possibility of wining a court action for a damaged car deal

suspension

Hello,
I bought this car around 3 weeks back from an e-bay auction. It was described as having AC and also mentioned that it runs great. I bid without viewing first and went to dealers premises and had a look just before the payment. It looked good and I went on a small trial and everything looked fine, so bought it directly.
After few runs at home it started to give lots of noises and so had a look underneath to discover that there was heavy corrosion even in the chassis frame. Attached are some photos. In addition it looks like most of the ball joints, tie rods, rack ends, balance bar links and many bushes need to be replaced. Also the A/C does not work at all. In the advert it was mentioned that the car has A/C though.
With all these issues, I don't have time nor confidence to drive this, so I asked if I can get a refund to which he said no. I do not know how to deal with people like these, so after letting him know all the details he must know about these issues, I stopped the communication with him. However I am planning to use the small claims court to get a refund.

Before going any further I would like to get some idea about this from the community. Basically my issues are:
1. The damage to chassis frame due to corrosion. I am not sure if it is safe to drive this.
2. So many noises from ball joints, etc.
3. AC not working (advert said it has A/C though)

I like to get some advice on:
1. Whether the corrosion is sever enough to make this car un-roadworthy
2. Whether the point 2 and 3 can be used against the dealer

I need this advice because I am new to UK and I have no idea how people evaluate these stuff. In my home country, a corrosion like that is very uncommon and I have no idea how bad it is.

pics:
Looks like I cannot insert images/links yet. Any idea how I can show those pics?

Thank you

AdrianC

Private seller, or trader?
What car, what age, what price?
When was the last MOT?

You'll need to upload pictures to a file service such as Flickr or Photobucket and put links into your post.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Private seller, or trader?
What car, what age, what price?
When was the last MOT?

You'll need to upload pictures to a file service such as Flickr or Photobucket and put links into your post.

He mention dealer premises so its a dealer.

arcon5

You basically bought at auction and saw the car before making payment.

Would this not be deemed as acceptance - and buying at auction diminishes a lot of rights under SOGA.

Aircon probably just needs a regas.

Maybe MOT it and see how safe it is

nobbysn*ts

Not really. He bought a car as advertised. A true car auction is solely as seen on the day. And if it's a dealer, the OP's rights are still intact

arcon5

Auction purchases are not treated as 'consumer' sales so terms implied by law can be negated or varied when sold via auction.

So it would depend on the terms in the auction. If it was stated something like 'description is a guide only and buyers should view the car to satisfy themselves as to its description' or something like that (as is often the case) then op could well find themselves in murky water trying to get out of the deal.

Especially here where op viewed the car before making payment.

The fact it's a dealer doesn't automatically mean rights are intact in ops case.

nobbysn*ts

Even on eBay, a cars a car. If it's not, its spares or repair.

marlot

The easiest thing is to put the car through an MOT to see if the items listed are pass or fail

Hintza

One would expect from the description this is an 15+ year old car.

arcon5

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

Even on eBay, a cars a car. If it's not, its spares or repair.

Your opinion doesn't trump the law. As said depends on their terms of business as well as wording of the advert

mcjordi

MOT it and go from there.. aircon may just need a regas as said.

tbh ball joints etc are wear and tear items
but we need to know what car it is how old mileage, mot status etc etc