help needed: Taking car dealer to the court for breach of contract.

computerbar

Hello there

I need some help and clarification in this matter if you do not mind read the whole story and let me know what you think. Are we right to ask the £1200/= plus court cost?
we are asked in Allocation questionnaire if

• EXPERT report is to used and
• If we want to settle the matter using HM courts services

My friend had seen a car "Vauxhall Vectra reg 54" on Auto-trader website. called the dealer in Birmingham. he sent texted his home address.
Me and another friends of ours went to see the car from Stoke to Birmingham on 30/6/2008.
He liked the car and the prices as it was stated £3200 on autotrader site was settled. It was really a bargain as the same car would cost about £4000.
He paid £200 in cash and £3000 cheque.
There was no road tax on the car so it was agreed that when the cheque is cleared by the time my fried would insure the car and buy the road tax.
The dealer issued a Receipt stating the £200 non-refundable and car will be handed over when the cheque is cleared, signed it and have put his business address on it.
The dealer promised the car will not be shown to any other buyers etc etc..

the next day the dealer called that the car was involved in an accident by another buyer in a test drive and he can not sell it to him.

My friend have asked to view the damaged car but the dealer refused.
we believe the dealer have sold car to somebody for more than £3200/= as he mentioned somebody from London was interested in the car too.
The dealer also refused to return the £200 cash as he said it was non-refundable

anyway my friend have bought another car as he needed it the same reg and same model for £4000/= and then filed a claim online for £1200/= (that is £200 cash+ £800 difference+ £200 lump sum expenses)+ £70 cost.

The online claim went all the way as he did not receive the claim paper and returned the court paper as no such person live here.The judgement was issued, We even have paid the warrant fee nothing happened.

In the mean time we had letter from court about "Setting Aside Judgement"
We went to Birmingham court and the reason he sated was that
1- The claim was served on the incorrect address i.e. not on the business address (We put the home address in the claim as there we went to see the car)
2- That the Claimant (My friend) knew that somebody from London was coming but he insisted to put the deposit and said if the buyer from London doest not buy the car then he will get the car.
.....(we reasoned that it was not the case as my friend have already made the FULL payment and it was not a deposit and the claim about the London buyer was not true)

However the Judge have decided to set aside the judgement.


Today we have another letter from Court that the Defence has been filed and allocation questionnaire (small claims track) are to be sent filed by 12/12..

what are my friend chances???

More to come...

Regards

hewhoisnotintheknow

has this been posted already? sure ive read it before

10past6

computerbar wrote: »

More to come...

:eek: :eek:

hewhoisnotintheknow

so basically your mate bought the car
the sell crashed (sold it for more)
your mate bought a similar car at a higher cost
Yout mate now wants the bloke to pay the difference and some extra ontop?

Volcano

£800 difference+

There's not a hope you'll get this back and probably not your expenses either. Seems the only illegal thing this guy has done is keep your £200 and that's probably what you should be concentrating on.

rosie-lee

you should get your £200 deposit back but not sure what else.

MX5huggy

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

has this been posted already? sure ive read it before

You have http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=12343803#post12343803

badboybill

1st thing is you will get the £200 back because the seller didn't conclude the sale. Non-refundable deposit only works if the purchaser fails to complete the sale.

2nd You need proof that the car was sold to another buyer. Do you know the reg of the car? If yes then you need to find a way of obtaining current ownership/accident information. Otherwise the judge won't award you anything unless you can prove-it.

MX5huggy

What you need is some case law.

http://julian-wyatt.com/barrydavies.htm

http://www.kevinboone.com/lawglos_ByrneVVanTienhoven1880.html

computerbar

MX5huggy wrote: »

You have http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=12343803#post12343803

Doh....
So sorry about the double posting.
I did not realise I have already posted it in July:embarasse

Admin you can merge the post if you want to.

thanks

computerbar

badboybill wrote: »

2nd You need proof that the car was sold to another buyer. Do you know the reg of the car? If yes then you need to find a way of obtaining current ownership/accident information. Otherwise the judge won't award you anything unless you can prove-it.

He admits that he already has sold the car to somebody from London.
And this is the main thing we are sure, give rise to "Anticipatory Breach of contract". But actually he insist that there was not contract. I am not sure what the remedies are.
The main concern for us is if we are right for asking the difference of £800 when my mate bought another car for £4000/=

regards