So many replies, will try and respond to all in one, have a stinking hangover. Have mild anxiety issues and this has really exacerbated things.
@MissChief - it's kind of a low whine that's present when you're driving at all speeds, seemed plausible to me it'd be the kind of noise a chain driven engine would make. I've had the car in a few times at my regular garage and they've had to test drive it after two jobs, i'm thinking they would have mentioned it at the time if they thought it was an issue.
@chaparral - 1.3 suzuki swift, 10 years old. What's not clear is if it actually isn't safe to drive and if she is over reacting, as i've said a few times, the noise has always been present from day one we bought the car. The gearbox changes have always been smooth.
About keeping things civil...it's gone past that now, she has gone the "legal action" route and any kind of friendship we had is done. I got together with a few friends last night from work who already knew all about this as she'd been bad mouthing us to others at work. Seems they knew about this issue before we did.
@Gaygle - sale was for £1700, we were going to list on AT as £2000 with the expectation of £1800, the listing itself costs £60 so felt like it was a fair price and also helped her out as she was desperate for a car that weekend. We even let her take the car before we had the full payment, she gave us a cheque for £1000 and cash two days later. As she's local and works in the same place, I wasn't worried about not getting paid. As i've said, considered her an actual friend.
The dealer we bought it from initially is also local, not sure if he'd remember us 18 months later, might be worth a try, will drop him a line tomorrow.
This is the receipt I used, first one that came up on google when she asked me.
http://www.theaa.com/car-buying/buyers-sellers-contracts
Just noticed this on the letter she sent that I must have scanned past yesterday, it's just after the part where she wrote that I had reassured her the noise was normal as the car had a chain belt.
"I agreed to buy the car but did not inform the seller that for peace of mind I would be having the car checked over at the main suzuki dealership." It goes on to say on the 18th March a technician took it around the estate, confirmed it had a problem and would need to be booked in. She still continued to use it all week until Friday just gone when she told me about the issues.
I think i've covered most of the replies, if I missed anything, just ask again.
