Bought a lemon from private seller!

joeblags

I can relate to buying a lemon recently! I was told it only needed a gearbox speedo sensor... LOL!




so far ive had to do ...


new rear light.
new speedo sensor.
wiring loom from ebay as half the sensors in the engine wasn't working due to broken cables and damaged plugs.
door seals repaired due to leaking


still to do...


airbag crash sensor needs replacing
fuel tank had a hole and been repaired but leaking again!!!! new tank in shed ready to go on.


just trade it in for something against another car, youll loose money but less than what its going to cost you for a clutch and steering rack. even though I am fixing my car im still 50/50 about doing the same!

gonthemicrobe

Got the screen shots. Quite a few of the cars are at the same address as the one I went to.

It was a different address from V5 but I got some fairly detailed story about how he was selling for his cousin and I needed a car asap so went with it. Idiot!

I've got screenshots of plenty of the ads now. It's £1500 so not the end of the world but enough to make me want to do something about it if I can.

martinsurrey

gonthemicrobe wrote: »

Got the screen shots. Quite a few of the cars are at the same address as the one I went to.

It was a different address from V5 but I got some fairly detailed story about how he was selling for his cousin and I needed a car asap so went with it. Idiot!

I've got screenshots of plenty of the ads now. It's £1500 so not the end of the world but enough to make me want to do something about it if I can.

And as an aside, just proving it was a deliberate cover up isn't enough, you need to prove that it was a deliberate cover up BY THE SELLER, or that he should have known.

This car passed all your checks on the day, you knew the seller didn't have the car for long (selling on behalf of someone else), and that you agreed it looked good for its age.

going to be tough to prove who did what when, which is what you need to do

gonthemicrobe

Yeah the whole thing is full of potential loopholes. Tbh I don't expect there's any chance of me getting my money back, but given the evidence I have of what the guy is upto I think I should still contact HMRC and the police. Not sure how much they'll actually do though.

neilmcl

martinsurrey wrote: »

And as an aside, just proving it was a deliberate cover up isn't enough, you need to prove that it was a deliberate cover up BY THE SELLER, or that he should have known.

This car passed all your checks on the day, you knew the seller didn't have the car for long (selling on behalf of someone else), and that you agreed it looked good for its age.

going to be tough to prove who did what when, which is what you need to do

That would be the case if he was a private seller but I think it's been established that he's in fact a trader in which case the whole satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose, not to mention selling a car that's potentially unroadworthy, comes into play.

OP, I think you've got a strong case here. I'd advise getting your diagnosis done by VW the armed with all your evidence fire off a LBA outlining that you are rejecting the car for a full refund.

The big problem I see is if it goes to court and goes in your favour, and I don't see why not, getting the money out of him might prove problematic. Hopefully it wont come to this.

hollie.weimeraner

gonthemicrobe wrote: »

Yeah the whole thing is full of potential loopholes. Tbh I don't expect there's any chance of me getting my money back, but given the evidence I have of what the guy is upto I think I should still contact HMRC and the police. Not sure how much they'll actually do though.

Trading standards as well may be interested

neilmcl

gonthemicrobe wrote: »

Yeah the whole thing is full of potential loopholes. Tbh I don't expect there's any chance of me getting my money back, but given the evidence I have of what the guy is upto I think I should still contact HMRC and the police. Not sure how much they'll actually do though.

The police wont do anything, this is a civil matter. I'd leave off HMRC for the time being. As above, trading standards and your local council might be interested.

AdrianC

There's really only one course of action. If he won't refund under his Consumer Rights Act obligations, then you will need to take him to court for the return of your money.

You need to immediately make the car unavailable for your use - physically return it to him.

Your biggest show-stopper, though, is that you need to bear in mind that the expectations for a £1,500 car are very, very low legally. Descriptions such as "immaculate" and "showroom condition" are very subjective - they could easily be determined to refer solely to the cosmetic appearance, and you agreed with them in that respect. "Always serviced and looked after" - no opinion on how well that work has been carried out, of course, and I presume you were provided copies of service history/invoices to back that up...? You asked for faults, he said "none known" - you are alleging he's a trader, so can you prove that he did know? His inevitable response will be that the previous owner must have been responsible. You have no appeal against the MOT if it was longer than 14 days ago.

Do you even know for sure that your mechanic isn't spinning you a line to up-sell you massively? A VW main dealer is inevitably going to rubbish any car of this kind of age and value - no matter how good it may actually be. They are specialists in new and near-new vehicles, not cars that are inevitably near to the end of their service life.

You have no way of knowing whether he is paying tax or not, so there's no point in contacting HMRC. He has not done anything criminal, so there's no point in contacting the police.

AndyMc.....

gonthemicrobe wrote: »

Yeah the whole thing is full of potential loopholes. Tbh I don't expect there's any chance of me getting my money back, but given the evidence I have of what the guy is upto I think I should still contact HMRC and the police. Not sure how much they'll actually do though.

You could try the Citizens Advice Bureau and see if they are willing to pass it onto Trading Standards for you.

Until you have evidence that he has sold you an unroadworthy vehicle there's no point going to the Police as you'll be told it's a civil matter. You'll need evidence of a criminal offence before involving them.

gonthemicrobe

It wasn't a VW main dealer, just an independent that specialises in Volkswagens. His initial response was "take it back to the seller" so he didn't seem to be upselling, but I'm taking it to another garage today for a second opinion.

In terms of whether he's done anything illegal it does seem to be breaking the law to pose as a private seller when in fact you are a motor trader, as does mIs-representing a vehicle in adverts. Proving the second one will always be tricky though for the reasons you mention.