writing (email is fine, letter is better), you must identify the fault clearly, and you must state that you are exercising your short-term right to reject under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. A verbal complaint on the forecourt is not a rejection. A vague email asking 'what will you do about this' is not a rejection. The written notice starts a legal process the dealer is obliged to respond to. Keep a copy, and send it by a method that gives you delivery evidence.

Day 31 to month 6 — reversed burden of proof

Between day 31 and the end of month 6, you still have a right to reject the car, but the trader gets one chance to repair or replace it first. The critical thing about this window is the reversed burden of proof: if a fault appears, the law presumes the fault was present at the time of sale unless the trader can prove otherwise. In practice this means the trader — not you — has to fund and produce the engineer's report that argues the fault developed later. Very few traders bother; most agree to repair rather than fight it.

If the trader's first repair attempt doesn't fix the problem, or if the fault recurs, you can then exercise a final right to reject for a full or partial refund. The trader is allowed to deduct 'a reasonable amount for use' — case law puts that at roughly the difference between the sale price and the private-sale value of the car on the day of rejection, or a pence-per-mile figure typical for the vehicle. Either calculation usually leaves you with the great majority of your money back.

Month 7 to year 6 — repair, replacement or price reduction

After the 6-month reversed-burden window closes, you still have rights, but you now have to produce evidence yourself. If a fault appears — anything the Consumer Rights Act would consider unsatisfactory quality — you're entitled to ask the trader to repair or replace, or (if repair is impossible or disproportionate) to a price reduction reflecting the reduced value of the car. The Sale of Goods Act limitation of six years from date of sale caps the outside edge of this window; in Scotland it's five years from date of knowledge.

The evidence you'll need in this window is a written engineer's report identifying the fault, stating when it likely arose, and estimating the cost of repair. An AA, RAC or independent mechanic's report costs £150–£350 and is worth many times that when you're pursuing a claim. Without it, the trader can and will argue the fault developed after purchase, and you'll struggle in any subsequent small-claims action.

Section 75 — the parallel finance route

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is the most under-used consumer protection in UK finance. If you bought the car on any regulated credit — HP (A car finance product where you pay a fixed monthly amount and own the car outright at the end of the term.), PCP (A car finance product with lower monthly payments and a large optional final payment (the balloon) if you want to keep the car.), personal loan used to buy the car, credit card deposit above £100 — the finance provider is jointly and severally liable with the trader for any breach of contract or misrepresentation. This means you can claim against the finance provider directly, and they must consider your claim on the same standards as the trader would. It also means the claim survives the trader going out of business, which small dealers occasionally do.

Definition

Section 75

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the credit provider jointly and severally liable with the trader for any breach of contract or misrepresentation on a purchase between £100 and £30,000 made using regulated credit.

This is a specific and powerful right. It's the reason the UK's used-car finance market feels safer than most European equivalents — because the lender's own commercial interest is aligned with the trader delivering a satisfactory car. Section 75 does not apply to purchases funded by unsecured personal loans that weren't specifically tied to the car sale, nor to debit-card payments.

Financial Ombudsman Service — the escalation route

If the finance provider rejects your Section 75 claim or fails to resolve a complaint about the finance itself (mis-sold PCP, misrepresented affordability, incorrect fee charged), you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FOS process is free to the consumer, requires the finance provider to have exhausted its own complaints process first (usually 8 weeks), and produces a binding award on the finance provider. Time-limit is 6 months from the finance provider's final response letter.

Small-claims track — the last resort

If everything above fails, the small-claims track (Money Claim Online for England and Wales) handles motor disputes up to £10,000 with issue fees between £35 and £455 depending on claim size. It's slow — 6 to 12 months to hearing is typical — but the process is designed to work without a lawyer, and the judge is required to make allowances for a litigant in person. In practice, most small-claims cases settle before hearing once the defendant realises the claim is being pursued seriously.

The order to work in, from tomorrow morning

• Photograph the fault, all around and dated, before any repair is attempted.
• Get an independent engineer's report — £150–£350 through AA, RAC or a local specialist.
• Write to the trader stating the fault, citing the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and requesting rejection, repair or replacement as appropriate. Give 14 days.
• If the trader refuses or misses the deadline, submit a Section 75 claim to your finance provider with the engineer's report attached.
• If Section 75 is rejected, escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service — free, 6-month deadline from final response.
• As a last resort, issue a small-claims track claim through Money Claim Online (England and Wales) or the Sheriff Court (Scotland).

Where disputes actually get resolved

Most UK car-buying disputes never reach a courtroom. Almost six in ten resolve at the dealer stage once the buyer sends a clear, written short-term-right-to-reject letter citing the Consumer Rights Act 2015. A further one in five reach the Motor Ombudsman, whose determinations are binding on any signed-up dealer. For finance-related complaints the Financial Ombudsman Service handles roughly one in eight, and Section 75 lender-liability claims settle another one in fourteen without going to court. Small claims is the last resort — cheap, effective, but rarely needed if the earlier steps are handled properly.