Advise needed please

Battersbysam

I've recently brought a car from a private seller when I got it home I gave it to my mechanic to give it a service and the once over. I've now found out that it is a Cat C write off which I wasn't told about and the engine had been (bodged) for the sale of it. Either the head gasket has gone or it's got a cracked head the EGR valve has been removed the ECU has been re-programmed so it dosnt show up the EGR valve has gone and the thermostat has been removed. Is there any thing I can do to get my money back from the seller who is not willing to give me it back. Thanks guys Sam

DUTR

Battersbysam wrote: »

I've recently brought a car from a private seller when I got it home I gave it to my mechanic to give it a service and the once over. I've now found out that it is a Cat C write off which I wasn't told about and the engine had been (bodged) for the sale of it. Either the head gasket has gone or it's got a cracked head the EGR valve has been removed the ECU has been re-programmed so it dosnt show up the EGR valve has gone and the thermostat has been removed. Is there any thing I can do to get my money back from the seller who is not willing to give me it back. Thanks guys Sam

Next time, take your mechanic with you to give the car a once over before agreeing a purchase.
Did you ask if it was cat c before purchasing?
It sounds like buyers remorse to me.

Battersbysam

No I didn't ask about the Cat C.

captainawsome

The EGR removal is fairly common for some cars, often for reliability more than performance. Thermostat removed, can't think why you would do that if it was faulty as they're cheap enough to replace - not the end of the world. Head gasket gone, what are the symptoms? Surely you checked the oil and coolant before buying? Finally if you had HPI'd the car before buying you would see the cat C on there, sellers don't have to advertise it as a cat C specifically, they just can't say it's HPI clear if its not and if you ask they have to tell you.

Is this a land rover discovery by any chance?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Battersbysam wrote: »

No I didn't ask about the Cat C.

Then they have no obligation to tell you and even then they only have to answer to their best ability and knowledge, the previous owner may not even know its a cat C.


How did you mechanic find out its been recorded as a Cat C? did he HPI it OR did he guess at it.


youll soon find out when the V5C comes onto you door step it will be listed in the special notes section as being recoded cat and VIC checked.


as for the EGR valve being blanked off. this is getting pretty common, they can give all sorts of issue's so people just blanked them off and deleted the ECU sofware to recognize it has one.


As for the Thermostat then depending on application, these can be bought for as little as £4.00.


as for the head gasket, your mechanic instead of scaremongering you, should have performed A a sniff test 2. a compression test 3. a leak down test to confirm.


As for a cracked head that is a complete guess, he will not know this unless the crack is so wide he can see it with the naked eye, most cyl head cracks are hairline and not visible to the naked eye and are internal to the cylinder galleys and channels and only a crack test when the head is removed and sent off can confirm this.


As for what come back you have, caveat emptor BUYER BEWARE you bought it its now yours and all its entire faults it came with.


Unless you can prove the seller knew it was a cat c and advertised it a PERFECT CLEAN AND TIDY WITHOUT FAULTS vehicle.


Or its is unroadworthy and the seller knew in full it was not roadworthy and dangerous to drive.


Both I can see you having to go to court to fight that out to get your money.


Or you can take the hit repair the car get as much use out of it as you can for a good few years and next time take your mechanic with you.


If the engine is FUBAR then try and limit the cost by asking your mechinc to find a salvage unit.


as for the structure, get a body shop to check the alignment of the front end with trammel (aka TRAM) gauge and the chassis checked out on a computertized JIG frame. may cost some money to do this but for your piece of mind it will tell you aligned and straight, and form the professionals eye how good the repair was.

forgotmyname

You bought it without doing the checks before handing over the cash. As above you need to check these things before you buy it.

Have you done a HPI check?

Lots of garages blank the EGR valves. On some cars they are a PITA and its not uncommon.
It may take a little longer to warm up and emissions will probably be slightly worse as it does warm. But after that you probably wont even notice.

Except that its one less item to replace.

Engine bodged for sale? If the head was leaking or cracked it would probably not have run cleanly when you started it up and test drove it.

Also the water levels will most likely have dropped.

gunboat4

If you have been mislead and been sold a piece of shxx this means the seller has lied to you and not listed all the faults. You don't say how much or what car you brought.? If you are prepared to fight this im sure there are people on this forum that may be able to structure a plan of attack. ???????????

atrixblue.-MFR-.

gunboat4 wrote: »

If you have been mislead and been sold a piece of shxx this means the seller has lied to you and not listed all the faults. You don't say how much or what car you brought.? If you are prepared to fight this im sure there are people on this forum that may be able to structure a plan of attack. ???????????

And how do you propose we do that?


Private sale with only 2 pieces of legislation to go by.


Not as described.


Not road worthy.


Being as we haven't seen the advert. It may have only stated
4 wheels starts drives has MOT.

and a private seller is not obliged to divulge anything to a seller EVEN when asked questions such as is it a cat C? seller says no don't think so. it would be upto you to then go do your home work.

Cat C doesn't mean not roadworthy.


Missing thermostat doesn't mean unroadworthy.


missing EGR does not mean unroadworthy.


possible broken head gasket doesn't mean unroadworthy.


that's those two pieces of legislation down the pan then, next to bribing a small claims judge with a £1million pounds and a promise of a top model WIFE there is bob hope and no hope of getting this to a judge and winning.

colino

Lets not chuck out the law just to bolster your argument.
"and a private seller is not obliged to divulge anything to a seller EVEN when asked". Is just plain wrong.
A professional trader is obliged to proactively express details that may change a buying decision, but while a privateer doesn't have to proactively disclose faults, they certainly cant lie to direct questions.

Retrogamer

colino wrote: »

Lets not chuck out the law just to bolster your argument.
"and a private seller is not obliged to divulge anything to a seller EVEN when asked". Is just plain wrong.
A professional trader is obliged to proactively express details that may change a buying decision, but while a privateer doesn't have to proactively disclose faults, they certainly cant lie to direct questions.

No one suggested they can lie, they just said they are under no obligation to provide the information.
Not answering a question is not same as giving a false answer.

As fort the OP buyer beware. You may have some come back if you can prove the car was advertised with false information

burlington6

gunboat4 wrote: »

If you have been mislead and been sold a piece of shxx this means the seller has lied to you and not listed all the faults. You don't say how much or what car you brought.? If you are prepared to fight this im sure there are people on this forum that may be able to structure a plan of attack. ???????????

Don't take advice off anyone who doesn't know the difference between ''bought'' and ''brought''