Advice Please - Bought a Car, Car is Knackered - Small claims court advice

Tophat_3

Hello All. I need a little advice about how to go about getting my money back.

I bought a Peugeot 406 Diesel on 28th Fab for £620 through Ebay. Its an older car but diesels are normally more realible than petrols so I thought it sounded okay. Now there were a couple of minor faults listed about the car, namely the door was different colour than the rest of it and the mileometer didn't light up. There were no other faults listed, the listing even said that apart from these there was 'nothing else wrong with it.'

I got my friend to drive me over and I paid the man the money. Shortly after I had paid he said to me that it has a few problems starting and that the handbrake was loose and would need to be fixed. He reckoned the problems with the starting was that it just needed new glowplugs and the handbrake just needed tightening, sounds okay I thought, not an expensive job and off I went. I took the car to a garage a few days later and they had it in for 4 days. They had to replace all the shoes and the cable for the handbrake and they told me that of the 4 cylinders 1 of them had virtually no compression and another had very little. The mechanic said that there was something majorly mechanically wrong with the engine and that it would cost more than I paid for it to put it right.

Great one ! - I emailed the guy and said you didn't disclose the starting or handbrake problems on the listing and I would like my money back. He laughed at me on the email and in so many words said tough, if you want rid of it sell it. I'm not prepared to list it dishonestly, I would rather lose money than have some other guy shell out 500 quid odd for a knackered car. The sellers attitude really winds me up and I've been in discussion through email for the last week. Everytime I email I write calmy and don't insult him or take a bad attitude and just point out that I deserve my money, he emails back taking the P*** and laughing. I'd like to show him that he can't be allowed to get away with this and get my money back.

I've been reading information on a government website and I fairly certain I have a good case to go through the small claims court. I've even seen that you can do so on-line ( https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp )
I can get a written report from the mechanic and a print out from the listing to show that he said there was nothing else wrong with it.

My question is this, what are my chances of winning ?
I know that even if I win I may not get my money back but I'd be happy if that guy just got a CCJ at least it'd wipe the smile off his face and I would have won.

Also its been 3 weeks now since I picked the car up, he could just claim that it was fine when he sold it and the mechanical problems must have developed after he that. I could go some way to resolving this issue with the report from the mechanic saying that problem in his opinion has been long standing etc, but not fully.

What do you think ?
Any other advice ?

Thanks, in Advance, Mike.

soolin

I'm not good with cars but if you wait someone will be along with more information.

However, I thought buying a car privately was 'buyer beware' in that once you have paid and driven off you've done the deal?

Agan, only my limited understanding, but if he was trading as a dealer, or you could prve he was a dealer then you would have some comeback, otherwise nothing.

jasmineswhiskers

So can ebay do anything - significantly not as described etc? Or is it different for cars.

Tophat_3

Ebay can do little, if the item is 'significantly not as decsribed' then you can claim damages but this only amounts to 120 with a 15 quid admin fee.
Also in reply to the 1st reply I read that it is 'buyer beware' but from the info I've read if the item is 'not as decribed' then I still have some redress. In this case he described it as 'nothing else wrong with it' i.e. he was deliberately misleading and dishonest.

soolin

Cars are different as it is expected that they are viewed before purchase. They also suggest buying a vehicle status report:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/motors/services/vsr/

motorguy

if its a private sale, then you're flogging a dead horse. if he is a dealer then you have rights.

however, did it not set alarm bells ringing that the mileometer wasnt working? was that maybe because the car has starship miles on it?

old diesels are bad news. they tend to be run on a shoestring and people only flog them when they need more money spent than they are worth.

take it to the nearest auction, put on it 'sold as seen due to age' and get what you can for it.

of the cars i have owned, the complete pigs of motors have been old diesels - 205s 306s mondeos corollas, all animals of things that cost me a fortune.

unless you really need a diesel because you do big miles, buy a good petrol car, i bought a 406 2.0 glx last year for £680, it cost me nothing in maintenance, sold it a fortnight ago for £680...

motorguy

soolin wrote: »

Cars are different as it is expected that they are viewed before purchase. They also suggest buying a vehicle status report:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/motors/services/vsr/

i agree entirely soolin. would anyone buy a car out of autotrader without seeing it and test driving it? why do people do it on ebay and not expect to run a high risk of getting their fingers burned?

motorguy

from the aa's website on legal rights when buying private

http://www.theaa.com/cbg/goodadvice/commongoodadvice.jsp?menu1=4&menu2=3&fileName=your_rights

"f you buy privately, you won't be protected legally if the car doesn't come up to scratch. It's up to you to ask the right questions and have the car thoroughly inspected before you buy. "

pianeet

i dont think you will have aleg to stand on,by the looks of it he pointed out the faults with the handbrake and the engine,and gave (HIS)opinion of what was wrong,it was up to you to assertain if this was correct,if it goes to court he will say he declared the faults but is no mechanic,i agree with a previous poster clean it up and send it to auction,sold as seen.

pinkgem

pianeet wrote: »

i dont think you will have aleg to stand on,by the looks of it he pointed out the faults with the handbrake and the engine,and gave (HIS)opinion of what was wrong,it was up to you to assertain if this was correct,if it goes to court he will say he declared the faults but is no mechanic,i agree with a previous poster clean it up and send it to auction,sold as seen.

the OP said he mentioned the above after taking payment

smashed

Problems starting? Did you not try to start it? Did you not notice that 2 of the 4 cylinders were not firing either? :S