Car History Misrepresentation

marrich

We recently bought a car from our local Audi dealership believing that it had been one of their demonstration models. When we received the V5 this morning we noted that the first owner was listed as a car rental company. This sounded an alarm bell and I also found, buried in a very thick folder that there is an outstanding loan arrangement on the car.

The salesman now claims that he 'might have' said that the car was a demonstrator but there is no outstanding loan on the car and that he can give me proof once the listing is removed from HPI. What he certainly did not say that the car was not owned by the dealership, belonged to a car rental company and had a loan listed on HPI. He also could not tell me how long the car had been at the dealership. Not impressed.

I have contacted trading standards but could not speak to the right person today. Any thoughts on what we can do? The car seems to be running perfectly and it would be very inconvenient and costly to return it, cancel the insurance and then hunt around for another car, so on balance, we would rather keep it. However we do feel the car's history was misrepresented to us and could impact on re-sale value. Our thought is to approach head office for some form of compensation. Has anyone had any experience of this? Thanks

forgotmyname

How old and how many miles on the clock?

A vehicle supplied to someone after an accident maybe? Bought on finance and charged to the insurance at £££ a day then sold on again for a ££££ profit?

HPI a lot of cars on the forecourt and they will have finance on them. Either not cleared on the paperwork yet or the dealer will clear it when you buy it.
Not an issue.

Whats the service history like? Any missing or late ones?

arcon5

The garage probably do own the car. When trade register as the refistered keeper I don't believe it shows on the history.

Even if the finance is not paid, as an innocent buyer whom didn't know about the finance and purchased as a consumer from a trader the finance company cannot just reposses it - although this should be addressed and resolved by them immediately.

jimjames

If you bought it as a one owner car and it is actually a one owner car then it should have no impact on the resale value. If you are saying that there are 2 owners (dealer and rental company) then you may have a case for misrepresentation. If everything is ok with the car then I can't see any reason to want to return it or any justification for compensation (Compensation for what if there is no loss?).