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Help! Sold a dud car!
Comments
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atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »SB is right trading standards will not involve themselfs in this at all, simply listen to the caller roll their eyes behind the phone and say you may have a case here heres the number for consumer direct, consumer direct then after taking so many compaints will compile a case and contact trading standards.
i wish poeple would stop informing OP's to run to trading standards its not the course of action they should take its contact consumer direct who will advise much better than a local TS will.
That's an odd statement:Anglesey_Trading_Standards wrote:
Situations where we could help- I’ve bought an unroadworthy car from a garage - what are my rights?
http://www.anglesey.gov.uk/advice-and-benefits/trading-standards/Birmingham_Trading_Standards wrote:
Trading Standards - Vehicle Complaints and Investigations
We receive many complaints and requests for assistance relating to the sale and servicing/repair of vehicles. Our work includes dealing with misdescribed vehicles, mileometers which have been turned back (known as 'clocking'), unroadworthy vehicles (those that would fail an MOT),....
Birmingham Trading Standards
Consumer Direct will provide advice but they will NOT investigate possible criminal acts (such as selling an unroadworthy car) because they have no power to do so. They'll simply pass it on to the local Trading Standards.0 -
the corrosion on the bulkhead of a corsa b can only be viewed from beneath, you cant get a hand in from above, the only thing visible is the top of the master cylinder where you top it up, the pic you show is with the plastics and the master cylinder removed, same as the pic of corrosion of rear axle, the wheel has been removed, and that area is not visible unless the car has alloy wheels on it where you can see through the gap in the wheel, sorry to be picky but i let to get the story right.
You've obviously got fatter fingers than I have
Besides, as a known safety issue (clearly known to you btw because you know to "get the story right"), you as a trader have 3 choices:
Take whatever steps are needed to make sure the car is sound, even if that means getting it on a ramp
or
refuse to deal in that model because it's not worth the effort to ensure they're safe
or
risk breaking the law by selling one that's unroadworthy without checking
If you want to be in business in any trade you have to accept the responsibilities and the costs that go with them. In the motor trade one of those responsibilities is to NOT sell unroadworthy cars unless you've made it clear to the buyer that they're unroadworthy. #
It doesn't even matter if you know the fault's there or not, you're still committing an offence if you sell a car that couldn't pass an MOT at the time you sell it because, by definition, it's unroadworthy at that point.
If you don't like, or can't handle, that then you're probably in the wrong trade because lots of other traders manage it ok!0 -
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suspension tops on the corsa b trust me do not corrode, and its unfair for you to quote "it's probable that the trader sold the car in an unroadworthy condition"Joe_Horner wrote: »I had read the whole thread and I fully realise that we have incomplete information about the condition of the car (both now, and at the time of sale).
However, it's likely that the rust problems needing repair are the "common" ones for this model and age - including suspension tops and bulkhead, both of which make the car unroadworthy. Neither of these areas rot out overnight and it's very unlikely that they did so in the 3 months the OP has owned it.
So, pending any further information, it's probable that the trader sold the car in an unroadworthy condition which is an offence. The way to get extra information (to decide one way or the other) is to approach the experts in such things, in this case Trading Standards.
Because traders should have expert knowledge of their stock they're expected to be aware of more in-depth problems like corrosion. If he bought it in (or traded it) with corrosion problems then that's his problem and he's breaking the law by passing it out cheap to a consumer who has an absolute legal right to assume that the car is basically safe at the point of sale unless specifically told it isn't.
It's absolutely not acceptable for a trader to say "it's cheap so I don't give a stuff" where basic safety matters are concerned, any more than it's acceptable for owners to drive from one MOT to the next without making sure their tyres, brakes, lights etc are still ok.0 -
Why do all these threads degenerate into the Arthur Daleys mouthing of at anyone that expects the car to not just make it off the forecourt and around the corner for long enough to get back to the lock up?
Noone is saying that. As others are saying though, advising every time that the O/P should 'get trading standards on the case' and that all car traders are arthur daleys and use back street garages to bodge repairs quite frankly is not helping anyone.0 -
Joe_Horner wrote: »You've obviously got fatter fingers than I have
Besides, as a known safety issue (clearly known to you btw because you know to "get the story right"), you as a trader have 3 choices:
Take whatever steps are needed to make sure the car is sound, even if that means getting it on a ramp
or
refuse to deal in that model because it's not worth the effort to ensure they're safe
or
risk breaking the law by selling one that's unroadworthy without checking
If you want to be in business in any trade you have to accept the responsibilities and the costs that go with them. In the motor trade one of those responsibilities is to NOT sell unroadworthy cars unless you've made it clear to the buyer that they're unroadworthy. #
It doesn't even matter if you know the fault's there or not, you're still committing an offence if you sell a car that couldn't pass an MOT at the time you sell it because, by definition, it's unroadworthy at that point.
If you don't like, or can't handle, that then you're probably in the wrong trade because lots of other traders manage it ok!
Actually, now as you mention this, I will have to put my hand up and say I did buy a car from a trader.
He sold me an excellent little run around, no warranty, no tax, 2 months mot from a local garage.
Sold as spares or repair, not as a roadworthy car.
I taxed it, and drove it home.
Mot'd it for £100 quid, oddly enough, welding, and a gaiter.
As it was spares or repair, it went for a spares or repair price, and is probably sellable now at twice what I paid for it.
He shifted it, no comeback, I'm happy, and it's a superb little car.
The welding was a known fault on mine as well.0 -
Noone is saying that. As others are saying though, advising every time that the O/P should 'get trading standards on the case' and that all car traders are arthur daleys and use back street garages to bodge repairs quite frankly is not helping anyone.
You'll have to re-read s b 's posts on welding, he mentioned back street garages, mine are done by a mobile welder, in a garage I trust, and I underseal them when I'm happy.0 -
35 years in this trade matey, i know what should go out and what shouldnt, the reason ive come on here is to despair at the thought by some posters that a £650 car should be expected to pass a mot 3 month after purchase,Joe_Horner wrote: »You've obviously got fatter fingers than I have
Besides, as a known safety issue (clearly known to you btw because you know to "get the story right"), you as a trader have 3 choices:
Take whatever steps are needed to make sure the car is sound, even if that means getting it on a ramp
or
refuse to deal in that model because it's not worth the effort to ensure they're safe
or
risk breaking the law by selling one that's unroadworthy without checking
If you want to be in business in any trade you have to accept the responsibilities and the costs that go with them. In the motor trade one of those responsibilities is to NOT sell unroadworthy cars unless you've made it clear to the buyer that they're unroadworthy. #
It doesn't even matter if you know the fault's there or not, you're still committing an offence if you sell a car that couldn't pass an MOT at the time you sell it because, by definition, it's unroadworthy at that point.
If you don't like, or can't handle, that then you're probably in the wrong trade because lots of other traders manage it ok!0 -
suspension tops on the corsa b trust me do not corrode, and its unfair for you to quote "it's probable that the trader sold the car in an unroadworthy condition"
Fair one on the suspension if it's not "common" but it does happen (or was I just welding sound metal for the fun of it recently???) As for the "probable that..." I'll stand by that becaise corrosion tends NOT to appear from nothing in 3 months or so and, if the trader in this case felt it was in a state that he could get a full ticket on it then why didn't he? Leaving aside the OP's willingness to pay more than full-ticket price for it without one of courseNoone is saying that. As others are saying though, advising every time that the O/P should 'get trading standards on the case' and that all car traders are arthur daleys and use back street garages to bodge repairs quite frankly is not helping anyone.
The problem is that the OP clearly knows nothing about cars and a mechanic she trusts has said that in his (possibly biased) opinion the car wouldn't have been to MOT standard - ie: it wouldn't have been roadworthy - when she bought it.
TS are the obvious route to go there because they're impartial and have the power to act, IF NEEDED, against a trader who could be selling poor cars(as in dangerous, not as in a few faults on extras).
If he's trading ok then no harm done - TS tend to be just as happy to support good traders as tackle bad ones. If he IS trading dodgy cars then it's right that he should be stopped before one of them runs into your loved ones.
The only way to know either way is to ask them to look in the first place!0 -
35 years in this trade matey, i know what should go out and what shouldnt, the reason ive come on here is to despair at the thought by some posters that a £650 car should be expected to pass a mot 3 month after purchase,
Obviously the trader that sold it agreed with you, otherwise he would have put 12 months mot on it.0
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