Sold a dodgy car - dealer dissolved

gottheknock

I bought a second hand car just over 3 years ago and have had to spend so much money on repairs that it was time to get rid of it. I put it for sale on ebay and got a buyer, who did a hpi check and discovered that the car had been written off the year before I bought it! This came as a surprise as I remember being presented with a hpi check by the dealer which showed no issues. Fortunately I kept everything and was able to have another look. I bought the car in 2007, and the hpi was dated 2005! The write off occured in 2006. I think this car dealer deliberately deceived me as the company says it carries out hpi checks on all its vehicles. He must have had this one passed to him from the previous owner and I doubt very much that he accpted that before taking the car off his hands and conducted his own check which he failed to present to me.
The bigger problem is that I called the company and was told that its a new company that has taken over. I am suspicious becuase the names are similar. I can't get to the bottom of it if I can't speak to the people who sold the car. I am stuck with a car that I can't sell on. Does anyone have any advise please??:mad:

thenudeone

Sounds like you have a good claim against the seller for misrepresentation but you need to consider the following:
If the company has gone into administration (check on the companies house website, it would be shown like this: http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/fd3a1b52775e4d12334e95ae031207c3/compdetails) then no matter how good your claim is, you will only get a proportion of the claim once administration is completed. Write to the administrator outlining your claim, which should be the difference in value between what you were told (a roadworthy car) and what you actually received (a write-off). You may need some evidence for this.
If the company is already dissolved, there is nothing else you can do, as all the assets have already been distributed to all known creditors.

If you paid any part by credit card, you're in luck. see the separate section on the site about "section 75 claims" against credit card companies.

forgotmyname

I think put it down to experience, Company has changed names and possibly owners. Trying to get any money
back will be expensive and possibly achieve nothing.

Even if you trace the original owner it will be his word against yours, In 2007 the dealer did not have to declare the
HPI status of the car i think rules changed in 2008.
It could have been a minor claim which the insurance paid out on. Lots of cars on the road today have had accidents
but they were valuable enough to repair.

Just read on another forum, Guy bought a brand new car and someone crashed into him whilst he was on the way home.
Insurance will be repairing that. But not declared anywhere.

My parents bought a VW from a main dealer sold with free MOT for life, 2nd MOT and they had changed ownership and would
no longer honour the free MOT even though all the same staff worked there.


You have had the car 3 or 4 years and its value will be based on its condition and bills for work you have had done not whether
its been written off 7 years ago. That sort of age people buy on condition mainly.