Mis-sold my car with No. of owners? Help Please!

MikeP_Toon

Hi guys,

Bit of a newbie, great site though, saved loads already!
Hoping someone can help me here... The story is as follows.

Bought my Audi A3 3.2 Quattro Sport in November 2004 as an ex-demo (so I would be 2nd owner)
Come the end of November '04, the V5 drops through my door saying I'm the THIRD owner
Naturally, I go and complain to the stealer, and all I get is bull - specifically the quote "it won't affect the value when you come to sell" after asking what happens if I need to p/x or sell it. I walked away because I liked the car at the time, and thought I'd probably have the car a while anyway.

Roll on this month - time to sell because I need an diesel due to the miles I'm doing... I've got outstanding finance on it, but I'm prepared to take a hit because it'll save me money in the long run. But I'm not prepared to also chuck in an arm and a leg!! I've been getting silly quotes like £14k for it when book price should be £17.5k!!! Okay, I know it's a bad time of year, but didn't expect it to be that bad.
Roll on today, when the Seat dealer I was at let slip it was because all the dealers he was calling don't want a car with 3 owners... so off I pop to the stealer, sorry dealer, I bought it from, and asked them to give me a valuation should I want to p/x or just sell the car back.
He comes back with the usual "time of year etc" when I asked him why it was so low under book price (they offered 15k to 16k btw). Then I asked nonchalontly if the number of owners would make a difference, to which he replied "Yes" ...

...Which is what I was waiting for... After that, I asked to speak to the Sales Manager, but he was in a conference call, and I'm still waiting for him to ring me back....

Is there anything I can do? Is there anything under the Sales of Goods or Trade Descriptions Act that will help me? I've been mis-sold this car and now I'm going to end up even more out of pocket

Cheers in advance, and sorry for the essay!
Mike

PS - Am I right in saying ex-demo cars are sold as Approved Used Audi Cars? Because I didn't receive any certificate saying it's free from defects or hidden histories etc, or even a VMC report!! (Might only be a question for the Audi fanatics that...!)

flea72

honestly, i dont think the number of owners has any bearing on the price of a car, and it also doesnt come into bearing with any dealership i have worked for, when determining value

it all comes down to mileage and how clean the car is, and yes the used car market is totally dead at the moment, espec at the higher end of the market

If you bought the car as ex-demo, and it was still under full manufacturers warranty, then it doesnt tend to be classed as 'approved used', as technically there shouldnt be anything wrong with a car that has its original warranty in place.

i dont understand what you mean by hidden history, what is there to hide? If the car is roadworthy, and not still under other finance, then the car is ok to be sold

also, who were the previous owners? Dealers? private sale?

You also mention book price of £17.5K, and you are getting offers of £14-16K
which book price are you looking at, private, p/x or retail? Having done a quick search, for p/x id offer £16k tops, against a vehicle over £20K - if you are trading in against something of lower value, the p/x value would drop accordingly

I think the Seat dealer was pulling your leg about not wanting 3 owners. it was more likely all the people he deals his used vehicles onto, have so many other cars they cannot sell, that they dont want to take on another one, or that they didnt want to pay your price. he was just trying to find a way of saying, sorry i cant do a deal with you, which doesnt make him look bad, and invariably means you think he is trying to be helpful, so that you go along with his 'best offer'

Flea

tomstickland

Have you tried selling it via Audi enthusiasts web forums?

Bossyboots

flea72 wrote:

honestly, i dont think the number of owners has any bearing on the price of a car, and it also doesnt come into bearing with any dealership i have worked for, when determining value

We bought a car that was used as a photographic model for the first six months before going to the dealer. We bought it in my husband's name but when I needed to replace my car we were specficially told by the dealer not to change my OH's car to my name as it would lose its value with an increased number of owners. He had nothing to gain by telling us that.

highguyuk

Check this site for car valuations: https://www.wisebuyers.co.uk.

david29dpo

never buy a car without seeing the v5 first! sorted,