May apply when
- A fault the consumer guarantees may cover
- A serious fault, where refund or replacement may be your choice
- The same problem back after repeated repairs
Usually doesn’t help
- Changing your mind after delivery
- Finding the same car cheaper elsewhere
- A small fault the dealership can fix in a reasonable time
Changing your mind is not the same as a fault
People ask this question for two very different reasons. Some regret the purchase. Some have a car that has already gone wrong. The law treats those situations completely differently, so it helps to know which one you’re in before you walk back into the dealership.
Cooling-off rights for cars are limited, vary by state, and in several states don’t apply to a new car at all. If nothing is wrong with the car, a dealership usually doesn’t have to take it back, though some will negotiate. The wider question of returning a car to a dealer after purchase, including a dealer who misled you, has its own page.
When a new car may be returnable
A brand new car carries the same consumer guarantees as any other car sold by a dealership in Australia. It has to be of acceptable quality, which means safe, durable, free from defects and fit for what it was sold to do.
Where a fault is serious enough, the choice of what happens next may be yours. That could mean rejecting the car for a refund, or asking for a replacement. Things that may point to a serious fault include
- a safety problem, such as brakes or steering that can’t be relied on
- a fault that means the car can’t do what it was sold for
- a problem that can’t be fixed within a reasonable time
- the same fault coming back after repeated repairs
Whether a fault reaches that bar depends on the facts, and nothing here is advice about your car. Which faults tend to count, and which usually don’t, is covered in what counts as a defective vehicle.
When the dealership may be entitled to repair first
For a smaller fault, the dealership may be entitled to choose what happens, and that will usually be a repair. It has to be done within a reasonable time. If it drags on, or the same problem keeps returning, the picture can change and the fault may come to be treated as serious after all. Keep a record of every visit, what was done and how long you were without the car.
What a refund could look like
If a refund ends up on the table, the amount can depend on the car’s price, how long you’ve had it and the kilometres it has done. If the car is on finance, the lender is involved too, which changes how a refund is paid rather than whether one may be on the table.
Not sure where you stand? Send us the paperwork and we’ll take a look.
What to do first
- Stop driving the car if the fault is a safety one
- Put the problem in writing to the dealership, not just a phone call
- Keep every invoice, job card, email and text
- Ask the dealership to confirm in writing what they’re offering and why
- Don’t sign anything or accept a settlement until you understand where you stand
Where brokencar fits
We read your paperwork and tell you honestly whether there may be a claim worth making, then put it in writing to the dealership and the manufacturer on your behalf. It costs nothing to find out where you stand, and nothing is attached to it. See what you may be owed and how the free review works.
Further reading. the ACCC on consumer guarantees, the plain-English summary of the rights behind all of this.