Car inspection question

[fuel]

Hey guys just have a question someone might be able to help me with.

About two months ago I bought a new daily runner car.. a *cough* Mitsubishi Galant *cough*.

Anyway I had a proper pre-purchase vehicle inspection carried out by the local Mitsubishi dealership (wont say names) and it came back with a small list of things which needed attention. Now most the things were minor, and the only major was the cam-belt needed replacing. With that information I went ahead and bought the car.

I just took it for a WOF today to the same dealership and it has failed on a few items which had me concerned. It failed on an oil leak, torn steering rack boot, broken front engine mount and a mismatched rear tyre.

Now I knew it would probably fail on the oil leak as that was pointed out to me when it was inspected, but I'm a little annoyed I was told about the engine mount and the rear tyre. The steering rack boot is understandable and easy to fix.

I didn't even notice that there was not one but TWO mismatched tyres (one on each axle even) until a week later when a tyre shop had pointed it out. Surely this should have been picked up on at the pre-purchase inspection? They also didn't pick up on the broken engine mount either which really annoys me.

I've had the car only just two months and have done little milage in that time. I highly doubt that these problems arose in that small time between the pre-purchase inspection and the WOF inspection.

Now am I right in assuming a pre-purchase inspection would be just as thorough as a WOF inspection? I sure would have thought so seeing as it cost over twice as much!

My question is do I have any grounds to stand on for some sort of complaint or even to bring this to their attention at least? Or is this a case of 'get over it'?

Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers

[flat_0ut]

they put on the bottom of the form "this does not constitute a WOF and does not mean that the car will pass a wof" or it will be in the terms and conditions. Sorry. They should've found them though.

[Rob_GTZ]

How do you fail a WOF on an oil leak?

[fuel]

leaking onto exhaust pipe, which is understandable as it could be a potential fire hazard. I know it's leaking from both rocker covers but being a V6 I have to take the whole inlet manifold and stuff off just to get to it.. grrr.

I'm not annoyed that it failed, I'm annoyed that they didn't pick up these faults in a $100 pre-purchase inspection but found them in a $40 WOF inspection.

[flat_0ut]

leaking onto exhaust pipe, which is understandable as it could be a potential fire hazard. I know it's leaking from both rocker covers but being a V6 I have to take the whole inlet manifold and stuff off just to get to it.. grrr.

I'm not annoyed that it failed, I'm annoyed that they didn't pick up these faults in a $100 pre-purchase inspection but found them in a $40 WOF inspection.

Its unfortunate but no one's perfect. Have you tried talking to them about it?

[Bling]

engine mount could have broken after the inspection (possible)

gf recently got a car, it passed a wof, but on inspection by my mechanic he showed us the engine mount shagged beyond being any use....

so i guess anyone can miss something like that.

[fuel]

leaking onto exhaust pipe, which is understandable as it could be a potential fire hazard. I know it's leaking from both rocker covers but being a V6 I have to take the whole inlet manifold and stuff off just to get to it.. grrr.

I'm not annoyed that it failed, I'm annoyed that they didn't pick up these faults in a $100 pre-purchase inspection but found them in a $40 WOF inspection.

Its unfortunate but no one's perfect. Have you tried talking to them about it?

When I spoke to the service manager he didn't seem to care, and said that it was a different guy who did the pre-purchase inspection. I wasn't sure what to make of that.. like does that mean he wasn't doing his job properly?

They are MTA affiliated so I'm going to contact the MTA tomorrow as suggested by a mechanic friend and talk to them about it. It's their job to put it right he said.