HP car not declared as a driving instructor car

chrisshayess

Hi forum,

My wife purchased a 2012 plate car on hire purchase from Available Car around Jan 2014. When she got it the car had done around 30k. At the time she didn't question the mileage. She has recently looked on the V5C paper work and noticed that the car was previously registered to Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions Limited which specialise in hiring out cars to driving instructors. Only after doing some research we found this out.

Available Car have failed to inform my wife that the car had been used as a hire vehicle and potentially had hundreds of different drivers that all drive differently. This will have a dramatic affect on the vehicles life span.

She would not have purchased the vehicle knowing this.

What rights does she have?

zaax

Why do you think that it will have a dramatic affect on the vehicles life span?

chrisshayess

The driving instructor would take out new drivers. They are not experienced drivers therefore their style of driving would have an effect on the vehicle.

tomtontom

Two errors in your complaint:

Hitachi CVS do not just lease to driving instructors. They offer corporate and personal leases also.

There is nothing to say a learner would have any "different" effect than any other driver. You get poor drivers that have been on the road for years, and they are not supervised.

sheramber

Did your wife ask about the previous owner?

chrisshayess

The address on the V5C for Hitachi CVS is a Leicester address. When searching this on Google, it directs me to the driving instructor lease of their products which leads me to think the car was hired out to a driving instructor.

We feel the vehicle was been misold as the former keeps shows 1 however the vehicle was used as a driving instructors vehicle/leased out. We now have no way of knowing that the vehicle was used by one or hundreds of people. Not just that, at the first MOT, the vehicle requires a fair bit of work which is not normal for a 3 year old car.

chrisshayess

sheramber wrote: »

Did your wife ask about the previous owner?

This was her first car and was advised to go to Available Car was they are a reputable dealer who should declare everything, so she thought.

She was told it had one previous owner and wasn't shown the V5C. She only saw it when she received the updated version in the post.

unholyangel

Personally, I would've thought that 30k miles on a car thats 12-18 months old approx (when your wife purchased it) would've been a clue that the car wasn't used just for social & domestic - its even a bit on the heavy side for commuting. Which would indicate on miles alone that its been a company car/taxi (or along those lines).

However I dont think theres anything in law saying they need to declare what the vehicle has been used for (as i imagine in most circumstances, they wont have a clue).

So the question is, did they advertise it in any way which gives the impression it was a private individual driver?

paddyrg

Does it have all the signs of a second set of pedals having been fitted? Of a permanent 'L' sign?

To be honest, it's probably healthier than if a sales rep had hammered it up the motorway for 3 years.

Lomast

A lot of car finance companies buy up huge stocks of ex lease cars from the bigger leasing companies and almost certainly would have no idea what it was previously used for.

The_Pedant

I would have thought a driving instructor would be keen to ensure their students don't do anything that would risk the reliability of the instructors primary means of income.

With the exception of a the people getting into the car for their first couple of lessons, I'd expect it to have been driven pretty sedately.

Most likely it's rarely seen more than 3,000 rpm, has not been driven up to the red line between gear changes, has not been driven around corners at the borders of the cars grip, and will have been driven with a responsible person effectively riding shotgun and looking out for risks.

I think in the scheme of things I'd side with paddyrg & pick that over a car leased to your typical company driver any day.

I can't see that your current suspicions of who the previous keeper of the vehicle might have been would materially change the advertised state of the vehicle, unless you specifically asked about such thinks prior to purchasing the vehicle.