Late husbands car flagged as stolen

oakview

My husband died just before Christmas. I ask my stepson to sell the car for me. He went to webuyanganycar.com. While the car was being hpi checked it came up flagged as insurance theft. My stepson took it back to the dealership where it was brought, they said it was a mistake because the car had been a previous disability car and had come from mobility. He pointed out that the car was brought in the april and had been flagged in the previous December. They have rang to say they will buy the car back at the price offered by webuyanycar.com. I feel they should give a full refund. Any feed back gratefully received.

molerat

Have you queried the accuracy of the HPI information. Why do you think you deserve a full refund ? You have had the use of the car and if the car was actually flagged as stolen then there is a fair chance you would have been pulled by the police. The car is worth what it is worth, not what you paid for it. HPI is not always correct and they seem to be getting worse on erroneous info.

AdrianC

Did it come up as clear on HPI when you bought it?

stator

If you were going to sell it to WeBuyAnyCar then the dealership's offer seems generous, you get exactly the money you would have got if the problem didn't exist.

The other option is for them to sort out the problem and unflag the vehicle, then you can sell it to whomever you want.

Asking for a full refund of the value you paid for the car isn't reasonable, since you've been using it.

colino

Damn right the dealer wants to buy it back, shows it to be a cowboy operation if they sold it without even doing the basic checks - they didn't have clear title so it wasn't theirs to sell.
Negotiate a settlement somewhere north of the WBAC offer and wash your hands of it.

molerat

Buying it at WBAC price is probably way below market value.

bigjl

Actually no.

WBAC is pretty much trade value. And the prices are set just below what the vehicle would fetch at Auction. And they are much fairer than the old adverts in the back of magazines and now local newspapers from people that buy any car and come to you.

They are the real sharks as they work on the premise that if you phone them you are in financial trouble and they really hit low.

I knew a bloke that used to do that back in the mid 90's and his tactic was to speak to them and ask what they wanted, if they said £5k he would offer £2.5k or £3k maybe more if it was in good nick, if they didn't hang up or tell him to Foxtrot Oscar then he would head down there with the intention of paying under £2k if possible.

He would also go through all the private ads in Loot and Autotrader from the week before doing the same thing, offering around half the advertised price, if he wasn't sworn at or hung up on and they asked him to come and view he knew they were desperate.

The car game is indeed full of sharks.

The reason people think WBAC prices are low is due to dealer often inflating on paper what they give for a car on trade in.

From what I have heard WeWantAnyCar pay more as I know two people that have sold via them in the last month or so and both got more than WBAC offered online before the chip.

I would suspect the car is not stolen as such but some people lose their Motability car due to losing their DLA and the previous user might have refused to hand it back hence the stolen report.

oakview

molerat wrote: »

Have you queried the accuracy of the HPI information. Why do you think you deserve a full refund ? You have had the use of the car and if the car was actually flagged as stolen then there is a fair chance you would have been pulled by the police. The car is worth what it is worth, not what you paid for it. HPI is not always correct and they seem to be getting worse on erroneous info.

I was not with my husband when the car was purchased but the dealers belong to network q that ensure all checks are made before purchase.

colino

bigjl, WBAC/V are independant cost centres, funding their own operating costs and aiming to make a profit on every vehicle. They always buy below trade, otherwise they could never maintain their margins when they sell through BCA.

AdrianC

oakview wrote: »

but the dealers belong to network q that ensure all checks are made before purchase.

Which do you think is more likely...
- That Vauxhall UK's Network Q brand checks failed to HPI the car before sale.
- That Vauxhall UK's Network Q brand checks included HPIing the car, found it flagged as stolen, but sold it anyway.
- That Vauxhall UK's Network Q brand checks included HPIing the car, it came back clean, and whatever bollock has been dropped to flag it on HPI's record happened SINCE then?

I know which I think most likely

oakview

AdrianC wrote: »

Did it come up as clear on HPI when you bought it?

Yes. The q network promises it meets all required quality standards, Namely hpi check.