On 1 March I bought a brand-new (or so I thought) KTM 125 Duke for my daughter from our local dealer. It was two weeks after her 17th birthday, and she couldn’t wait to move up from the battered 50cc moped she had toddled around on for the last year. If you wanted to see the definition of excitement, you only had to look at her face that day. Anyway, I called the dealer a few days ago querying why we had not received the logbook. I was assured it was on its way but then they called me back to tell me the bike had the wrong number plate on it. Then, unannounced, a mechanic turned up at our house to change the number plate. It was at that point I found out my daughter was not the first registered keeper, but the KTM was, in fact, pre-registered to the dealer on 1 September last year. I did my biscuit, but the mechanic said it was above his pay grade to sort it, and he was just doing what he was told. He said I would have to talk to the owner. What do I do?
Answer
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 all products must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described. In your case, it appears pretty clear the bike was not ‘as described’, i.e. it was not a brand-new, 1 March bike. The law states the bike supplied must have matched any description given to you and it did not, there is a problem, to state the obvious. It is not entirely clear what ‘solution’ you are looking for from your email. However, it could be:
- That you may be looking to ‘reject’ the bike entirely and get your money back, plus any applicable losses, or
- That you want to keep the bike, but want something and/or a sum of money to compensate you/your daughter for the applicable losses. For example, you may be happy to keep the bike but want, say, two free services and the money to sort your daughter’s insurance, which is now wrong. On that point, she should not ride the bike until the insurance is corrected.
Once you establish what ‘solution’ you are looking for, I advise you to write to the dealer to lay out what you want and why. Whilst annoying, I suspect someone has made a simple mistake and you can resolve this without involving expensive solicitors and/or the Court.
Andrew ‘Chef’ Prendergast
More Bikes – June 2025