Mis-sold ex rental?

MCRMisty

Hi

I've recently purchased an Approved Used Mercedes. The vehicle is less than a year old and described as having had 1 previous owner. However, we've since discovered that the car is actually an ex hire car, having found documentation in the glove box and after receiving the V5C which obviously names the previous owner.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had/heard of any success following up mis-selling complaints about this. A Google search leads to some news articles and a blog (usedcarscandal.co.uk) which offers to help people in this scenario - I'm not 100% comfortable filling out the form on this website and giving my details to a legal firm if it's something I can tackle myself.

Any help would be appreciated :beer:

I should clarify - I'm talking about an ex-hire car (Hertz/Avis/Europcar), not one that was previosuly on PCP.

DUTR

It was one owner though.

Crabman

They should have disclosed it to you.

Are you happy to keep the vehicle if they make a 'goodwill gesture' to reduce the cost, or do you want to return the vehicle for a refund?

facade

It wasn't mis-sold, the car has had one previous owner (the hire company).

It may well have had many hundreds of previous drivers, but no-one, yourself included, said anything about that. It may also have been leased/hired to a single person, which is effectively the same as if someone bought it for cash, and then traded it in after 6 months at a huge loss.

Unless the seller said (in writing, so that you can prove it) that it wasn't a hire car you have nothing to complain about I'm afraid.

Manxman_in_exile

MCRMisty wrote: »

Hi

I've recently purchased an Approved Used Mercedes. The vehicle is less than a year old and described as having had 1 previous owner. However, we've since discovered that the car is actually an ex hire car, having found documentation in the glove box and after receiving the V5C which obviously names the previous owner.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had/heard of any success following up mis-selling complaints about this. A Google search leads to some news articles and a blog (usedcarscandal.co.uk) which offers to help people in this scenario - I'm not 100% comfortable filling out the form on this website and giving my details to a legal firm if it's something I can tackle myself.

Any help would be appreciated :beer:

How do you know who the previous owner was? Registered keeper on the V5 is not necessarily the owner. Was it something like "Mercedes Finance"? How do you know how many people have driven it?


It's an "Approved" Mercedes. I'd be interested to know if that means nothing...

motorguy

MCRMisty wrote: »

Hi

I've recently purchased an Approved Used Mercedes. The vehicle is less than a year old and described as having had 1 previous owner. However, we've since discovered that the car is actually an ex hire car, having found documentation in the glove box and after receiving the V5C which obviously names the previous owner.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had/heard of any success following up mis-selling complaints about this. A Google search leads to some news articles and a blog (usedcarscandal.co.uk) which offers to help people in this scenario - I'm not 100% comfortable filling out the form on this website and giving my details to a legal firm if it's something I can tackle myself.

Any help would be appreciated :beer:

So wheres the mis-selling? You were sold a car with one previous owner, werent you?

Herzlos

It was probably a pretty expensive hire. Is it in good condition? Auto gear box? Mileage?

If you're worried about ex rental cars, avoid 1 year old cars with 10-15k on them. Very few private or business buyers will trade it in that young.

waamo

This exact question with mention of the website that claims to "help" with this crops up ever couple of weeks.

George_Michael

facade wrote: »

Unless the seller said (in writing, so that you can prove it) that it wasn't a hire car you have nothing to complain about I'm afraid.

It's not a case of what the seller stated but what they didn't state.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations state that a trader is not allowed to make omissions of information if that information may cause an average consumer to make a different decision regarding purchasing the goods in question and there are a fair few people who wouldn't want to buy ex hire vehicles.

daveyjp

Assuming this isn!!!8217;t spam as a website is linked to, OP how else do you think nearly new cars clock up the miles?

We currently have an MB loan car. Its only done 1200 miles, but I!!!8217;ve found paperwork for 3 different drivers in the car. It is in effect a hire car.

In 6 months it will be for sale, all the adverts currently plastered on it will have gone and it will show one previous owner, but dozens of people will have driven it.

facade

George_Michael wrote: »

It's not a case of what the seller stated but what they didn't state.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations state that a trader is not allowed to make omissions of information if that information may cause an average consumer to make a different decision regarding purchasing the goods in question and there are a fair few people who wouldn't want to buy ex hire vehicles.

As pretty much every car on the market at 3 years old or under is an ex PCP hire or lease vehicle, surely the average consumer should expect it to be the case without a statement, and if they explicitly don't want a car that has been the subject of a hire agreement (good luck finding one, I suppose that only leaves the legendary "pre-reg" dealer stock) they should ask the question before they buy it.

Remember, there is "hire" as in hired to a single person (PCP, Lease etc.)
and "hire" as in Avis where it is hired to hundreds of people who mercilessly thrash it as it isn't theirs.
If dealers had to put "ex-hire" stickers on every car, they would end up having to explain at great length each time what "hire" means.

I agree you wouldn't want an ex Avis type hire car, but I doubt if an approved used Mercedes would be one anyway.