did my car dealer sell me a car without telling me it had been in a accident

loobieloo18

story from the beginning cactus c4 purchased nov  2019 1800 mile on the clock told 1 previuos owner older couple who bought the car but sadly the husband became to ill to drive, so perfectly understandable the dealership bought it bk as the husband had been a customer for years so lovely tidy car, when i showed interest in the car i asked if i could get it mot'd for 12months she said flat out no as it came under the manufactures warranty till march 2020 but they would extend the warranty till may 2020, it came to march the lockdown month and my car had to be mot'd as it fell outside the covid extension, when taking the car back to the dealership for the mot it FAILED on the nearside light casing the mounting was broken very odd as no sign of any damage  the manager came and explained it looks like it must have been hit to have caused the damage and i was shocked because as i said no sign of a accident, i had just signed up for nhs volunteers so i needed my car , i thought i would take to another garage rightly / wrongly i did not point out the headlight and this wasnt picked up, so i had my mot and was able to do my volunteering, move on a year later i took it bk to the dealership as i get free mot as paid £200 care package when i bought the car, same issue light so i except that i cant prove the damage wasnt from a accident, collect my car with no other issues other than this and this is to fixed nxt week only to drive 400yrds up the rd and the bonnet flies up omg causing damage to bonnet,bonnet arms and rubber seals, i took it straight bk to the garage the guy i spoke to was trying to be nice but plainly not happy had a look said main catch was sticking (mot check?)  just hope they fix and check for damage how does it stand for me as other issues i have since found? appriciate advice

KimJongUn88

Yes the dealer could have sold you a car that had been in an accident without telling you and there is nothing wrong with that as long as it isn't categorised. Did you ask them whether the car had been in an accident at the time of sale and what did they say?

loobieloo18

thanks well i  asked about the history of the car so at that time i would expect to have been told yes but not caterized, the issue i have now is that from original pictures the damage to the light casing  would have more likely been caused by that damage and came under the warranty but i wasnt aware and would have independtly got it checked knowing it had been in a accident and got it sorted earlier 

loobieloo18

sorry tadleybaggie cant read your reply

AdrianC

A headlamp mounting can easily be broken through a minor parking nudge that wouldn't leave any trace on the bodywork, or perhaps the black plastic section under the lamp was replaced.
(Early 2017, so pre-facelift?)


There's no registry of minor damage - only cars that have been written off by insurance can be identified. So, yes, perhaps it has been in a collision. There's no way you can ever know for sure - and there's no way the people who sold it you could ever know.

It's just something you have to accept when buying any used car. You can look for evidence of repairs, but absence of evidence doesn't mean it's not been bent and mended. Not even buying a brand new car is 100% certainty - some estimates have up to a third of all new cars having bodywork rectification pre-delivery.

loobieloo18

i have looked bk at my original photos prior to test driving and and you can see in the picture that there has been a repair as the corner was out of align slightly and looking closely the front trim has had a paint job but it really was hard to spot anyway i can only ask the questions when i take it for the bonnet repairs

TadleyBaggie

loobieloo18 said:

sorry tadleybaggie cant read your reply

Because there isn't one...

cymruchris

You have two separate issues - the rear lamp and the bonnet. The bonnet was likely a sticky catch, but possibly not put down properly at the last service/inspection that you had. (Did you open the bonnet at any time to fill screen wash or check your levels?)

Minor prangs don't get reported - and the dealer might not even have known about it - the original owner might have just clipped something protruding on the corner of a wall when reversing - just enough to give the lamp a bang and damage the internals, but it still looked ok on the outside. 

My dad reversed into a concrete post cracking the paint on his bumper, even though he had sensors and a reversing camera, the bumper lower section was replaced and resprayed. I know it's been done, I can see where it's been done, but your average person in the street would probably not spot it. It didn't get recorded anywhere. As he's now passed away, the only person that knows that it's had a repair is me (and possibly the body shop record). 

When I sell the car on, even though I know it's had a very minor prang - I won't mention it - as I know the repair has been completed to a good standard, and an original manufacturers part was used to replace the item that had the bang. It would be different if it had been in a major accident, it would be recorded on various databases, and you'd have a hard job hiding the fact. Many, many, many brand new cars have bodywork repairs even before they roll off the forecourt, but you wouldn't know it. 

AdrianC

cymruchris said:

It would be different if it had been in a major accident, it would be recorded on various databases, and you'd have a hard job hiding the fact.

Only if it was written off. If it was repaired by insurance, it's unrecorded.

jimjames

KimJongUn88 said:

Yes the dealer could have sold you a car that had been in an accident without telling you and there is nothing wrong with that as long as it isn't categorised. Did you ask them whether the car had been in an accident at the time of sale and what did they say?

How would the dealer even know if the car had been in an accident?

loobieloo18

cymruchris said:

You have two separate issues - the rear lamp and the bonnet. The bonnet was likely a sticky catch, but possibly not put down properly at the last service/inspection that you had. (Did you open the bonnet at any time to fill screen wash or check your levels?)

Minor prangs don't get reported - and the dealer might not even have known about it - the original owner might have just clipped something protruding on the corner of a wall when reversing - just enough to give the lamp a bang and damage the internals, but it still looked ok on the outside. 

My dad reversed into a concrete post cracking the paint on his bumper, even though he had sensors and a reversing camera, the bumper lower section was replaced and resprayed. I know it's been done, I can see where it's been done, but your average person in the street would probably not spot it. It didn't get recorded anywhere. As he's now passed away, the only person that knows that it's had a repair is me (and possibly the body shop record). 

When I sell the car on, even though I know it's had a very minor prang - I won't mention it - as I know the repair has been completed to a good standard, and an original manufacturers part was used to replace the item that had the bang. It would be different if it had been in a major accident, it would be recorded on various databases, and you'd have a hard job hiding the fact. Many, many, many brand new cars have bodywork repairs even before they roll off the forecourt, but you wouldn't know it. 

the  bonnet damage was 99.9% the garage as i had just had it mot'd and had driven a minute away when it flew open, sticky catch should have been picked up on mot?