Bought a clocked car

carlandjulie

Firstly may i introduce myself.My name is Carl and a regular reader of this forum and my time has come where i need some important advice.
The story so far...
Back in February last year we decided my partner was to get another job because to put it in plain terms we were struggling.We decided to buy a small hopefully reliable car for her to travel to work safely and economically.
We bought a car advertised in Autotrader and went to a private address.As his name was not on the logbook he said he had not had the car long and it was his sisters car,so the usual checks were made to the car,bodywork engine etc,it was HPI clear and drove perfectly,my only concern was the cambelt which at 62000 miles would soon need replacing.The seller assured my the belt had been changed and would get the invoice for the work from the garage and forword to me which he never did.This made me smell a rat.
I contacted garages in the servicebook and to my horror found the car had done in excess of 157000 miles and on close inspection the servicebook had been chemically erased and rewritten with false mileage.
To cut a long story short Trading Standards have been informed and statements made,ive been told his bank has been accessed and he is a trader but not under the name he gave me when i purchased the car.The case apparently has to go to court before March but ive been informed by Trading Standards that it is unlikely that the judge if they get a conviction will get any money or a refund back for me and i will have to persue him myself,this is where i need the help from you guys.
How do i try and claim off someone who is using different names and from what Trading Standards have said he is down as living at 3 addresses.
I dont have the money to pay for online claiming services where i have no guarantee of getting my money back or as suggested get a solicitor.
I dont see this as justice,they get the conviction and me the victim gets nothing.Short of going round with friends to rearrange his facial features where do i go from here.
Any help appreciated.

Keith

I guess the car looks and drives like a 62000 mile car apart from the cost of a cambelt change.

You've had the car for a year now, has it caused many problems?

Stop getting hung up about the miles and move on with life.

forgotmyname

It annoys me to hear things like this, They are taking him to court and prosecute him, Why can his victims not put a claim
in IF he is found guilty.

Even if you have to pay a % for them to collect the money and they say he must pay you £1 a month. At least you know
he is not getting away with it.

It should also still apply if he goes bankrupt. Its not like he started a business and it failed. Deliberate illegal practices.


As you may tell i would vote to bring back hanging.

Incyder

carlandjulie wrote: »

my only concern was the cambelt which at 62000 miles would soon need replacing.The seller assured my the belt had been changed and would get the invoice for the work from the garage and forword to me which he never did.This made me smell a rat.
.

Rat well smelt.
Everyone lies about this. If they dont have a reciept there and then for the cambelt change, or the complete V5 in their name at that address
I walk away.
Some of my viewings have lasted 30 seconds, some have been shorter.

Inactive

If buying from a so called private individual, just ask when enquiring about the vehicle, is your car still for sale?, as they will no doubt have more than one if they are trading, it usually causes them to stumble.

As said above, if the V5 isn't in the sellers name, just walk.

You may let the HMRC know that he is a trader.

Rolandtheroadie

Inactive wrote: »

You may let the HMRC know that he is a trader.

Dont pour money into a black hole trying to get any form of compensation, even if you win, theres probably not much hope of recovering any award(and more expense trying).
The only avenue is revenge.
Doing the above may get some.

Invalidation

Why dont you answer Keith's question?
Is the car OK?

carlandjulie

Thanks for all your replies,
Unfortunately the car is bought and paid for so what i should of dones and i would'nt have done thats are not going to help,but thanks for your time to reply.
On our meeting with Trading Standards they made the calculations they make in these cases and came up with the value at of the car to be £1700 and from the £3000 i paid im not prepaired to walk away from this difference.(would you)?
The car itself i hate to say is fantastic.We have no faults with it or been let down with it.The belt is lasting but i dont know for how much longer.Ive been intouch with the first who is the previous owner and got the full genuine history for all works carried out on the car since new from a VW main dealer.
Im also in a dilemma about selling it.,do i correct the mileage to around a figure it should be and sell taking a loss,or do i say nothing sell and hope i dont get any comeback,which isnt really me.
Ive been offered from well known online buyer £2550 at 63000 with history and £1550 at 160000 with no history.

Carl

Gene_Hunt_2

carlandjulie wrote: »

Short of going round with friends to rearrange his facial features where do i go from here.
Any help appreciated.

Count me in, when are you planning on going round?;)

carlandjulie

Gene_Hunt wrote: »

Count me in, when are you planning on going round?;)

It gets worse,If you knew what kind of people they were it kind of makes me more determined.

Inactive

Invalidation wrote: »

Why dont you answer Keith's question?
Is the car OK?

It doesn't matter if it is OK, the OP did not get what he paid for.