CCJ against car garage

Manchesterlad87

Hello,
After a bit of advice.
We bought a car for £5.5k from a garage in October and after 7 weeks it broke down needing a new engine. This cost £2,300 to repair and was needed as we were expecting our first child. 
I spoke to citizens advice and followed their advised procedures of trying to speak to the garage, sending letters etc. but had no joy. In the end we went through small claims court (spending more money) and they have just ruled in our favour. 
Can anyone please advise what will happen if the garage continue to ignore the requests for the money back? Can they just 'start a new business' and change the name slightly? 
What is our best course of action? I have a feeling they will just ignore so just trying to get one step ahead.

Many thanks.

tacpot12

Have a look here: Make a court claim for money: Enforce a judgment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
They can start a new company or partnership, sell the existing stock to it and wind up the old business. Unless you can enforce judgement on the old business while it still has money, you will not be able to get your money back. I would consider using the High Court to enforce the judgement.

I feel there is more that the government could do with legislation in this area to stop traders being able to avoid their debts. 

George_Michael

How did you pay for the car?
Was any part of it by way of credit card or finance?

Manchesterlad87

Thanks for the replies.
Will High Court be an expensive route and will it offer a good chance of winning?
The car was paid for in full by a BACS transfer.

williamgriffin

Manchesterlad87 said:

Thanks for the replies.
Will High Court be an expensive route and will it offer a good chance of winning?
The car was paid for in full by a BACS transfer.

The High Court is for enforcement, it's about recovering your money not winning. 

tacpot12

The High Court costs should be no more than £156. If the High Court Enforcement Officers are successful in recovering goods from the debtor, £90 of this fee is paid by the debtor. 

As per williamgriffin's post, these fees are payable after you have a County Court Judgement against the debtor, which is sounds like you have. The High Court Enforcement Officers seem to have good success rates as they can seize goods of the business, and can force entry to business premises. 

Ectophile

The main thing is that you have to get the enforcement officers in to the company to seize goods before they close down the company and replace it with a different one.

mobileron

Go to youtube and watch the sheriffs are coming you will know what to do then.

mattyprice4004

The problem is they can contest the judgement too - did you give them a chance to repair the car before having it done elsewhere?

Manchesterlad87

mattyprice4004 said:

The problem is they can contest the judgement too - did you give them a chance to repair the car before having it done elsewhere?

Yes we sent letters and gave them 21 days notice before we had any work carried out. The car broke down 6 days before my missus gave birth so we needed it sorting ASAP. 

George_Michael

Did the garage make any representation regarding the court action or did the simply ignore?