Defective Car Bought. Going to Small Claims - Consumer Rights Act 2015 help needed

AdrianC

Anthonyuk wrote: »

I cannot afford to just scrap the car. I need the car.

The tax and insurance are irrelevant to whether you have a case or not, so let's ignore them.

The pertinent facts are...
You bought a £600 car from a back-street trader.
It ran well when you inspected it, test drove it, and took it home.
It then started to have problems almost immediately.
You did not contact the supplier.
You continued to use the car.
You eventually took the car to another garage, who started to work on it.
When they told you how bad it was, you contacted the supplier, who denied responsibility.

The problem you have is that the law requires you to give the supplier the first chance to repair it. The law is also tempered by reasonable expectations of a car of that apparent price and quality. For a £600 car, those expectations are very, very low. Not only are there very low expectations, but the supplier could state that the problems were not apparent when it left him, even that the other garage had introduced them and was trying to blame him.

Even if you won a court case, then you have to get him to pay up...

So - you can't afford to scrap this car - but do you have a lot of choice? It's going to cost you far more to get it back on the road than it would cost to replace it.

Sure, you've probably been tucked up like a kipper. That's why it's a very, very bad idea to buy cars in this price range from a trader. Private sale, every time, below a couple of grand.

Anthonyuk_2

If I scrap the car, and then win the small claims case. I cannot then return it to him as per the law says needs to happen. So I will possibly lose by default then for destroying the goods the claim is for.

Plus he may want to inspect the car himself. Which cannot happen as it's scrapped.

I cannot afford a tow truck to send the car from the garage to his place. Plus the Consumer Rights act says it should be the traders responsibility anyway. Not my cost. But like I say, he refuses to cooperate.

I cannot afford a new car as I spent all the money I had spare on this car as I also need to factor in, in a months time I will have £700 to pay Admiral for a years insurance which I really do not want to do for a car sitting 3miles away from me unusable (cue a bunch of people calling me scum for that).

The guy has literally screwed me over more than he could believe. As I was needing this for full time work. I work part time. And he knows this hence why he is offering whatever junk he has for £300 ontop of my car.

AdrianC

Anthonyuk wrote: »

If I scrap the car, and then win the small claims case. I cannot then return it to him as per the law says needs to happen.

No, it's an either-or. You either return the car to him, or you do something with it.

I cannot afford a tow truck to send the car from the garage to his place. Plus the Consumer Rights act says it should be the traders responsibility anyway.

Are you sure about that...?

Anthonyuk_2

AdrianC wrote: »

Are you sure about that...?

Section 20(7) and 20(8) of the CRA2015 says

(7)From the time when the right is exercised—
(a)the trader has a duty to give the consumer a refund, subject to subsection (18), and
(b)the consumer has a duty to make the goods available for collection by the trader or (if there is an agreement for the consumer to return rejected goods) to return them as agreed.

(8)Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

karlie88

In all honesty OP, I think you should move on.

Scrap the car and get £100 for it. You've no doubt spent an hour, or possibly more, reading and replying to your thread and will continue to do so - so that'll be more time wasted. More of your valuable time is needed for the small claims court case. Add to that stress and/or anxiety. All for what? There's no guarantee you'll get your money back.

Use the hours saved to work overtime at your place of work, earn a few hundred quid from current account switch incentives, learn about matched betting, ask friends/family if they have any odd jobs for you to earn money....

Anthonyuk_2

The small claim is in though.

Can I ask, as a final question. With regards to the car. Should I fill out Section 9 of the DVLA log book and say its no longer my car. And put the traders name and address in. As I have rejected the car under Section 9 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. And thus its no longer my car. Even though he refuses to accept my rejection. The law says I am allowed to reject it as it was not fit for purpose.

Just so as to get shot of it until the court case takes place.

I do not really want to insure it in June (as in renew the insurance, before anyone jumps on me). I also do not want to have the worry of the police phoning me saying we have had complaints the car is outside of a garage for weeks/months. Shift the car.

Given the court case has been started. I obviously cannot scrap the car. The car does not start up and drive at all so this gets taken off the scrap value so all I will get is £50 to at most £75 for it scrap.

Like I say, I do not like that the car is stuck there and I am paying insurance and Tax for it.

AdrianC

Anthonyuk wrote: »

the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them, other than any costs incurred by the consumer in returning the goods in person to the place where the consumer took physical possession of them.

You collected the car from him, right?

Herzlos

Anthonyuk wrote: »

I cannot afford a new car as I spent all the money I had spare on this car as I also need to factor in, in a months time I will have £700 to pay Admiral for a years insurance which I really do not want to do for a car sitting 3miles away from me unusable (cue a bunch of people calling me scum for that).

I wouldn't bother insuring it if it's not on a public highway; no-one is going to steal it and it's, realistically, worth £50 to some guy with a trailer. Either leave it at the garage in question, or get it moved somewhere else. Sign the car back over to the dealer if you're worried about it.

But don't wait around for him to repair it (he won't) or refund you for it (he probably won't). Accept that you've bought a lemon and try to move on. See if you can get another car locally with insurance for the £700 you're looking at spending on insurance, and go from there. If you manage to get money out of him, then excellent, but I think you're long beyond the stage of expecting that to happen.

straighttalker

It's going to be at least 2 and a half months before the matter is listed for trial. It's approximately 4 weeks before the Defendant has to get a Defence in. Then allocation questionnaires then listed for trial. Even if you're successful the Defendant has 30 days to pay before a CCJ is registered. If he doesn't pay, you've got more weeks to wait whilst the bailiffs get involved.

arcon5

Has op said what car it is yet?
can't see it anywhere...
But I'm gonna guess a diesel as these symptons are typically fuel pressure related rather than timing chain