Section 75 for a used van that was not as described

Carnegie95

Hello,

I bought a used van from a trader on the 26/09/20, in the adverts description it stated ‘Full Volkswagen Service History’. I asked him about this service history when I viewed the van and he advised It was all done digitally so I would have to register to Volkswagen’s website to access this. I stupidly took his word for it and I won't be making this mistake again!

I bought the van for £6450 in total and paid £1000 using my HSBC credit card and the rest by bank transfer. The next week I got in contact with Volkswagen and they only had record of it being serviced twice in the last 6 years. The van has done 215000 miles so should have been serviced more than this. I got back into contact with the trader to ask if he knew of any other service history and he advised there was defiantly full service history and told me he will send me over the details (he never did) I asked him again and he told me he had to email the company who dealt with it. He kept making excuses for the next couple of weeks and now is not responding. 

I have now asked him for a partial refund of £1500 as it does not have full service history and I have overpaid for the van. He is refusing. I tried to raise this with HSBC as a section 75 claim to get the £1000 deposit back I paid but they are refusing to go ahead with the claim unless I ask to return the van for a full refund which I’m not willing to do as I have since done work on the van and spent money on it, I have insured it, I also spent money putting fuel in there. He is based in Bradford and I’m based in Portsmouth so I spent a lot of money on fuel going up and back again and I would have to spend this again to get it back to return it to him. So I would be loosing money (roughly over £1000) if I returned the van to him for a refund and do not wish to do this. 

Do I have to ask to return the van for a full refund in this situation or is this just HSBC being difficult?

Any advise you can give will be helpful and apologies for the lengthy post!

jonesMUFCforever

1 Is there anything wrong with the vehicle?
2 You were advised to check the digital service history but you did not do so?
3 How do you come to the refund request amount - have you just picked up a figure from thin air?
4 You must have seen how many miles were on the van - was the price higher than other vehicles of the same nature?
5 Are you for real wanting the refund and keep the vehicle??
6 You chose to deal with this trader so the distance to return the vehicle is of no consequence now.
7 I hope that you are not one of those nasty spammers we are being warned about on the top of each thread!!

Your chances of getting anything back under s 75 - absolute zero.

whitesmith

Your best course of action may be to contact the van company and say that the credit card company have indicated they will refund you in full if you return the van

This may concentrate the minds of the van company to addressing your concerns and maybe offering a partial refund

Your other course of action of course would be to return the van and claim the total cost of the van from the credit card company but this would not include any incidental expenses you have paid since you had the van

Carnegie95

1. The problem with the vehicle is it is not as described. it was was advertised to have full Service history with Volkswagen but this is not the case. 

2. I was asking to see the service history and he advised me when I buy the van I have to register it with Volkswagen to see this. (I should have run a mile I know)

3. I have since had the van valued at £5385 and a full service will cost me around £300 with Volkswagen so no, not picked out of thin air.

4.Yes the milage is high but as I thought I was buying a van with full service history I was under the impression the engine had been looked after i.e oil changed every 18,000 miles etc so was worth this

5. Yes I am 'for real' since purchasing the van I have paid to have work done on it. I am not asking for a full refund just the money back I have lost with the missing service history plus the cost of a full service.

6. Yes but a distance I am not willing to travel again to give the van back due to fuel cost as this issue has been caused by his false advertising.

7. No, I am just a genuine person asking for advice. 

Thanks

whitesmith

You are asking for consequential loss and in general that is not provided by section 75

eskbanker

Carnegie95 said:

3. I have since had the van valued at £5385 and a full service will cost me around £300 with Volkswagen so no, not picked out of thin air.

But what did the valuer say it would actually be worth with a full service history?  If they said £6450 then your maths could nearly stack up but I suspect it would only add a few hundred quid - bear in mind that neither section 75 nor anything else protects you against paying over the odds for something as such, but if you can directly and supportably quantify a variance due to some deception then that's different.

D3xt3r5L4b

You can check MOT history online and some places allow for online checking of service history. 

jonesMUFCforever

I'm thinking the van to do 215,000 miles it must have been serviced but not by Volkswagen - perhaps by back street garages. Did they state that the service history was 100% undertaken by VW ?
IMO and I'm not a mechanic or car salesperson but a service history is no where near worth a grand with such a high mileage vehicle.
I will ask again - is there anything wrong with the vehicle?

Your replies have not changed mine - as it stands you will get nowt.