Can I return a used car to the dealer I bought it from?

If the car is faulty or not as described

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats a sale by a trader as including terms that the car is of satisfactory quality (section 9), fit for any particular purpose you made known to the dealer (section 10) and as described (section 11). If it is not, you have a short-term right to reject it for a refund. The time limit is the end of 30 days beginning with the first day after ownership has passed to you (possession, on hire purchase), the car has been delivered and any installation has been notified (section 22(3)).

nidirect says you will need to show that the vehicle was not of satisfactory quality at the time of sale, and that an independent report from a garage can support your claim. The trader must give the refund without undue delay and within 14 days beginning with the day it agrees you are entitled to it, by the same means you paid and without a fee (section 20). If the car was on hire purchase or a conditional sale and you reject it before the whole price has been paid, the refund covers the part of the price you have paid.

If you bought it at a distance or away from the dealer’s premises

A car bought through a dealer’s distance-selling arrangements (entirely online or by phone), or at a place that is not the dealer’s business premises, carries a separate right to cancel without giving a reason (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 5 and 29). For a sales contract the cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the day the car comes into your physical possession (regulation 30(3)).

The dealer can recover from you the amount by which the car’s value has been diminished by handling beyond what is needed to establish its nature, characteristics and functioning, up to the contract price (regulation 34(9)). It cannot do that if it failed to give you the required information about the right to cancel (regulation 34(11)). Our answer on returning a car bought online goes through it.

If you simply changed your mind at the dealership

Neither the Consumer Rights Act nor the 2013 Regulations gives a right to return a car you chose and bought at the dealer’s premises because you changed your mind. nidirect lists changing your mind about goods you have bought among the things you cannot claim for.

A dealer may offer more than the law requires, so check its sales terms. Whatever it offers, a term that would cut back your rights above is not binding on you (section 31).

After the first 30 days

You can still require a repair or replacement and, if that fails, a price reduction or the final right to reject. A fault that shows up within six months of delivery is taken to have been there from the start, unless it is established that the car was in order on delivery or the presumption does not fit the nature of the fault (section 19(14) and (15)). Our answer on a dealer who refuses to repair covers this.

If the car is on finance, or you want help

On hire purchase, PCP or a conditional sale the finance company is the supplier, and our answer on a faulty car bought on finance explains who to claim against. For advice, GOV.UK names Citizens Advice in England and Wales, Advice Direct Scotland in Scotland and Consumerline in Northern Ireland. The Act and the Regulations extend across the UK.