Reporting a 'clocked' car to the police...

arcon5

Following on from a recent thread whereby I discovered a recently purchased vehicle has been 'clocked'. Discovered through a search of the MOT history/DVLA records. Also on the grounds the vehicle was sold in an unroadworthy condition for which I have garage bills and my own MOT failure sheet to prove (he MOTed the vehicle himself and what looks to have happened removed parts afterwards based on statements of the MOT station). But tbh the mileage issue is the important aspect.

(I believe the mileage has gone from circa 130k-145k to 75k)

The seller has offered a partial refund towards costs a few times, but failed to follow through. Now gone silent.

So perhaps you knowledgeable people could offer your thoughts/opinions/legal advise on 2 aspects of my complaint?...

Aspect 1
I'm seeking to make a complaint to the police. However, they've told me to phone Trading Standards and they will be able to deal with it... but surely TS have no power to open a case with a police force? Merely push for civil proceedings...
Surely this is a prime example of 'Fraud by Misrepresentation'?
Is this normal procedure for situations like this?

Aspect 2
The problem here is due to have to spend about £450 on the car I cannot afford to buy a new motor, thus need it to work. So I fear a court would not accept issuing a full refund + consequential losses if i'm benefiting from the vehicle...
So if I was to pursue the claim through the county court (it seems they own land and various other assets)... on the basis of keeping the car what do you think would be a reasonable amount to claim... perhaps the costs of repairing the vehicle @ £450 + loss of perceived value? Not sure how I would calculate this.

(Worth noting at this point I purchased privately at £1550. But the problem is even it my estimated mileage the car generally sells through dealers for about £1600-£1900, but I was specifically looking for a vehicle with less than 100k on the clock, wouldn't have even considered buying this car had I known it had been clocked as i'm a high mileage driver (about 25k-35k per annum))

I'm aware private purchases is generally a case of caveat emptor - but I doubt this would apply here, this is specifically a case of misrepresentation.

vikingaero

I would go for TS. TS are generally pretty ineffectual but one thing they are hot on is clocked cars.

bris

You need to prove the seller misrepresented it, he is not likely to own up to stripping the car after the MOT. There is also nothing to say it was him who clocked it, again not something he will not own up too.
For £1550 it sounds like an old car that things can go wrong with very quickly. The timescale will be important, if you drove it home and all was well for the problems to start a week later then it really is caveat emptor. With a private sale it only has to work when you get it, after that it is down to bad luck. You would need to prove misrepresentation that he knew what he was telling you was a lie, His defence can be as simple as, it was fine when I sold it my Lord, there was no problems when he tested it before purchase.

Equaliser123

Definitely Trading Standards that prosecute this sort of thing.

And as for private claim - fraudulent misrepresentation. Cannot exclude at law.

browneyedbazzi

You should complain to Trading Standards - they do criminal cases as well as civil ones. They are the specialists in this sort of thing and way more likely to take a case forward and secure a conviction than the police.

Trading Standards can also advise you on how much is a reasonable claim for damages where a vehicle has been clocked. They have a book that lists all makes/models/years of vehicles and their values depending on the mileage. Your claim should be the difference between the value of the car for the mileage showing when you bought it and the value of the car with the true mileage.

Hintza

Trading Standards? I doubt it.

This will be small claims but the question is who clocked it? You will really need to determine that first.

Forwandert

Did something change between your first thread on this and this one? I'm sure you mentioned buying it to strip for spares for your current car now it's your only car.

The trouble you will have is proving they clocked it. It's safe to assume someone did but you can't instantly blame the seller. The might have bought it that way and may have been totally unaware of the situation. They might be aware but still say they weren't aware and it would be hard to prove they did.

paddedjohn

Unless you can prove that the (private) seller was the person responsible for changing the mileage and they did this with the aim of deceiving you then you have no chance of getting anywhere. How do you know that the speedo hasnt been changed? AFAIK there is no law against clocking your car.

CKhalvashi

paddedjohn wrote: »

AFAIK there is no law against clocking your car.

There isn't, as long as you don't plan to sell it later on.

A lot of the taxis here are about 5 years old with low miles on them, purely to get around the 250k limit for licensing. As long as they can pass a PCO-standard test at this age, they'll be licensed, and licensing have admitted this themselves.

CK

paddedjohn

CKhalvashi wrote: »

There isn't, as long as you don't plan to sell it later on.

A lot of the taxis here are about 5 years old with low miles on them, purely to get around the 250k limit for licensing. As long as they can pass a PCO-standard test at this age, they'll be licensed, and licensing have admitted this themselves.

CK

You can sell it on as long as you are not trying to deceive, so if you are asked wether the milage is correct you must answer truthfully

CKhalvashi

paddedjohn wrote: »

You can sell it on as long as you are not trying to deceive, so if you are asked wether the milage is correct you must answer truthfully

Thanks for that; wanted to err on the side of caution

CK