Purchased car from private seller. Seeking damages

DoaM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5929154/private-car-seller-misrepresented-car

OP has also posted about the same thing in Consumer Rights. Per the forum rules, the OP is a spammer ... 3 posts, all 2 new threads, all both with the same (or almost the same) text.

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

If you get the car repaired, then there is no provable leak. All you have is the word of a garage who you have hired, against the word of the seller.

Surely you have absolute proof, once you have a receipt for the car having had two oil leaks repaired, from the BMW garage.

Its not like a judge is going to come out to the car park and otherwise look underneath the car for an oil leak?

Ultimately, the O/P needs to structure it as

• Letter before action - either refund on the car and take it back OR pay the estimate by way of part refund within 14 days. Consequences of not replying will be i will get the work done and take you to court for the cost
• Take the person to court if they dont pay.

Will it succeed? Dont know. In theory it should - the seller said it had no oil leaks and it had. Will it though? Who knows.

AdrianC

motorguy wrote: »

Surely you have absolute proof, once you have a receipt for the car having had two oil leaks repaired, from the BMW garage.

Is it even remotely reasonable to expect the vendor to pay for BMW main dealer rates on an older used car?

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Is it even remotely reasonable to expect the vendor to pay for BMW main dealer rates on an older used car?

Depends on the age of the car. Probably not, if its more than a few years old.

Irrespective though, a receipt from a reputable garage with the date, the reg and details of the work carried out would be evidence of it having had a leak and it needing resolved.

Nobbie1967

If I look at the underside of my engine I can see it has an oil leak from the cam cover, but it doesn't require top ups of oil and doesn't leave drops on the drive, so if I didn't crawl underneath it I wouldn't know. Quite plausible that the seller didn't realise that there was a minor leak. If they knew, why give you comeback by stating 'no oil leaks'

I'd get quotes for each leak. The P/S needs fixing, but a minor oil leak may just need to be monitored and only fixed if it's actually dropping oil.

AdrianC

Nobbie1967 wrote: »

If I look at the underside of my engine I can see it has an oil leak from the cam cover, but it doesn't require top ups of oil and doesn't leave drops on the drive, so if I didn't crawl underneath it I wouldn't know. Quite plausible that the seller didn't realise that there was a minor leak. If they knew, why give you comeback by stating 'no oil leaks'

In addition to that, the engines on a couple of mine are filthy with oil. It doesn't have a leak. It has had a leak in the past, but that's long since been fixed.

One was a £4 rocker cover gasket. The other was a <£10 breather hose. But I'm also needing to pull the engine out of another one of the fleet to replace the rear crank main seal...

Gmrides

Car was manufactured in 2003.

Upon viewing the car in the dark I peered into the top of the engine but didn't climb beneath. I'm not a mechanic so relied on the ebay statement and his verbal assurances upon viewing. Can a major oil leak coming from beneath the engine be clearly spotted from above a Mini engine?

I believe the false statement in his ebay advert - "NO oil leaks" - at worse falls under the "Negligent Misrepresentation" of the Misrepresentation Act 1967.

Thanks for your input.

k3lvc

Gmrides wrote: »

Car was manufactured in 2003.

Upon viewing the car in the dark I peered into the top of the engine but didn't climb beneath. I'm not a mechanic so relied on the ebay statement and his verbal assurances upon viewing. Can a major oil leak coming from beneath the engine be clearly spotted from above a Mini engine?

I believe the false statement in his ebay advert - "NO oil leaks" - at worse falls under the "Negligent Misrepresentation" of the Misrepresentation Act 1967.

Thanks for your input.

If no oil leak was such a major requirement from you then you also had a duty to check for yourself. Unless gravity has changed recently then oil drips down so looking from the top of the engine will achieve nothing whereas rolling the car back a few feet and looking on the road/driveway will tell you immediately (especially if it's such a major leak as you suggest).


Good luck in your mission but the chance of redress on a 2003 car which you've then taken to a Mini main dealer for a health check are slim to none

AdrianC

Gmrides wrote: »

Car was manufactured in 2003.

So we're talking about a fifteen year old car...


Give it up. Nothing is happening.

foxy-stoat

How much did you pay for the car and did it have full service history - and what part will need replacing to fix the oil leaks?

Mind you the expectations from a 15 year old car will not be the same as a new one.....I would expect a car of this age NOT to be leak free and the purchaser should not be negligent in their inspection.