Bought a cheap car from a dealer, what are my rights?

Its second hand. It drove away.

And with over 1500 parts, how can you guarantee they are?

"trade-in" only describes how the dealer got the car; I assume that a lot of cars are trade in. It doesn't say anything about the car being sold on trade terms. Obviously you can buy all sorts of things on 'trade terms', such as damaged cars, and cars sold for scrap. The impression you got from OP's post was that it wasn't sold on 'trade terms'. Clearly the Op expected the car to satisfy the terms as when sold to the general public.

What I mean by selling to the 'general public' is when the dealer displays and advertises his wares for anybody, not just the trade. Just like an ordinary shop would do.

Well, it's an ageing Rover 400, so, by definition, is worth sod-all. However, it's a diesel, so will always be worth a bit.

Looks like a reputable dealer - main dealer for Hyundai and Subaru - so you probably have a good chance of him doing something about it.

However, other than the popping out of 5th gear, the faults sound about right for a 500 quid banger. We'd need to see the extent of the rust to make a real judgement on it, though.

As for the 5th gear problem, it would well be a dodgy linkage.

Which is exactly how I bought my last couple of cars 'on trade terms'.

Well, I'm not really worried about that kind of stuff (having already replaced the smashed mirror (the one of the other side of the car in the photos) and the aerial.

The knackered gearbox, on the other hand, is more of a concern (though I'm pretty sure I could get one of those off eBay, that's not really the point).

I thought that initially, hence not returning the car immediately. However, I don't think the linkage is the problem in this case (1st thu

4th pop in OK on the synchromesh, 5th gear grinds and crashes and won't engage without persuasion, and then it just pops right out again).

OK, so the moment I bought it, it used to go into 5th with a bit of persuasion (only minor crashing noises) but over the 600 miles I've had it, it popped out more and more frequently and now is virtually impossible to engage at all.

I told the dealer I wasn't bothered by minor defects, and only wanted it to get me from point A to point B on the motorway. (Which now I can only do in 4th, hardly fuel economic).

All I'm trying to guage is if I do have a leg to stand on given that the problem got worse over the 600 miles I've driven it, and given the bunch of other defects that weren't described to me over the phone when I asked what was wrong with it (some of them very obvious, like the smashed mirror!)

I mean, if it's my stupid fault for assuming I'd be OK with a dealer bought car, or am expecting too much from a dealer bought car, than fair enough, I can I accept that.

On the other hand, if the opinion here is that I should have some recourse of action, then I'll follow that advice instead.

(This is the first time I've bought a car from a dealer, and the first time I've ever bought a car without driving it first).

Thanks a lot, I'll remember to keep away that one next time I see one your post.

And again, in English this time?

I'd guess at a sync problem. A scrap gearbox should be less than =A3100=20 and fitting it about =A3250. If the dealer knew about that, it'd explain=20 the low price. A car that you have to spend the same again on to fix it=20 after buying it isn't a bargain. I'm glad I spent a couple of weeks=20 inspecting stuff after the Scrote died. That price would have been the=20 lower end of my budget. Lots of stuff I looked at was in the back lots=20 of dealers and had been taken in part-ex. A lot of it was junk that had=20 obviously been offloaded as part-ex to avoid having to fix something=20 expensive. A Pug 306 was described as a lovely car to drive when it had=20 severe steering problems. Quite a lot hadn't even been given a clean=20 out. I came to the conclusion that dealers will list something for a=20 couple of weeks to get a better price before they send it off to=20 auction.

Warwick

Where do you take your cars? - that's 10 hours at my local bloke's rates!

I'd have a 2nd hand box fitted for an all-in cost of 200....

Depends on the car. Plenty of R reg cars that aren't worth much more than

500 quid.

Eh? No it's not. I've seen Escorts as late as X reg.

Now you have a problem as you have modified (fixed) part of the car :(

Speak to the dealer see what he'll offer... maybe you'll get you money back but I wouldn't count on it maybe see if you can get a deal on a repair?

You're never safe, and you were within your rights upon insepcting the car to ask for a refund as it was not as described. If your eyes work and you were told the gearbox had issues (or if you'd taken it for a test drive and discovered this yourself) then it's now tough. If you were temporarily blinded by the thought of a diesel powered Britified Honda and the dealer said it was mechanically perfect, then you have a leg to stand on. The fact it's from a dealer only means they're unlikely to have spent your money on cheap flights or booze, it's unlikely to make the slightest bit of difference in terms of honesty.

I was behind (briefly) a T-reg 800 last night.

The message from "AstraVanMan" contains these words:

That doesn't conflict with "If you buy an R-reg car for £500 you should expect it to be fairly dire."!

Warwick ( snipped-for-privacy@affordable-afpers.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It would be if you bought the car for £500 with a £300 problem that's worth £1000 fixed.

Bollocks! If I paid 500 quid for a car, it'd have to be a minter. Friend of mine got _two_ 7 Series Beemers the other day for eight pound fifty. 8 months MOT of one of them too.