Bought a car & now find out its a Cat D write-off!

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davemorton wrote: »

Nope, thats Cat C

Sorry my bad.

That said, my Volvo was fine apart from a few dented panels, and Cat C is worse than cat D, so how the hell did the OPs car end up Cat D?

Hammyman

iconic944ss wrote: »

To cut a long story short - after the car staying overnight at the garage I got a very sympathic call to say the car has been involved in a serious crash to front & rear, the whole front has been replaced and rear repaired,

That would not be a CAT D write off. That would be CAT B if it were as bad as claimed and not to be put back on the road. Personally, I think the garage who inspected it is basically lying and making it sound worse than it is. I would in fact trust the CAT D categorisation over every single word that came out of the garage owners mouth.

Cat D isn't a great deal to worry about if its been repaired to a decent standard.

However, its like this. If you specifically asked the seller a question and the answer they told you wasn't truthful, they have been deceptive and you're entitled to your money back. The sad part is you're realistically looking at county court to get your money back and its one persons word against another - made more complicated if the V5 shows it.

Personally, I would get a proper bodyshop to have a look rather than the clowns you've chosen. Garages do oil and filter changes OK but not bodywork - its a specialist section of the motor trade. Hell, I'm a qualified mechanic but I have a mate who is a panelbeater do the bodywork on my cars. Once you've done that, take the results back to the seller and negotiate a partial refund with the threat of court action for a full one.

Hammyman

eschaton wrote: »

Private sale so buyer beware.

£3 or £20 for a check it doesn't matter.

Actually it does. The £20 one will have indemnity insurance which would pay you out if it was proven to be incorrect in the future.

harveybobbles

Trading Standards or court wont be interested in it being Cat D.

The law says that as a private person there are enough adverts and info out there regarding HPi checks. If you bought it from a dealer then yes, you could get a refund.

The bit that would have got me twitchy was when the seller phoned to see if the OP was still interested a week later.....................

Note to OP: HPi next time.

Inactive

" Horse " and " Bolted " spring to mind.

Another case of * buyers * coming on here after the event, instead of before.

Water under the bridge as far as the OP is concerned.

hethmar

The only light I can see is - is this a nice family man, or a bloke who does up cars on the side and resells them? If he is buying crashed vehicles to do up and sell then he is in business and you can get him into court.

Is there a way you can check this out - say son in law rings and says he heard the bloke sells cars or something? Or see if he has other cars outside his house? On the log book - does it say how long he owned the car?

blue_haddock

the best thing you can do as Hethmar says is to see if this guy has a history of selling cars. If it seems like he does then even if he says he's a private seller then he's lying and is actually a trader.

You have a much stronger case against him if is a trader. Ask him for your money back in full and if he says no tell him you'll speak to trading standards about him along with HMRC

eschaton

Hammyman wrote: »

Actually it does. The £20 one will have indemnity insurance which would pay you out if it was proven to be incorrect in the future.

Wasn't referring to that.

Hammyman

harveybobbles wrote: »

Trading Standards or court wont be interested in it being Cat D.

The law says that as a private person there are enough adverts and info out there regarding HPi checks. If you bought it from a dealer then yes, you could get a refund.

The bit that would have got me twitchy was when the seller phoned to see if the OP was still interested a week later.....................

Note to OP: HPi next time.

The law says that if you're asked a question about an item for sale, you have to answer it truthfully however you do not have to disclose information voluntarily. The OP asked about it being a write off and was lied to. The law says absolutely nothing about there being enough adverts about HPI checks.

Ranger8

iconic944ss wrote: »

One problem I found straight away the parking sensors not working but it was a week before I could get the car booked into a local garage - I had a look underneath and the sensors were all in placeBUT there was NO wiring running to them ??????
To cut a long story short - after the car staying overnight at the garage I got a very sympathic call to say the car has been involved in a serious crash to front & rear, the whole front has been replaced and rear repaired, externally very well but internally - pattern parts have been used, electrics chopped and the computer fault codes not even reset which shows an airbag was deployed in the past.
How can someone sell a faulty car that might be relied upon not only by adults but by our grand-children that I also carry?!?!

Hold on, I realise you will have got a shock when you found the car was a cat D but did you get the motor for a `bargain` price and how is the car a danger ? you`ve said the repairs (external) were done ok
Having parking sensors and air bags sorted won`t cost £3k.
Its not the end of the world, I`ve bought many cat D vehicles and they`ve all been ok.