Think we've been sold a flood-damaged car

jaybeetoo

If he is a dealer, talk to your local Trading Standards department tomorrow morning.

meanstreak

That would be the ideal scenario, but it does leave us in a pretty vulnerable position. We have no car other than the one he's just sold us, which we're kind of afraid of driving. He works out of his home and has lots of friends and family around.

Plus, having spoken to him on the phone this morning, I'm afraid we're not going to get any joy out of him. I called him thinking to leave a message on his phone (as it's a bank holiday) but he picked up. When I explained the issues we're having, he went v. quiet, then said: "Can you call me back in a couple of hours, I've just woken up," and when I explained I was really worried about it he made no assurances, or any promises to talk to me later on. Eventually he hung up on me, which doesn't feel like it bodes well.

We're nervous of going out to see him and ending up on his turf, with no way of getting out of there. I know that sounds dramatic, but, while, by law, this is a Ltd company, the 'feel' is much more of a tough guy selling cars out of his garage. Does that make sense? I know we've got no choice but to deal with him, somehow, but it's pretty intimidating to imagine going there again, especially as I think I wound him up calling him on a bank holiday morning. I feel a bit bad about it, but on the other hand, he is running a company, and if he's answering his work phone on a bank holiday then isn't that his choice?

The lines feel v. blurred between him being a 'proper' dealer and a private seller, which is what's making this feel more complicated than it ought to be.

Chopper_Read

What area is he in?

Maybe some members are nearby.

meanstreak

He's in Bedworth, near Coventry. We're 30 mins drive away in Leamington, and getting between the two without a car is pretty difficult, hence our nerves. We'd basically be stuck in Bedworth with a bank holiday train service (which is pretty bad anyway) and if things turned nasty we really don't know the area.

Do you think some members might be able to help us in some way?

colino

No ifs, buts or maybees. Take it back and demand all of your cash back. He has broken the law, and he knows it, by failing to positively inform you, not for you to find out, of its history.

maninthestreet

The dealer saw you coming if you believed his story about the car just being valeted to explain away the damp interior of the car.

artbaron

You need to demand your money back. The trader sounds like a right scumbag and has obviously seen you coming. Valeted cars don't smell of damp and he obviously knew this. He's also breaking the law by not mentioning the Cat C. Cat C is the most serious damage a car an incur and still get let back on the road and many insurance companies won't touch them even after repair. A cat C would make an already cheap car virtually worthless, so he's screwed you there too. If he won't give you a full refund go the legal route and make sure the nasty b@st@rd pays in full.

vaio

Undisclosed Cat C is grounds for rejection but, (assuming you did HPI before buying it), does the dealer know that you had done HPI check before buying it?

If he does then he will be argueing that you knew it was Cat C in 2010 and therefore no grounds for rejection and you are left in the trickier position of trying to get your money back on a £1500 car which (so far) has no faults and no firm evidence of anything other than water ingress causing a bit of damp and which was there when you inspected and bought it.

In your position I'd be talking to the previous owner to see if it was flood damaged (not all cars in Ponty were).

meanstreak

We didn't HPI before we got it, we did this afterwards. And yes, I'm sure everybody will be rolling their eyes at us, reading this, but we're really new to this and just didn't have a clue that flood damage was something to look for. What upsets us the most is that we did a TON of research before we went car shopping, and had a whole list of stuff to look at and look for. We're just not mechanics, and we don't live in a flood area, so nobody's ever mentioned flooding as something to look out for before. The air fresheners did a pretty good job of covering the scent and making it smell 'soapy'. I'm sure he did 'see us coming', but does that mean he gets away with it?

We've taken some legal advice and we've been told to write to him and say we are rescinding the contract due to misrepresentation (given that he didn't either advertise or tell us about the car's history and actively lied about the dampness - he volunteered that information before we even questioned it). We've been told to give him 7 working days to respond, and if he doesn't then it's an LBA and a court date.

We've learned some really important lessons, and obviously a lot of people will write us off as stupid and naive. We definitely feel stupid. Just wish we hadn't had to learn this lesson at the expense of our hard-earned savings It's taken us so long to save up for this car.

Thanks all for your help. If anyone else has any more advice, it would be appreciated.

Chopper_Read

Where was this car advertised, have you got a link to the ad and got it saved somewhere?