Purchases made whilst mentally ill

Tika90

A relative of mine decided to trade in her relatively new car for a brand new car (£15000) whilst severely mentally ill. She is now in hospital under section. Could anyone advise me if there are any steps I could take to get a refund for the car. Obviously her used car will have gone to auction by now.

She was under the community mental health team at time of purchase and was sectioned several day later. She has only driven the car back from the show room and not touched it since. The franchise manager maintains they did not know she was ill. Does she have any legal rights/consumer rights or would it just be a question of trying to persuade the garage to do the right thing - maybe purchasing a second hand car from them and getting the rest of money back..

The purchase was made about 18 days ago. She was under the impression there was a 14 day cooling off period but think this was in her imagination as she part exchanged. I am next of kin but cannot get my hands on the paperwork yet and will not be able to persue this until she gives her consent, but wanted to let the garage know that we might raise this with them in next few weeks.

I would appreciate any help or advice. Thanks

shaun_from_Africa

Tika90 wrote: »

The franchise manager maintains they did not know she was ill. Does she have any legal rights/consumer rights or would it just be a question of trying to persuade the garage to do the right thing

Unfortunately, the manager is correct.
Provided that they were not aware of your relative's problem then they didn't do anything that makes them liable to refund the money.
It certainly wouldn't do any harm writing to the head office explaining the problem and see if they are willing to do something.

tomtontom

You could argue lack of capacity but it is not easy to prove, and being sectioned does not necessarily mean they lack capacity. Did she understand what she was doing at the time, even if the decision would seem irrational to somebody else?

foxtrotoscar_2

It's down to good will from the garage I believe, which is usually in short supply. Leaving it a few weeks will only make a happy outcome less likely IMHO.

Stevie_Palimo

I would think the best outcome would be a private sale but driving a brand new car off of a car for court will always loose a good few quid, As per Shaun's post which is spot on as ever from the consumer knowledge whizz it would be purely at the garages discretions as to offering something here and if anything is done it will 100% be with a loss against the initial purchase price.


My suggestion get a figure from them and explain the situation and see if they may be sympathetic to you and then look at a private sale value to see which is better then if needs be sell it and buy a cheaper one again and put the difference back in the bank.

LilElvis

It would be a good idea, when your relative has recovered, to make any large cash holdings more difficult for her to access so that she is less likely to make rash purchases. I had a relative who used to spend money like water when unwell - I was given hundreds of pounds worth of cosmetics simply for baking a dessert, he bought numerous items to do with Princess Diana's marriage as he developed a fixation (including over £1000 on an engraved punch bowl!). It's hard for those close to the person, but there are ways to help to control the spending as well as support them in treatment.

Tika90

Thanks for all the advice. Yes we will put a power of attorney in place for the future.

agrinnall

I don't think POA will prevent your relative doing whatever they like with their own money, it simply allows you to act for them as well. I believe you would need to have her declared incompetent in order for you to have complete control of her money, which I'm fairly sure would require a court appearance.

InquisitiveMind

tomtontom wrote: »

You could argue lack of capacity but it is not easy to prove, and being sectioned does not necessarily mean they lack capacity. Did she understand what she was doing at the time, even if the decision would seem irrational to somebody else?

This is the avenue I would explore and if the garage didn't want to refund then it may be worth exploring options with a solicitor (perhaps a specialist in mental health).

stevemLS

agrinnall wrote: »

I don't think POA will prevent your relative doing whatever they like with their own money, it simply allows you to act for them as well. I believe you would need to have her declared incompetent in order for you to have complete control of her money, which I'm fairly sure would require a court appearance.

Nearly agree, a General POA operates as above.

An LPA, however, requires medical evidence as to lack of capacity and must be registered with the OPG, court appearance not required though.

However, it will only be registered if the doctor supplying the certification thinks the person will not regain capacity.

They are not well suited to those such as your friend with flluctuating capacity.

Moreover, the guiding principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 contain at s1(4) A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision merely because he makes an unwise decision.


Proving at this distance in time that your relative lacked capacity to enter into the contract to buy a car will be an uphill task, goodwill is, I think, your best bet.

Nessun_Dorma

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Unfortunately, the manager is correct.
Provided that they were not aware of your relative's problem then they didn't do anything that makes them liable to refund the money.
It certainly wouldn't do any harm writing to the head office explaining the problem and see if they are willing to do something.

Even if they were aware of any illness she might have had, it would need to be demonstrated that they took advantage of this.