taken to the cleaners a while back...
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How much money are we talking about?
And as important as that are they still trading and have you confirmed the vehicle was sold to you by a sole trader or a company0 -
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You'll struggle to get anywhere from a criminal perspective. A bailee (as they were) can follow a set procedure then dispose of goods, they can then deduct their losses and return the remaining balance. That will be their argument.
However this may not hold ground if it can be demonstrated they wrongfully withheld the goods and/or breached the contract.
In this case you are arguing the goods was faulty, thus breached sales of goods act (as it was at the time), they dispute this claim.
The police would see it as a civil matter.
You'd need to go to court for a resolution if one cannot be reached now. You'd need to demonstrate your case that the vehicle did not comply with the contract (including terms iimposed by law at the time regarding their fitness for purpose and quality). A court would seek for you to demonstrate your case adequately, they would though I suspect seek to quantify their losses in the event the court sided with the seller as well as consider the evidence to the contrary the seller may offer.
The time lapsed shouldn't be relevant in terms of the seller justifying their losses but may complicate things if any party argued their vehicle report was disposed off due to the time lapsed and I suspect witness statements would offer little value.
You may or may not win but even if you don't win you may get an award if they didn't mitigate their losses and if they cannot justify the losses they are claiming you caused them.
Thank you for the reply, it was very helpful!
Breach of contract law is clear as daylight so no worry there. I also have two copies of 'inspection' reports so they can't claim they've lost them. On the final one they admit that the windscreen was sold damaged and was replaced with a new one (apparently) upon second inspection.
So far so good, looks like I might have something to go on, I will need some help however. Should I go straight to the small claims? I did tell them this back then but they couldn't have cared less.
Regarding the police, if they did sell instead of dispose, is that not criminal? (without log book and or more importantly consent from legal owner?)
thanks again0 -
No not criminal.. police will tell you it's a civil dispute.
Write a letter before action0 -
No not criminal.. police will tell you it's a civil dispute.
Write a letter before action
Any specific template to go by? All help here would be useful as they genuinely fobbed me off many times in the past.
As I already have given them notice that I would have taken court action back then, is that not enough just to go ahead and do so? They ignored it then anyway.0 -
Any specific template to go by? All help here would be useful as they genuinely fobbed me off many times in the past.
As I already have given them notice that I would have taken court action back then, is that not enough just to go ahead and do so? They ignored it then anyway.
A Letter Before Action is a legal document setting out what you want when you want it and how it can be handled or you will take legal action.
Mentioning legal action in an otherwise normal email is not an LBO. The LBO gives the other side a chance to rectify the issues to avoid court. If not supplied a judge would not look favourably on this as you have not tried everything to sort it out before involving the court.
Search LBO template and you should find examples.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/going-to-court/taking-court-action/step-one-write-a-letter-before-action/0 -
Thanks, just one last thing to ask as this seems important.
What if whilst abroad they applied for bailment and got a court order to dispose of the vehicle. If this did happen, and failed to disclose to the court at the time the full evidence, including inspection reports, plus signed agreements etc before hand and the court proceeded with only what was supplied to them, can this be reversed if I then present evidence that shows they intentionally held back this information? (and can they get done for it?)
Don't forget by this time they would have known I was no longer in the country, as I did inform their solicitors this, I also specified that I wish to kept informed/intouch via email until stated otherwise, so they would have known I wouldn't have received any paperwork from the courts - what would happened if they failed to disclose this to the court, etc?0 -
A Letter Before Action is a legal document setting out what you want when you want it and how it can be handled or you will take legal action.
Mentioning legal action in an otherwise normal email is not an LBO. The LBO gives the other side a chance to rectify the issues to avoid court. If not supplied a judge would not look favourably on this as you have not tried everything to sort it out before involving the court.
Search LBO template and you should find examples.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/taking-legal-action/small-claims/going-to-court/taking-court-action/step-one-write-a-letter-before-action/
You'll find more relevant examples if you use LBA:o0 -
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You missed the other part about consent. It is true a log book is only a registered keepers document however consent is needed from the legal owner before hand, written or verbal it doesn't matter.
Under what legislation?
AFAIK all that is needed or a change of keeper to be legal is the consent of the current keeper, who by definition is not necessarily the owner.0
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