Bought a car..later found it has been in an accident

Bakeybadoo

I have first hand experience of something similar, we bought a car from a dealer after seeing a classified ad on eBay for it - it was an off-eBay transaction essentially.

We, with hindsight stupidly, failed to ask if it had been accident damaged and only found out when we applied for the V5 and had a letter from them saying it would need a VIC check to verify its identity as it had been a Cat C write off! And we'd have to pay £30 odd to do this to boot.

I immediately called Consumer Direct who said there was nothing we could do as we hadn't asked the dealer so he hadn't lied. If you don't ask, they don't have to tell you basically.

We did call the dealer who admitted this was the case and all we got from him was a cheque to pay for the VIC inspection.

Now we're lumbered with a car that is not worth what we paid for it and that will always show as Cat C to any new owners as it is permanently written on the V5 document. Only plus point is the repairs were ok enough - we forked out £200 for an AA report for our own peace of mind and to help reassure any future owners.

So, always ask the question about whether it's been in an accident or written off or you could find yourself seriously burnt.

mc33033

Bakeybadoo wrote: »

I immediately called Consumer Direct who said there was nothing we could do as we hadn't asked the dealer so he hadn't lied. If you don't ask, they don't have to tell you basically.

Bakeybadoo, when did this take place? As I mentioned earlier, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 came out last year and they are designed to protect consumers in your situation - in this case a faudulent omission by the dealer who was clearly aware of information on the car which would have affected your decision to buy the car. If the transaction was before May 2008 what you say would be right. It is now the case that if a dealer doesn't tell you about something serious that they are aware of like this they are in breach of the CPRs 2008 and you may be able to reject the vehicle or seek damages.

Bakeybadoo

This was 2nd January 2009 so I guess it's covered but CS said otherwise so we took it no further and it's too late to do anything this far on which is very annoying indeed.

yummymummy79

But surely the CPRs are just for Trading Standards' enforcement purposes rather than something consumers are able to take claims under. That's my understanding of it but then I do work for the apparently rubbish and useless Consumer Direct so what do I know?!

There may be elements of the description part of SOGA that the consumer can use, but generally the trader doesn't have to mention every single thing about a car/fridge/TV whatever but answer any questions honestly.

mc33033

yummymummy79 wrote: »

But surely the CPRs are just for Trading Standards' enforcement purposes rather than something consumers are able to take claims under. That's my understanding of it but then I do work for the apparently rubbish and useless Consumer Direct so what do I know?!

There may be elements of the description part of SOGA that the consumer can use, but generally the trader doesn't have to mention every single thing about a car/fridge/TV whatever but answer any questions honestly.

Yes yummymummy79 I did not make that clear earlier, at the moment its a Trading Standards and other enforcement bodies that can use the CPRs although I believe that may change in the future. For recission of the contract or damages then the consumer could use misrepresentation/SOGA/SG(IT) to take action themselves as appropriate. Either way any such cases should go via the local Trading Standards for full assistance.

BFG_2

had a similar thing happen to me...ended up in court, dealer settled full refund and costs on court steps.....took 3 yrs though!!

gabaltariq

[FONT=&quot]I have bought an Avensis from Toyota main dealers 4 days ago, the car is about 9 months old and the salesman told me that "it was a Toyota management car and is now being sold". I questioned the salesman if it had been involved in any accident, incident or had ever had any repair work done to it and he told me, "no it has not had an accident"

The day after I collected the car I realised that it has been repaired and have tackled the salesman on this point, he said he would get back to me within the hour, after speaking to his manager. I phoned him back about 3-4 hours later and he offered to replace the car with a slightly older car with slightly more mileage for an additional £500.00, which I rejected as dissatisfactory, to which he said he was not willing to take this any further and told me (in a very aggressive tone) to go and take further with whom I liked.

Can someone please tell me what would be right course of action to take?

Thanks[/FONT]

Freddie_Snowbits

I smashed up my car twice in the recent past, can I still drive it?