How to return a car of inadequate quality to the seller - procedure

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Signs of poor quality repairs

When performing car repairs, various mistakes can be made. This is a bad paint job. Replacement of faulty parts with old spare parts. Incorrect installation of design elements.

Ultimately, such deficiencies will require new repairs. This means that the vehicle owner’s expenses will increase.

Therefore, it is recommended that all work be monitored by the customer. In addition, all documentation must be in order. This will only benefit the car owner.

When receiving a vehicle from a service station, the car owner must:

• check the list of works specified in the contract with those completed;
• make sure that the documentation, including a certificate of work performed, a check or receipt for payment for services, and a warranty certificate, is available.

Remember! If deficiencies are discovered, you should immediately demand their elimination, refusing to sign the work completion certificate. If necessary, file a substantiated claim regarding unfair repairs.

When work is carried out privately, no paperwork is drawn up. Therefore, it is recommended to obtain witness testimony. Thanks to them, it will be easy to confirm the fact of ordering vehicle repairs from a specific contractor.

As judicial practice shows, it is very difficult to achieve:

• return of funds for work performed;
• carrying out repeated repairs at the expense of the contractor;
• compensation for the costs of new repairs from another specialist.

When going to court, it can be difficult to prove that the problem lies specifically in the repair of a vehicle at a specific service station.

Attention! Our qualified lawyers will assist you free of charge and around the clock on any issues. Find out more here.

Collection of punitive interest, compensation for moral damage and a 50% fine

So, when returning money for a low-quality car, the consumer has the right to demand that the seller pay penalty interest on this amount under Art. 395 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, to recover compensation for moral damage, and also to demand payment of a fine in the amount of 50% of all awarded amounts of money incurred in the case of legal expenses.

Important!

The fine encourages sellers to conscientiously and timely fulfill their obligations to consumers under the threat of applying a financial sanction that is quite significant for their budget. The purpose of using this tool is to make it more profitable for sellers to comply with the law than to break it.

Let us note that the collection of the said fine is a measure of responsibility that is applied to the contractor for committing guilty actions: ignoring justified claims of the consumer, creating obstacles for the consumer in the exercise of his rights (Appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated April 28, 2016 in case No. 33-11925/2016 ).

The requirement to collect a fine for failure to voluntarily satisfy consumer demands is derived from the main requirements on which his claim is based. Therefore, it is rejected if the court refused to satisfy them (Appeal ruling of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court dated May 13, 2016 in case No. 11-6745/2016).

The derivative nature of the fine from the basic claims of the consumer to the defendant means that it is impossible to assign the right to it until its firm amount is determined by a court decision that has entered into legal force. In this case, the assignment of the right is allowed in the manner of procedural succession together with the other claims of the consumer or separately from them at his discretion.

The court may reduce the amount of the fine on the basis of Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if it is disproportionate to the consequences of violation of the obligation, according to a reasoned statement of the defendant made in the court of first instance (Determination of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of October 29, 2013 No. 8-KG13-1), or at the discretion of the court, if it is clearly excessive (Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan dated August 27, 2015 in case No. 33-12764/2015). However, even the reduced amount can be quite high.

Application of Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation to reduce the fine is due to its legal nature: such a fine should be considered as a legal penalty (Determination of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated October 29, 2013 No. 8-КГ13-12). The fine is also reduced if a higher court changes the decision of lower courts, as a result of which the amount of money awarded in favor of the consumer, included in the base for calculating the fine, is reduced.

Note!

The fine in question is collected by the court even if the consumer did not declare it in his claim (clause 46 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2012 No. 17 “On the consideration by courts of civil cases in disputes regarding the protection of consumer rights”).

This applies to any disputes with his participation, including regarding the collection of insurance compensation from a faulty insurer who evades its timely payment (clause 45 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated June 27, 2013 No. 20 “On the application by courts of legislation on voluntary insurance of property of citizens” ).

The situation is similar in the case when the claim of a public organization appealing for the protection of consumer rights is satisfied: a fine is collected in their favor, even if they did not declare it, although in practice it is precisely its receipt in the income of the public organization that is its goal going to court.

According to paragraph 6 of Art. 13 of Law No. 2300-1, when the court satisfies the consumer’s requirements established by law, the court collects from the manufacturer (performer, seller, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer) for failure to voluntarily satisfy the consumer’s requirements a fine of 50% of the amount awarded court in favor of the consumer. If public associations of consumers (their associations, unions) or local government bodies make a statement in defense of consumer rights, fifty percent of the amount of the collected fine is transferred to these associations (their associations, unions) or bodies.

Adjustment of the fine amount

If, during the consideration of the case, the consumer clarifies his claims, waiving some of them in connection with their voluntary execution by the defendant after the initiation of the case in court, then the corresponding amounts are not excluded from the base for calculating the fine in question. Such clarification of the claims does not constitute a waiver of the claim, since these procedural actions are not identical and entail different legal consequences.

In this case, the clarification of the claim is due to the absence of the need to support part of the previously stated claims, and solely due to the fact that the defendant himself voluntarily satisfied them. In this regard, he cannot be released from the obligation to pay a fine in this amount (Determination of the RF Armed Forces dated May 10, 2016 No. 35-KG16-3).

Basis for calculating the fine

The basis for calculating the fine for failure to voluntarily satisfy consumer rights includes any sums of money collected by the court in his favor from the defendant, namely: the amount of the principal debt (for example, prepayment for goods not delivered or for work (service) not performed or for returned goods of inadequate quality), penalties for violation of terms of service provision or satisfaction of individual consumer requirements, compensation for moral damage, losses, etc.

At the same time, the fine is not assessed on the amount of legal costs, since the issues of reimbursement of legal costs incurred during the consideration of the case in court are regulated by the provisions of Art. 88 and 98 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

The basis for calculating the fine in question includes only those demands that the consumer submitted to the defendant in the pre-trial (claim) procedure and which were left unsatisfied.

This is the point of the consumer using the pre-trial procedure: if, in addition to his basic demands, he intends to receive a fine from the defendant, thereby increasing the total amount of his monetary compensation, he must first send him a written claim by courier or by mail, having received evidence of its receipt by the latter.

If certain requirements were not initially stated by the consumer in the claim, they are not included in the basis for calculating the fine due to the lack of grounds for this. In such a situation, the court takes into account only those requirements that were indicated in its claim to the defendant and remained unsatisfied voluntarily (Appeal ruling of the Rostov Regional Court dated November 24, 2015 in case No. 33-17952/2015). In addition, if a claim for payment of certain amounts was not received due to the incorrect address of the defendant, therefore a fine for violation of consumer rights cannot be assessed (Appeal ruling of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court dated 08/11/2015 in case No. 33-11495/2015).

Liability for poor quality vehicle repairs

If the car owner is not satisfied with the quality of work, it is recommended to send a formal complaint to the contractor. However, there is no point in doing this without an expert’s opinion.

A legally competent claim and a specialist’s opinion will allow you to count on a positive result. If the outcome is negative, you will have to go to court.

Please note! When filing a claim, the consumer has the right to demand recovery of the following payments:

• money spent. In this case, the amount that is officially issued through the cash desk or bank account of the performer is subject to refund;
• payment for the services of an expert who conducted a study at the request of the car owner;
• reimbursement of attorney fees;
• refund of the state fee paid when filing a claim;
• compensation for moral damage caused.

If the claims are satisfied, the declared amounts are subject to recovery from the unscrupulous performer.

Steps to take when returning

Returning a car of inadequate quality is possible if you drive it to the car dealership and take with you all the documents issued at the conclusion of the transaction:

• about purchase and sale;
• about granting a loan;
• about payment.

The seller is told the reason for the return and demands are put forward in connection with this. By law, the buyer has the right to one of the following measures:

• exchange for a similar car, but without disadvantages;
• exchange for another model with price recalculation;
• repairs at the salon's expense;
• reimbursement of repair costs.

How to get money back for low quality car repairs

Important! In order for the car owner to return the money spent, as well as compensate for other expenses, it is necessary to follow the algorithm of actions developed by legal practice.

It consists of the following:

• Having discovered a defect, immediately report it to the contractor in the person of the manager or owner of the service center;
• if the detected defect is not eliminated, you will need to prepare a written claim;
• When drawing up a document, it is better to enlist the support of a professional lawyer or an experienced lawyer. They will provide legal basis for the claim. In addition, you will need a conclusion from an auto technician who will confirm the defect. The expert study is carried out with the participation of a representative of the contractor. If he does not wish to be present, he should have on hand papers confirming proper notification of the date, time and place of the examination;
• The examination is carried out on a paid basis, so the cost of the examination is paid by the owner of the vehicle. The receipt or check is saved;
• Having received the expert's conclusions, they are included in the text of the claim. A copy of the conclusion is attached;
• a written claim is presented to the owner of the service station or service center that repaired the car. If you refuse to receive documents, send them by mail with a list of the contents and a receipt. These papers will serve as evidence that the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute has been followed.

Taking into account the postal document flow, you should expect a response to the stated claim in two to three weeks.

Sellers: “Return the car? Hardly…"

How are things going in practice? Does it really often happen that car owners who are faced with an obvious manufacturing defect manage to return the car to the dealership and get back the money they paid for it? And out of court?

A former employee of one of the large St. Petersburg car dealerships, who worked in car sales for 7 years, agreed to answer these and other questions about how car dealers actually build their relationships with clients .

According to our interlocutor, if any controversial situations arise in which the client wants to return the money paid for the car, the car dealership will do everything to prevent such a return from taking place.

“In the event of a technical malfunction, they will do their best to prove that this is not a manufacturing defect, but a breakdown due to improper operation. Often, by the way, this is really true, and the dealer is able to prove it,” says our source.

If it turns out that the car they want to return actually has a manufacturing defect, and its owner is persistent in his desire to get the money back, “heavy artillery” is brought into the negotiations. “Even the top management of the dealership can start communicating with particularly stubborn customers. A person is offered all conceivable options for compensation, just so that he does not give up his car! If the client categorically does not agree to anything after this, they tell him: “Offer any option other than replacing the car that suits you.” It really works for many people!” – notes a former car dealership employee.

According to his observations, dealerships very skillfully and subtly play on psychology. “When communication begins at the salon management level, no one raises their voice at the client; the head of the sales department or even the director invites him to his office, addresses him with emphatic politeness, and offers him coffee. In this situation, most people lose their “offensive reflex.” And then, in addition, they promise all sorts of discounts, bonuses, gifts, and many end up agreeing to a settlement,” reveals typical methods of “soft pressure” on a client, a source from Kolesa.Ru .

According to our interlocutor, during his entire time working in the automobile business, in his memory there was only one case when a buyer’s car was replaced in a pre-trial manner. “The client purchased a car whose standard equipment included air conditioning. However, after all the documents for the sale and purchase were completed, the buyer took the car and registered it; during operation, two or three weeks later, it turned out that there was no air conditioning in the car. Based on the results of the inspection, it turned out that this was the fault of the manufacturer. And since it turned out that the car specified in the specification of the purchase and sale agreement did not correspond to the one actually issued, and the client refused compensation, according to the general decision of the management of the dealership, the car was taken back from him, sold through the Trade-in system, and the buyer was given a new one.” , - a former salon employee tells a far from typical life story.

What to do in case of improper repairs under OSAGO

A number of service stations have contractual legal relations with insurance companies. Therefore, they carry out repairs of vehicles on which a policy has been issued under the MTPL program.

Remember! If a car that has received technical damage as a result of a traffic accident is being repaired, the owner must act as follows:

• order a technical examination, which can be entrusted to a similar service station. The main condition is the diagnosis of repair work and the issuance of an appropriate conclusion. It should record the fact of poor quality work;
• prepare and send a claim to the insurance company that issued the MTPL policy;
• If there is no response within one to one and a half months, or the insurance company does not satisfy the car owner’s demand, it is necessary to prepare documents to go to court.

According to current legislation, the insurance company can pay funds for repairs not to its partner - the service station, but to the owner of the car.

ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample claim to the insurance company for poor quality repairs:

Kolesa.Ru recommend:

– be sure to keep all documents related to the relationship with the dealership: sales contract, purchase orders, receipts for them, complaints, written refusals (the client has the right to receive the latter by law);

– make all claims and complaints in writing;

– if the dealer “takes a stand” and does not acknowledge any claims in a harsh manner, write complaints to the Russian representative office of the manufacturer;

– if the dealer does not identify the breakdown and claims in documents that the car is in order, while you still have complaints, contact an independent expert organization. A positive verdict from its specialists will be a confirmation for the court of the validity of your claims.

However, the case may not go to trial. “The dealership cannot force the dealer to accept a defective car from the client and return the money to him. However, there is a very close economic relationship between them,” says our interlocutor. – Dealers earn not only from car sales, but also from bonuses from dealerships: as a rule, for fulfilling the sales plan, but also for the absence of complaints from customers. The fewer there are, the greater the bonuses; if there are too many of them, you can completely lose the bonuses. And since we are talking about amounts with six zeros, this is a serious blow to the financial well-being of the salon! Therefore, under pressure from the representative office, the dealership may well accommodate the client halfway.”

Pre-trial claim against a car service

Each application to the court must be preceded by measures to peacefully resolve the dispute between the owner of the vehicle and the service center or service station that committed violations during the repair of the vehicle.

The pre-trial procedure for settling legal relations between the parties involves filing a claim.

Important! It must be in writing and contain the following points:

• name of the service provider, its organizational and legal form of ownership, legal and actual address of location;
• information about the owner of the vehicle, his last name, first name, patronymic, place of residence indicating the name of the locality, street name, house number, apartment;
• name of the document “Claim”;
• the grounds for the emergence of legal relations between the service station and the owner of the car. Date of signing the repair contract. Types of work performed. Transaction price. Terms of payment;
• fulfillment of obligations on the part of the customer;
• fulfillment of obligations on the part of the performer;
• what shortcomings and defects were identified during the repair work, how they are confirmed;
• the essence of the customer’s proposal, legal justification, deadlines for eliminating deficiencies;
• actions of the customer if the claim is not satisfied;
• Attached documents;
• date, signature and surname of the owner of the vehicle.

Returning a new car to the dealership

Before receiving the car, the client has the right to cancel the transaction at any time and return the advance payment for the car at the dealership.

But do not confuse the two concepts “advance” and “deposit”.

Advance payment is an advance payment for the supplied goods. It does not entail legal consequences.

Pledge is a way to ensure the fulfillment of obligations, i.e. a monetary guarantee that the parties will not refuse the transaction.

When transferring the collateral, a separate agreement is drawn up, which sets out the procedure for compensation in the event of the seller or buyer refusing to conclude the transaction. Therefore, whether it will be possible to return the deposit for a car at a car dealership depends on the specific terms of the agreement.

Before returning the prepayment for a car at a car dealership, do the following:

• draw up a free-form application for the return of money;
• send an application to the dealer;
• wait for a response.

The car dealership must transfer the funds within 10 days of receiving the application. If the money is not returned, go to court.

If the client changes his mind about buying a car after signing the contract and actually receiving the vehicle, he can return it back only on the grounds provided for by current legislation.

Reasons for return

Return a new car in the following cases:

• a defect was discovered within 15 days of receipt;
• a significant deficiency has been discovered;
• the deadline for eliminating defects has been missed;
• It is impossible to operate the machine for more than 30 days during the year due to repeated elimination of deficiencies.

The procedure for handing over a car to the dealership

If defects are identified, send a written complaint to the car dealership. Compose it in free form, indicating:

• name of the car dealership;
• buyer information;
• description of the purchase – make, model, color, year of manufacture, VIN code;
• price;
• list of detected defects;
• requirement to repair damage or compensate money;
• list of attached documents - a copy of the purchase and sale agreement, PTS, check.

Place a date and signature at the end of the application.

Download a sample claim for returning a car to a car dealership

Send the claim to the car dealership by registered mail with notification or bring it in person, asking the employee to put an acceptance mark on the second copy. This is necessary to prove timely contact with the dealer during legal proceedings.

The salon considers the claim within ten days , after which it makes a decision on the return of funds or refusal of compensation. If the salon’s decision is negative, conduct an independent examination that will determine the cause of the car’s defect.

Limitation periods for filing a claim

Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation establishes a general limitation period for protecting a violated right in court. It is three years.

However, for certain legal relations, the limitation period can be changed either down or up. This is directly stated in Article 197 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Please note! According to the provisions of Article 200 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period begins from the day when the owner of the vehicle learned or should have learned that his rights have been violated.

In a specific context, he learned or should have learned that his car was repaired with defects. Moreover, if a trusted person acts on behalf of the owner of the car, then this provision, at the beginning of the limitation period, applies to him.

How do official dealers deceive?

How to return a car under an agreement between individuals, read here.

How to get a free online legal consultation quickly, read the link:

That is, regardless of who seeks judicial protection, the car owner himself or his authorized representative, the law provides them with the same right. This was ambiguously indicated by the country's highest courts in paragraph 11 of the joint resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court No. 15 of November 12, 2001.

Any exceptions to the general rule are established by the current norms of civil legislation of the Russian Federation and other laws of the country.

Watch the video. Protection of consumer rights in case of poor-quality car repairs:

Two week period

According to the PSA, the car can be returned to the seller within 14 days. To do this, several conditions must be met simultaneously:

1. During operation, the owner discovered a malfunction, a defect that was not mentioned in the cabin. For example, the seller indicated excellent sound insulation, but in reality it revealed extremely poor absorption of sounds from the street.
2. No visible signs of use. Naturally, there will be a short mileage. But, in any case, there should be no cracks, scratches or chips on the windows and hood, and no stains or scuffs in the interior.
3. The marketable appearance has not been lost; the labels, stickers, and labels that were inside the car, on the windows or on the hood at the time of purchase have been preserved.

Get it done in 14 days

If within 14 days from the date of purchase of the vehicle you have identified a significant defect or malfunction in it, the elimination of which will require significant financial costs, then immediately file a claim and send it to the car dealership.

It is necessary to understand that the return of funds that were previously paid as payment for the purchased vehicle, or the exchange of a vehicle for another is extremely unprofitable for the salon.

Based on this, the car dealership employees will make every effort to convince you that the salon has nothing to do with the problems that have arisen. The main goal of the employees is to persuade you to withdraw your claim.

But you should not succumb to such persuasion and persuasion. Just wait until the deadline expires, which, in accordance with current legislation, is allotted for considering the claim and drawing up a response.

If, after this period, your demands are refused or simply not answered, then you can safely contact the courts.

Attention! Let us note that an independent examination carried out on your own, the results of which will confirm the legality of the requirements, will significantly increase the chances that, following the results of legal proceedings, the court will make a decision in your favor.