courtsey car accident

distraught1

my son and I had a courtsey car whilst dealer sorted out our road tax - long story his "error" and we have now discovered the car we bought from him was a write off-- on way to return the courtsey car a deer ran in front of the car,and car was damaged. Deer killed photographic evidence The car dealer "assessed" the damage and first of all demanded £1200 on the spot to repair the courtsey car . This is now £1000 to pay his excess and he will not give us our car back until this is paid up front. Had to get picked up from garage to get home any serious advice gratefully recieved

paddedjohn

We're you covered on your own insurance?

keith1950

At the end of the day you are responsible for any excess he has to pay.

Ask to see his insurance documents to confirm that the excess is indeed £1000.

Quite often when you are offered a courtesy car you are given the option to drive on their insurance ( and therefore accept any excess ) or the option to ring your own insurance company and transfer your own insurance for the day ( or two .)

In order to get your car back would he not accept an written agreement signed by both partys that you agree to pay this £1000 within a set period. He may then release your car !

Another downer is that you will now have to inform your insurance company about this accident/incident even though you are not making a claim on your insurance.

smashingyour...

How much is your car worth?

Get the dealer to evidence his excess and pay it, you crashed his car so why should he be out of pocket?

gilbert_and_sullivan

paddedjohn wrote: »

We're you covered on your own insurance?

That sounds like the problem here, always best to enquire about insurance and particularly excess before accepting a courtesy car, if monopoly money (as here) best put the car on your own insurance temporarily, proper insurance companies will not charge extra for this service.

Was there a contract for the courtesy car loan and does it state terms and conditions.

Strider590

He may be trying to avoid claiming on his own insurance and wants you to pay up for a cash repair.
So as mentioned above, demand to see proof of the excess on the policy.

TradePro

distraught1 wrote: »

we have now discovered the car we bought from him was a write off

If he didn't disclose that the car had been previously written off you are entitled to a refund.

ic

TradePro wrote: »

If he didn't disclose that the car had been previously written off you are entitled to a refund.

Is that the case? Did the OP do an HPI check? Did the dealer claim they'd done an HPI check? If not and the questions were never asked, they're buying sold as seen surely?

vaio

Nope, dealers have to disclose

I think the actual phrase is something along the lines of "anything that would or is likely to affect the consumers decision to buy"

Certainly a being a write off would fall into that category

OddballJamie

Have a look at page 8 of this
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/676408/oft1241.pdf

vaio

Good post...

The bit you reference deals with information the dealer *actually* knows, other parts of that document deal with information the dealer *should* have known so if the dealer doesn't do a HPI and so doesn't know it was previously a write off he is still liable.

Similar applies to mileage, finance & other significant items, the dealer is required to act professionally and part of that is making appropriate checks on the condition & history