What Car? Q&A - What can I do about lost service manual?

Q: I bought a used Peugeot, advertised with a full service history, from my local dealer earlier this year. He told me that the car’ service manual with all its stamps would be posted out to me, but months later there’s still no sign of it. The dealer told me he couldn’t find the manual and suggested I tried the previous owner. I contacted the owner but he told me the records had all been given to the dealer. Where do I stand?
David Parkin

A: As the car was advertised as having a full service history (FSH), that becomes part of the contract between you and the dealer. As you still have not seen the documents relating to the FSH, the dealer is in breach of contract and you are within your rights to sue. You should be successful as long as you can prove that the FSH was promised.

However, as a court can only reward compensation in monetary terms, you will have to quantify what you have lost. In other words, you will have to work out how much the car is worth with an FSH, and how much it is worth without. Then you will have to produce evidence to back up this claim.

It is still well worth trying to negotiate some compensation based on this with the dealer before going to court.

You might also be able to reject the car outright and get your money back. If it is less than six months since you bought it, it's down to the dealer to prove that he's not at fault. After this time period you still have a case, but the onus will be on you to prove that he made promises that he couldn't keep.