Hidden Defects in New Cars-İmportant New Precedent

broken_car

A brief summary of the facts of the case: Mr. A purchased a new Toyota Auiris, selling it on to Mr. B three months later. Mr. B finds that the car stalls on hills and in traffic jams. He brings the car to the authorized dealer/repairer/service company numerous times. At each visit the repairers attempt to solve the problem by replacing or repairing something different. Eventually Mr. B asks the authorized dealer and the manufacturer to exchange the car. They refuse, on the grounds that Mr. B was not the original purchaser, and even if he had been, by now the compulsory two year warranty period has expired.

A Turkish Court has now ruled:

According to consumer law, certain goods must be issued with a warranty whose duration is the same for all items in that class of goods; ie, cars have a two year warranty. Furthermore, both the vendor and the manufacturer of the car is responsible for faults caused by parts, labour or installments. If the car breaks down often and must spend much time being serviced, then that affects the benefit which the owner might reasonably expect from the car so the car must be exchanged by the vendor and/or the manufacturer.

This right holds true even when the car has, as in this case, been purchased at second hand. The warranty and the rights it offers are granted in law to all owners of the car. Furthermore, as this is a hidden defect, the limitation of action to the two year warranty period is irrelevant.

The result of this ruling is that car owners may expect that the vendors and manufacturers must provide repair services via a technically competent mechanic(s) who is familiar with the vehicle’s design and maintenance. They may be expected to identify and repair all defects in timely manner. Customers are not required to put up with poor service or repair work from an authorized company which uses a kind of trial and error method of identifying the problem with a broken car.