small claims court help!

dunkymunky

I am seeking to take my car finance company to the small claims court under the sales of goods act. I have written to them twice asking for a claim to be made out of court, and if they could not do this then court action would be taken.

I received a letter from them on saturday, requesting a further 5 weeks for them to seek legal advice.

Do I have to give them these 5 weeks (it has been 3 weeks since my initial complaint to them) or can I start court proceedings now?

Also, if I am unlucky enough to lose in court, will I have to pay their court costs?

THank you for any help you could give me

dunstonh

The judge handling the case would expect both sides to try and find a way to solve the case out of court and you will be expected to show the judge the efforts you have made to get this resolved.

As it has only been 3 weeks since your initial case, I would think it would be premature to go to court at this time and it would work against you. They have asked you to wait whilst they seek legal advice and it is not an unreasonable request. It it was say 9 weeks down the road and they were asking this then that is a different matter.

SailorSam

When i went to the Small Claims (it was against a builder) it went on for months before i eventually went to Court. I won but don't think even if i'd lost you have to pay the other sides costs. It;s just a set fee which you get back if you win.
In my case the guy never even turned up so everything was just rubber stamped. I suppose this happens a lot if companies don't want to waste time going to Court if they think they may be in the wrong.