taking private car seller to small claim court

Mimi18

Hi
I need some advice please, I bought my first ever car in April bank holiday, its Vauxhall Corsa 2003, it was a private sale, my husband checked the car(but he is not a mechanic) and asked the questions and he asked if the car was roadworthy as it was an old car and we know its not perfect but not wanting to drive unlawfully in road, the MOT is due in November 2019, the seller said nothing wrong, he drove the car to our driveway as it was not taxed yet on my name ( i could not drive it away) when our mechanic opened after bank holiday I taxed and insured the car and my husband drove it to the garage, our mechanic said the car is not roadworthy and should not have passed the MOT and it not worth fixing it as its rusty and anything you try to fix it will break. my husband contacted the seller and told him we want to return the car as it was mis-sold to us, he declined first but when we informed him we will report him to dvla he accpeted, in total, the car stayed with us for 5 days. I took photos of advert and have both written contract of the sale and return, I taxed the car for the full year using new keeper slip, I asked for refund from DVLA who informed me that the seller never reported the sale so they can't refund me till I fill up form V62 which asked for VIN of the car, and I don't have it cause we returned the car with all paper including the new keeper slip (by mistake)
my question is if we ask the seller for our tax refund and he declines, is it worth to take him to small claim court, using the photos I have from the advert, the written contract and the receipt of car tax payment?
it's stressing me out as it was me who wanted the car even though my husband was not keen on it, he said he felt the seller was a trade and not private who was opertaing from his house.

Aylesbury_Duck

Mimi18 wrote: »

Hi
I need some advice please, I bought my first ever car in April bank holiday, its Vauxhall Corsa 2003, it was a private sale, my husband checked the car(but he is not a mechanic) and asked the questions and he asked if the car was roadworthy as it was an old car and we know its not perfect but not wanting to drive unlawfully in road, the MOT is due in November 2019, the seller said nothing wrong, he drove the car to our driveway as it was not taxed yet on my name ( i could not drive it away) when our mechanic opened after bank holiday I taxed and insured the car and my husband drove it to the garage, our mechanic said the car is not roadworthy and should not have passed the MOT and it not worth fixing it as its rusty and anything you try to fix it will break. my husband contacted the seller and told him we want to return the car as it was mis-sold to us, he declined first but when we informed him we will report him to dvla he accpeted, in total, the car stayed with us for 5 days. I took photos of advert and have both written contract of the sale and return, I taxed the car for the full year using new keeper slip, I asked for refund from DVLA who informed me that the seller never reported the sale so they can't refund me till I fill up form V62 which asked for VIN of the car, and I don't have it cause we returned the car with all paper including the new keeper slip (by mistake)
my question is if we ask the seller for our tax refund and he declines, is it worth to take him to small claim court, using the photos I have from the advert, the written contract and the receipt of car tax payment?
it's stressing me out as it was me who wanted the car even though my husband was not keen on it, he said he felt the seller was a trade and not private who was opertaing from his house.

I don't understand how you can take the seller to court to reclaim tax. You didn't pay him the car tax so he doesn't have your money.

garth549

You'll be able to get a refund for every whole month of unused road tax, so nearly all that you paid. You can't hold him liable for this and the amount wouldn't be worth claiming for anyway.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

If you assume the seller was private then the car only needs to match the description, if it just said "car for sale" then it could be anything as long it was a car, if it said "perfect condition" and was a rust bucket you have recourse.

Did/can the garage who looked at the car give you anything in writing as proof?

If so my understanding is so you can try and claim any loses you have suffered whether that be cancelled insurance costs, travel to collect and return the car and any car tax not refunded by the DVLA.

You need to send the car seller a letter detailing what you think is owed to be paid with 14 days otherwise you will take them to small claims.

You have to mitigate your loses which means you have to do what you can to get the 11 months worth of unused tax back from the DVLA.

Might be best and less stressful to ask the seller for the VIN and put the rest down to experience.

Mimi18

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I don't understand how you can take the seller to court to reclaim tax. You didn't pay him the car tax so he doesn't have your money.

He didn't declare the sale the DVLA so they don't have my information for them to give me the refund of the £125 I paid, he is using the tax I paid for, which is not fair.

Mimi18

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

If you assume the seller was private then the car only needs to match the description, if it just said "car for sale" then it could be anything as long it was a car, if it said "perfect condition" and was a rust bucket you have recourse.

Did/can the garage who looked at the car give you anything in writing as proof?

If so my understanding is so you can try and claim any loses you have suffered whether that be cancelled insurance costs, travel to collect and return the car and any car tax not refunded by the DVLA.

You need to send the car seller a letter detailing what you think is owed to be paid with 14 days otherwise you will take them to small claims.

You have to mitigate your loses which means you have to do what you can to get the 11 months worth of unused tax back from the DVLA.

It might be best and less stressful to ask the seller for the VIN and put the rest down to experience.

Thank you
we are going to ask him later, I have a feeling he won't give us the VIN because this will add another keeper on the car logbook.
it's just this new DVLA system of tax is sometimes is unfair, £125 may not be much for some people but it is for some of us, I had to pay another £125 for the car I have now.

Mimi18

garth549 wrote: »

You'll be able to get a refund for every whole month of unused road tax, so nearly all that you paid. You can't hold him liable for this and the amount wouldn't be worth claiming for anyway.

I can't claim back the money as he did not declare the sale and I'm not registered on the logbook.

MovingForwards

You can claim the tax back from the DVLA, there is a form you fill in, send it and a covering letter to the DVLA explains what happened, they transfer the car to you, issue a refund for unused months, less £25 for the V5 and destroy the V5.

It's the only way they can do it.

MovingForwards

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014951/dvla-being-awkward-about-ved-refund&highlight=v5

That's a thread about it.

Mimi18

MovingForwards wrote: »

You can claim the tax back from the DVLA, there is a form you fill in, send it and a covering letter to the DVLA explains what happened, they transfer the car to you, issue a refund for unused months, less £25 for the V5 and destroy the V5.

It's the only way they can do it.

I got the form but it asks for VIN of the car which I don't have

Aylesbury_Duck

Obvious question: have you asked the seller to tell you the VIN? It would solve all your problems.