Chance of refund in private car sale?

eddiemacthedog

Hi guys,
I recently bought an older car through gumtree, long story short it has had the mileage adjusted, seller advert stated mileage and even made the statment "very low mileage".

I have since also found out the car had its speedometer changed out 3 years ago and reset to zero when it had done 80k approx.

This was done prior to the seller owning it but they were aware of it as after i checked the vosa history and phoned them, they said yeah its a new dashboard or engine.

So they knew but have refused the refund, have been to trading standards and they think i have a case for misrepresentation as i only bought the car as the mileage was stated in the advert and it stated very low miles when in fact it has done about 140k. I paid a price based on 68k not 148k!!!

Going to push it out of principle and just wondered if anyone has any thoughts.

missimaxo

Why did you not undertake the vosa mileage check or an hpi check prior to huying the vehicle?

Did the seller declare the mileage as guaranteed or warranted?

You may have a case for misrepresentation however these are checks you should make before buying the car an not afterwards and in private sales it is a case of buyer beware.

Are you in scotland... if the seller does not play ball you would have to sue them yhrough the small claims court but I think the limit for scotland is £3k so it would depend in the price of the car whether you could use the scc or the normal courts.

bris

If you can prove they knew the correct mileage then yes, you have a good case against them for misrepresentation.

markfj

From what I have been reading, you have to be able to prove the buyer knew of the mileage change, so it wouldn't be "as described".

arcon5

eddiemacthedog wrote: »

Hi guys,
I recently bought an older car through gumtree, long story short it has had the mileage adjusted, seller advert stated mileage and even made the statment "very low mileage".

I have since also found out the car had its speedometer changed out 3 years ago and reset to zero when it had done 80k approx.

This was done prior to the seller owning it but they were aware of it as after i checked the vosa history and phoned them, they said yeah its a new dashboard or engine.

So they knew but have refused the refund, have been to trading standards and they think i have a case for misrepresentation as i only bought the car as the mileage was stated in the advert and it stated very low miles when in fact it has done about 140k. I paid a price based on 68k not 148k!!!

Going to push it out of principle and just wondered if anyone has any thoughts.

Tell them in which case you are going to the police to report fraud. Might nudge them in to refunding if they admit they knew the mileage was incorrect.

In reality though the police probably won't care - I tried reporting a similar situation a couple of years ago and they wasn't at all interested. Fantastic service huh.

eddiemacthedog

Thanks for the replies. Have wrote them a letter, defo think its headed for court. In scotland and its less than 2k not over 3k.

eddiemacthedog

Thanks for the advice, have sent the recorded letter so will see what happens, dont know the process after that but im sure trading stds will keep me right.
Anyone even if i win in court what happens with getting the money??

wealdroam

eddiemacthedog wrote: »

Anyone even if i win in court what happens with getting the money??

That question, and many others, is answered in MSE's Small Claims Court guide.