Is this Fraud ?

alfonso

Apologise in advance if this post is not in the correct forum/thread

My daughter went away to work in her first car. Whilst away the car broke and was unrepairable. The garage where she took it for repair talked her into buying another from them (against my advice ).
They took the tax disc (9months remaining) so she lost out there.
Now she has a letter from DVLC telling her she needs to have a VIC on the car she bought as it was previously been notified as accident damaged by an insurance company. The car can not be taxed until the VIC is done
She has been back to the garage and they told her to get it inspected at her cost (£38 )
My problems with this are, what if it fails? how can this garage sell her this car without the correct paperwork (VIC)
I suspect some sort of scam and I have told her to request a full refund from the garage or perhaps talk to the police.
I cant get down there to sort this out myself, hence posting here.
Has anyone come across this issue before?
Regards

Blacksheep1979

I'm afraid your daughter is a muppet and didn't ask the right questions when buying the new car - such as has it been written off/accident damaged?

Whilst what the garage has done isn't nice it's more than likely above board.

Tony69

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

I'm afraid your daughter is a muppet and didn't ask the right questions when buying the new car - such as has it been written off/accident damaged?

Whilst what the garage has done isn't nice it's more than likely above board.

Was this your attempt at making the OP feel better?

uktyler

alfonso wrote: »

My problems with this are, what if it fails? how can this garage sell her this car without the correct paperwork (VIC)

The VIC is not a damage inspection, only an identity inspection, to make sure the car is not a stolen car with new number plates. If the car is stolen then she will have some comeback against the garage.

Sounds like the place she got the car from is a bit dodgy, she should have asked about the car before she paid for it, did she have a HPI check, or get the AA/RAC to look at it? Did she see the V5 document?

Looks like your daughter has got a car that is probably not worth what she paid for it, and may be difficult to resell, as the right off status will appear on the V5.

Purpledaisy_2

If the garage didnt tell you it had been written off before then yes they are liable, if it needs a VIC check it will have been a cat c write off so will have had a fairly bad smash.

adandem

Purpledaisy wrote: »

If the garage didnt tell you it had been written off before then yes they are liable, if it needs a VIC check it will have been a cat c write off so will have had a fairly bad smash.

Actually, when this happened to us (not Muppets either!!), we only found out when we came to px the car and the garage ran the checks.
We sought advice and were told the sellers are not liable to divulge, it was upto us ask and would only be an offence if they had denied it.

knightstyle

The buy/sell forms from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders requires a private seller to declare if the car has been in an accident but the garage selling a car the form has this section missing! At least this was the case some years ago when we traded in a car for a replacement. Yes we were caught!

Pssst

Get an hpi check on the car on line,its relatively cheap. At least you will learn what you are dealing with..

flutterbyuk25

The VIC test is purely checks the identity of the vehicle - i.e that the chassis number matches the official DVLA/ records (although it's carried out by VOSA). It's designed to prevent stolen vehicles being passed off as insurance write offs.

It could be that the 'accident' it was in was minor and it was just written off because it was uneconomical to repair.

When it passes the VIC, she will be given a pass certificate, which she can then take to her local DVLA office along with her insurance and MOT, and she can tax the vehicle straight away (someone else can go for her but she would have to fill out forms in advance, or it can all be posted to office). She will need to fill out 2 forms to do this, V10 for taxing and V62 to apply for the new logbook/V5C Registration Certificate. There will be no fee for the logbook because she had paid to have the VIC. Both forms are available online at www.direct.gov.uk/motoringforms or at DVLA office or licensing Post Office.

She will then get a logbook through the post 2-4 weeks later, on this is Section 3 Special Notes it will state that the vehicle has undergone the VIC check due to it being written off.

Hope that helps in someway

x

Blacksheep1979

adandem wrote: »

Actually, when this happened to us (not Muppets either!!), we only found out when we came to px the car and the garage ran the checks.
We sought advice and were told the sellers are not liable to divulge, it was upto us ask and would only be an offence if they had denied it.

I have to disagree, anyone buying a car and not getting the garage to plainly tell you if the car is written off or not is a muppet - it's a large purchase and something that you should put a bit of care and consideration into.

hollydays

Buying a car without asking these questions is asking for trouble.Unfortunately your daughter has learnt an expensive lesson,namely,if you don't know your subject,take someone with you who does,or do your research.
You can get so much info online before you even set foot in a garage.x