Car Purchase - Discovery of Cat C status on Log Book

gottasavecash

Hi, looking for any direction or advice you can give.

I've gotten myself into a bad situation and i'm not sure how much of the cost of the car i have bought i can get back.

I needed a car desperately a couple of months ago and my cousin offered me her son's car that she was selling. It's a 3 door Peugeot Independance 106, 2002 11124. This type of car was selling online at the time it seemed at around £1500 - £1900. She offered it to me at 1,200 saying it was worth more but because it was me bla bla bla.

So i bought the car, gave her 1,200 cash and the log book doc sent off immediately. I never checked the original log book, no defence but didn't think there should be any problem they hadnt told me of.

I started using the car the next day and when i tried to close the drivers door from the inside the door wouldnt catch and i could see the road whilst driving. Put it into a body workshop, some kind of problem with the stryder. DDrivers doors seemed almost squint. Then the windscreen wipers and indicators went, took it for repair, some kind of fuse replaced, problem with electrical set up to cd player. When i sat in car to driver, at first my left foot seemed to be caught by the ledge, as if there wasnt as much room down at pedals as there should have been.
Then the exhaust fell down.

These problems and more occured over a 3 week period. I had told my cousin i was unhappy with car the day after i bought it. I decided to, rather cause family problems, just sell the car at a loss and put it down to experience.

Then the new log book arrived. Car has Cat C write off status, it was checked and confirmed date of DVLA paperwork is June 2008. Cousing bought car in August 2008 and claims there was no mention of this in the previous log book. She had agreed to sell the car and then settle with me but now she has consulted with her boyfriend, they are basically saying, i bought the car, my problem. It has clearly had a bump to the front right hand-side.

My situation is pretty tough, i am a single mum and my wee girl has special needs. I have borrowed money from Social Fund to buy this car and will be paying it back for next 9 months. I have anumber of stresses going on and i simply cant bring myself to sell the car to someone for 1200 say, if they didnt get it checked, knowing that it's true value was half or less than what they paid. It just sit well with me.

Car auction house estimation for sale of peugeot is 500 - 600. We buy any car is 400 - 500. 4 car dealers wont even consider it.

The car log shows previous owner as my cousins father, i think i should speak to him. I know i'd be able to do something legally about this if i had bought car through a garage but i don't know if there is anything i can do with this situation.

I went to talk about it yesterday and although i remained calm they are aware that i beleive they have sold me a car for 1200 which is worth less than 600. Knowingly or unknowingly. Their answer to this is simply to advertise car in ad-trader for 1500 one, dont mention any problems with car, give buyer v11 from post office and bingo, situation resolved. They want me to rip someone else off to save myself being ripped off.

This is a saga i really to conclude, it's driving me nuts.

Any advice or information would be very much appreciated.

NickWarren_2

I sympathise however would you knowingly sell on that car as is and pass the same problem on to someone else?

Remember if a buyer asks you anything about it being written off etc then you are obliged to tell them it was a Cat C write off even if they do not do a HPI check, Or they may be able to take you to the small claims court.

If I were you family or no family I would be trying to recover my money.

Sorry re read your post and saw that they went you to try and pass the buck not you.

Dick_Van_Dyke

gottasavecash wrote: »

Hi, looking for any direction or advice you can give.

I've gotten myself into a bad situation and i'm not sure how much of the cost of the car i have bought i can get back.

I needed a car desperately a couple of months ago and my cousin offered me her son's car that she was selling. It's a 3 door Peugeot Independance 106, 2002 11124. This type of car was selling online at the time it seemed at around £1500 - £1900. She offered it to me at 1,200 saying it was worth more but because it was me bla bla bla.

So i bought the car, gave her 1,200 cash and the log book doc sent off immediately. I never checked the original log book, no defence but didn't think there should be any problem they hadnt told me of.

I started using the car the next day and when i tried to close the drivers door from the inside the door wouldnt catch and i could see the road whilst driving. Put it into a body workshop, some kind of problem with the stryder. DDrivers doors seemed almost squint. Then the windscreen wipers and indicators went, took it for repair, some kind of fuse replaced, problem with electrical set up to cd player. When i sat in car to driver, at first my left foot seemed to be caught by the ledge, as if there wasnt as much room down at pedals as there should have been.
Then the exhaust fell down.

These problems and more occured over a 3 week period. I had told my cousin i was unhappy with car the day after i bought it. I decided to, rather cause family problems, just sell the car at a loss and put it down to experience.

Then the new log book arrived. Car has Cat C write off status, it was checked and confirmed date of DVLA paperwork is June 2008. Cousing bought car in August 2008 and claims there was no mention of this in the previous log book. She had agreed to sell the car and then settle with me but now she has consulted with her boyfriend, they are basically saying, i bought the car, my problem. It has clearly had a bump to the front right hand-side.

My situation is pretty tough, i am a single mum and my wee girl has special needs. I have borrowed money from Social Fund to buy this car and will be paying it back for next 9 months. I have anumber of stresses going on and i simply cant bring myself to sell the car to someone for 1200 say, if they didnt get it checked, knowing that it's true value was half or less than what they paid. It just sit well with me.

Car auction house estimation for sale of peugeot is 500 - 600. We buy any car is 400 - 500. 4 car dealers wont even consider it.

The car log shows previous owner as my cousins father, i think i should speak to him. I know i'd be able to do something legally about this if i had bought car through a garage but i don't know if there is anything i can do with this situation.

I went to talk about it yesterday and although i remained calm they are aware that i beleive they have sold me a car for 1200 which is worth less than 600. Knowingly or unknowingly. Their answer to this is simply to advertise car in ad-trader for 1500 one, dont mention any problems with car, give buyer v11 from post office and bingo, situation resolved. They want me to rip someone else off to save myself being ripped off.

This is a saga i really to conclude, it's driving me nuts.

Any advice or information would be very much appreciated.

Taking the emotion out of it

A 106 of that age and mileage is privately worth between £1-2000. You paid nearer the lower end and should expect the quality too reflect this.

What a garage etc will give you for it is irrelevent because their valuation will take into account the repairs needed and a margin on it.

You bought it privately and have no rights unless they materially misrepresented it knowingly and you can prove this. You can't

Further to this Cat C doesnt half a cars value and none of the faults seem major beyond wear and tear

My suggestion is either get the repairs carried out if you think its going to survive without further major repairs being needed or sell it privately for nearer what you paid.

You were naive and unfortunately you dont have more legal rights because you are naive or have personal circumstances.

Kurtis_Blue

It seems your family are a disgrace and want to drag you down to their level, but there is no legal comeback to private sellers not disclosing CAT C status, it seems this will cost you either £600 or your morals.

I would suggest getting this money back by all of you appearing on an episode of Jeremy Kyle, they would be perfect.

gottasavecash

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

It seems your family are a disgrace and want to drag you down to their level, but there is no legal comeback to private sellers not disclosing CAT C status, it seems this will cost you either £600 or your morals.

I would suggest getting this money back by all of you appearing on an episode of Jeremy Kyle, they would be perfect.

I totally agree and cant reduce myself to their level, even though i can't afford it. Though i might have been able to go to the small claims court so that's quite disappointing. I'm hoping she'll remember her own morals, we could then half the loss on the car maybe.

Thanks for all of your replies, it's very much appreciated.

NickWarren_2

Have you had any quotations for the work needed to make good?

If it were me i would get a few quotes and if it is only a few hundred i'd be badgering the relatives for it.

Personally i think its disgusting that a family can do this to its own. Are they aware how you got the money to pay for the car and that you still need to pay it back?

mikey72

Get some decent advice from the CAB. They didn't have to disclose it was a cat c, unless you ask, but it still has to be as described, and fit for purpose. If it's badly repaired and unsafe, you may have an arguement for small claims. (I've just noticed you said it was cat c in 2008, so it must have been MOT'ed once or twice since then, and driven for a while, which would suggest it has been reasonably repaired.) Are you in the AA or Rac or similar, they can sometimes help as well.

JQ.

I think the cost of the repairs are irrelevant. The loss in value is purely down to it's Cat C status - the vast majority of people would never buy a Cat C car and so it's value is considerably less than a car that has not been written off.

I think the approach you are taking is commendable and you should be very proud of yourself.

I don't believe there is anything you can do to recover the money from your cousin as it was a private sale.

I would try and sell the car privately, highlighting it's cat c status. Somebody out there will want it. Start at £1,000, after 2 weeks drop to £900 and then keep going til it's sold. Then approach your cousin and get her/him to meet half the loss with you. Something tells me you might struggle but it's worth a try.

Hope it all works out ok.

Dick_Van_Dyke

Why are the family getting such a hard time here?
There is no proof they knew it was Cat C and even if they did the OP didnt ask and regardless Cat C on an old 106 is largely irrelevent.

The car also needs a few wear and tear repairs. This will always happen with second hand cars and the OP should have realised they needed to budget for repairs. Buying from a family member isnt an open ended warranty. Furthermore most of the repairs wouldnt even have been covered under SOGA due to their nature.

The OP is also stating the sale value to dealers or webuyanycar is the actual value. It isnt. They are buying the car for resale hence their prices are way below value.

Kurtis_Blue

!!!!!!_Van_Dyke wrote: »

Why are the family getting such a hard time here?
There is no proof they knew it was Cat C and even if they did the OP didnt ask and regardless Cat C on an old 106 is largely irrelevent.

The car also needs a few wear and tear repairs. This will always happen with second hand cars and the OP should have realised they needed to budget for repairs. Buying from a family member isnt an open ended warranty. Furthermore most of the repairs wouldnt even have been covered under SOGA due to their nature.

The OP is also stating the sale value to dealers or webuyanycar is the actual value. It isnt. They are buying the car for resale hence their prices are way below value.

The previous owner was the cousins father, the OP could see the road through the door gap where the door will not close due to a badly repaired accident this was not made clear to her, windscreen wipers etc.. are not the issue as I see it.

These were issues at time of sale and were stated the next day, nothing to do with an open ended warranty, their answer to a family member in hard times was "tough"

Legally OK, Morally inexcusable.