Help! Small claims court - at request for judgement stage - now what?

Tillybob

In a nutshell I bought a second hand car from an independent garage back in November 2012 & within 3 weeks faults were uncovered which would cost circa £1500 to put right & the final straw being the gearbox packing up. It was sold with a 3 months warranty but the warranty company came up with every excuse going. It also transpired that it didn't have FSH as advertised so with that in mind & the problems I experienced I wrote to the garage rejecting the car under The Sales of Goods Act. They ignored my letter so I called, was fobbed off, wrote again, was promised a refund, wrote again, nothing, wrote again threatening legal action, still nothing.
On 5th Feb I issued a claim through the small claims court to which they didn't respond to so on 27th Feb I issued a judgment on immediate payment terms to which I've not heard a thing.
My question is this. What do the small claims court class as "immediate" payment terms & now what? Do I send in the baliffs?
It's all a bit unnerving as I honestly didn't think it would get this far; I thought once they received the papers for the claim they would have acted.
Thanks in anticipation of some advice.

Equaliser123

call the Court. Ask if Judgment has been entered yet.

Was the judgment for the full £1500?

Tillybob

The judgment has been issued; I received notification that it had been. The claim is for just short of £4k which is the amount I've been claiming from the start & they get the car back in return.

steveE2

Tillybob wrote: »

The judgment has been issued; I received notification that it had been. The claim is for just short of £4k which is the amount I've been claiming from the start & they get the car back in return.

Judgement hasn't been issued yet as no judgement has been made,it's too quick and hasn't yet been in front of a judge.

You have done everything correctly so far but the garage has 16 days to respond to your "Request for judgement and reply to admission" which is what you would have sent on the 27th.

If they do not reply or come to an agreement with you,then you need to contact the court for an allocation date(more forms) this can take anything from 3 weeks to 3 months+ dependent on how busy the court is.
You then get a hearing date and place where it will be held,the defendant may or may not turn up in which case it's possible you will win,they may also leave it til the last minute and make an offer on the day.

Even winning a judgement doesn't mean you will get your money,defendant usually gets 30 days from judgement to pay, failure to pay in this time would involve you going back to the court to get judgement enforced(more costs) then finally involvement of court bailiffs (more cost) and still no guarantee of payment.

arcon5

If they never responded then op can apply for judgement by default and not even go in front of a judge.

You need to research the company and the directors history. I suspect they wil pheonix the assets and shut down the company every so often. Or a better work around the rules have 2 companies, one with the assets and one selling the cars with a commercial agreement between them both - then no assets need to be moved to evade debts.

sarahg1969

They have 28 days from the date of the judgment to pay up (unless a different order has been made). The court will have sent the Defendant a copy of the judgment also. If you receive nothing within those 28 days, then you'll have to take further steps to enforce it.

Tillybob

Thanks all.
The judgment was issued by default due to the lack of response. When I did it online I was given the option of immediate payment, payment by a set date or instalments so I chose immediate but MCOL doesn't specify what immediate actually is.

I've done a search on the director & the car company I bought the car from is the only company he is linked to.

If I got the bailiffs in, would they not take cars to the value of what's owed to me?

Hintza

Tillybob wrote: »

If I got the bailiffs in, would they not take cars to the value of what's owed to me?

Who owns the cars? That might be the problem.

Tillybob

Hintza wrote: »

Who owns the cars? That might be the problem.

How do you mean?

Equaliser123

Most default judgments I have obtained require immediate payment. Have you not received a copy of the judgment yet?

bod1467

Tillybob wrote: »

How do you mean?

Who did you sue?

Who do the vehicles belong to?

If they are not the same person (or entity) then the cars may not be assets that can be seized.