Help - I was cheated big time!!!

desperadoV2

Hi,

I need some help. I bought a car (private sale) last month. I was a provisional license holder, so didn't drive it for 3-4 weeks. The car was delivered by my friend from seller's home to my home.

I got my driving license couple of days ago. Drove the car to a toyota garage for complete service and found a shock horror!!!

The car was previously involved in a accident and has been a insurance write-off (Category D). The service center said, they wonder how the car got MOT approved for a year.

There is so much work need to be done on the car and the bill is very high!!! Also the Vehicle registration details seem to be wrong. I dont know what to do now.

I'm trying to get hold of the seller and unable to do so successfully so far.

I have got insurance (from norwich union. wondered why insurance was so high).
Tax disc
MOT
Breakdown Cover

I dont know what to do now. How do I get my money back? Can I take any legal action against the private seller? I did ask the seller whether this car has been involved in any accident/insurance write-off and he said the front bumper was changed for minor accident but nothing major.

I really feel stupid now. How do i get out of this? any advice please?

tomstickland

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Question122973.html

Category D is the least damage class though and cars can be repaired.
What's wrong with it?
The Toyota garage will not be cheap for repairs.

Depending on what needs doing, I'd probably get a cheap repair and drive it.

How much did you pay for it?
What car is it?

desperadoV2

tomstickland wrote:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Question122973.html

Category D is the least damage class though and cars can be repaired.
What's wrong with it?
The Toyota garage will not be cheap for repairs.

Depending on what needs doing, I'd probably get a cheap repair and drive it.

How much did you pay for it?
What car is it?

Its a Toyota Yaris.

I bought it for £2600/-
Car Insurance paid so far - £120
Breakdown cover - £110
Car Park - £50/- (car was parked in public car park for 5 days before driving it back to my home)
Road Tax - £60/-
Toyota Service - £200/-
Travel+food+taxi - £250/- (total travelling expenses for buying this car. travelled 80 miles to get this junk. because i wanted toyota yaris and nothing was within my budget range).

So spent a grand total of £3500/- so far on this car and it is still not perfect.

It needs the following changes required.

1. two new front tyres
2. washers not working. so needs changing
3. exhaust manifold badly bent
4. break fluid dirty. needs changing
5. headlights out of line. (service center are saying, how the car got MOT with this fault).

All in all, I'm screwed up big time. Just because I wanted a Toyota Yaris and within my budget of £3000/-

myrnahaz

I'm sure that private sales are classed as 'sold as seen', which means the onus is on the buyer to ensure it's fit for the purpose.

Tomstickland's advice is sound - find a cheaper (recomended) garage to quote for the repairs.

buglawton

Try to find an independant repair man, maybe a neigbour can recommend one. I have one that visits home and repair costs reasonable (even better if you can find one who is not VAT registered so no VAT). So long as the car was in genuine ownership before, it is probably worth sticking with.

alanobrien

As already stated get a second opinion on the work that needs doing. Garages have been known to invent work. Your best bet is to find a local self employed mechanic who will do the basics at a better price.

As regards the tyres look at https://www.etyres.co.uk for replacements when you have to, the rest of the work seems minor.

desperadoV2

alanobrien wrote:

As already stated get a second opinion on the work that needs doing. Garages have been known to invent work. Your best bet is to find a local self employed mechanic who will do the basics at a better price.

As regards the tyres look at https://www.etyres.co.uk for replacements when you have to, the rest of the work seems minor.

This is more confusing now. Toyota garage said, I need new front tyres. But the local garage I went, had a look at the tyres and said...it looks fine and I don't need a new front tyres.

Why is this difference from garage to garage? I'm going to go ahead and change the front tyres anyway...because I do not want to compromise on road safety for just 80 quid worth of front tyres.

rjm2k1

Buy a tyre tester for a couple of quid, it will allow you to measure the tread depth yourself. Look on the net at some tyre company websites, they will describe the different types of wear and legal minimums. Large franchises seem to have a list of work that they automatically suggest needs doing, until you ask them if it really needs doing, for example my ford garage always tells me the brake fluid needs changing, I ask if it's a danger and they always sell, well, no, it's kind of amber at the moment, not red yet. Same foe other extra works, eg special oil on a major service (they have to change the filter anyway and therefore have to put the recommended oil back in as part of the service), anti-bacterial filter change on the air con!

immoral_angeluk

As long as your tyres have a tread depth of at least 1.6mm across the width of the tyre they are road legal. Some garages tend to 'make up' things that need doing to bump up the bill. I've been screwed for this a few times so my advice is to take it to a few garages and take it from there..

David_B_2

desperadoV2 wrote:

1. two new front tyres
2. washers not working. so needs changing
3. exhaust manifold badly bent
4. break fluid dirty. needs changing
5. headlights out of line. (service center are saying, how the car got MOT with this fault).

All in all, I'm screwed up big time. Just because I wanted a Toyota Yaris and within my budget of £3000/-/-

That doesn't like your screwed to me and looks more like normal wear and tear apart from point 3 maybe. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and sometimes paying that little bit extra to get the car checked out or buying from a dealing (got some come back) can be worth it.

All in all I don't think you'll get your money back, sorry!

I do wish you well and hope it turns out well in the end.

Seraphim

Bear in mind it isn't *just* the tread on tyres that determine whether they need be changed or not. It may be worth asking the Toyota garage *why* they think they tyres need changing. Rubber goes off over time, and if it's an older car (admitedly probably not in this case), the tyres may need to be changed (I learnt this from an interesting personal experience ). They may also have noticed something that the local garage did not - like flaws in the tyre side walls, or a slow puncture. If they don't give you a proper reason, then don't change the tyres, but it's better to be safe than sorry (sorry for the cliche!)

It's really not worth skimping on tyres - remember that those four bits of rubber are what keep you stuck to the road...