Taking a used car trader to small claims for misrepresentation. Defendant is stalling!

vickyr74

Hi, I am new to all this so please bare with! Looking for some advice if anyone can help before I get legal advice! So, long story short, I purchased a used car in April over the phone from a used car trader. Was advertised as FSH and 6 month warranty. When car was delivered service records stated it hadn’t been serviced for 30,000 miles! The coil spring was broken and had no pads on the brakes! So after trying to work with the trader to get it sorted I now have to take him to court.  I have done extensive research on the guy and he is a real horror! (I know the horse has already bolted so to speak) He requested the extra 2 weeks from the court! Now is saying that he is unavailable to attend a court hearing for 9 months! The business is in his partners name, she is pregnant and it will cause stress on the baby!!! I am now wondering what happens next? Anyone have any experience of weather the court will grant this? Do consumers really have any rights against these people?! To add insult to injury he has lied his butt off in his statement! Which I am not too concerned about as Can get evidence to prove he is lying!  I have reported to citizens advice, trading standards, Action Fraud, companies house, motor ombudsman and any other governing body I can find because he has been doing this for 10 years or more! Thank you in advance.

molerat

You will have to wait for the courts to do their thing.  If the court accepts their excuses not a lot you can do to hurry things along.  Who are you actually taking to court - individual, ltd company ?  Who did you actually but the car from - him, his wife, ltd company or other entity ?

Aylesbury_Duck

vickyr74 said:

Hi, I am new to all this so please bare with! Looking for some advice if anyone can help before I get legal advice! So, long story short, I purchased a used car in April over the phone from a used car trader. Was advertised as FSH and 6 month warranty. When car was delivered service records stated it hadn’t been serviced for 30,000 miles! The coil spring was broken and had no pads on the brakes! So after trying to work with the trader to get it sorted I now have to take him to court.  I have done extensive research on the guy and he is a real horror! (I know the horse has already bolted so to speak) He requested the extra 2 weeks from the court! Now is saying that he is unavailable to attend a court hearing for 9 months! The business is in his partners name, she is pregnant and it will cause stress on the baby!!! I am now wondering what happens next? Anyone have any experience of weather the court will grant this? Do consumers really have any rights against these people?! To add insult to injury he has lied his butt off in his statement! Which I am not too concerned about as Can get evidence to prove he is lying!  I have reported to citizens advice, trading standards, Action Fraud, companies house, motor ombudsman and any other governing body I can find because he has been doing this for 10 years or more! Thank you in advance.

There's an MSE article just asking to be written about buying used cars.  The number of these types of threads where people buy cars without ever seeing them, often buying from miles away as well, is evidence of a problem. Two today on this sub-forum alone.  Why on earth do people part with thousands of pounds having never seen the vehicle, let alone had a chance to drive it or at least be in it when it's driven? 

vickyr74

molerat said:

You will have to wait for the courts to do their thing.  If the court accepts their excuses not a lot you can do to hurry things along.  Who are you actually taking to court - individual, ltd company ?  Who did you actually but the car from - him, his wife, ltd company or other entity ?

Thank you for your reply without judgement. It isn’t easy admitting you’ve made a huge mistake! So thank you.  The car trader is a public limited company.

vickyr74

I appreciate your comment.  Maybe it isn’t the consumer that is the problem! Is it too much to ask that human beings are honest and not try to take other peoples hard earned cash in times of extreme difficulty! Or is it too much to ask that the English law allows people with no integrity to take advantage .  Maybe the consumer rights act needs to work more for consumers.  All we have done is purchase an item that was for sale during Covid. 

Aylesbury_Duck

vickyr74 said:

I appreciate your comment.  Maybe it isn’t the consumer that is the problem! Is it too much to ask that human beings are honest and not try to take other peoples hard earned cash in times of extreme difficulty! Or is it too much to ask that the English law allows people with no integrity to take advantage .  Maybe the consumer rights act needs to work more for consumers.  All we have done is purchase an item that was for sale during Covid. 

I think the law does work for consumers, generally.  You should get the verdict you deserve, because the seller in this case hasn't kept to the contract, and although he's mucking you around, I'm confident you will win eventually.  The problem I suspect you will face is that though you will probably win in court, I suspect he is a seasoned enough operator to ensure he won't be paying you any money.

Covid and hard times aside, when the value of the item you want to buy rises, so should the amount of due diligence you put in.  There are literally thousands of used cars for sale, and I suspect that unless the one you bought is a particularly rare model, there were hundreds or at least tens of them available in locations where you needn't have purchased over the phone.

MalMonroe

How did you pay? If by credit card, then you could possibly use Section 75 to recoup your losses.

More info here - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

I don't know how that would fit in with a court case that's already been started though. I honestly don't see how this trader's pregnant partner's condition has anything whatsoever to do with him ripping you off - that really is clutching at straws. What about your condition, having your money stolen by a con artist?? He didn't care about how his actions would affect you, did he? Let's hope the court sees him for what he is.

A few years ago I was similarly ripped off by someone selling me a car that was not fit for purpose (cars have to be fit for purpose) and it took a while but I DID get my money back through Section 75. Plus some compensation too for the length of time it took the credit card company to act. We all make mistakes and we all trust people we shouldn't and I agree with you that people on this forum are being judgemental and blaming you, the victim, when it is not your fault. 

You say you have reported this to Citizens Advice but you can also get some valuable help and advice from them about situations such as this, too. Why not contact them again and see what they can do to help, especially in connection with Section 75. If applicable. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

MalMonroe

Aylesbury_Duck said:

vickyr74 said:

Hi, I am new to all this so please bare with! Looking for some advice if anyone can help before I get legal advice! So, long story short, I purchased a used car in April over the phone from a used car trader. Was advertised as FSH and 6 month warranty. When car was delivered service records stated it hadn’t been serviced for 30,000 miles! The coil spring was broken and had no pads on the brakes! So after trying to work with the trader to get it sorted I now have to take him to court.  I have done extensive research on the guy and he is a real horror! (I know the horse has already bolted so to speak) He requested the extra 2 weeks from the court! Now is saying that he is unavailable to attend a court hearing for 9 months! The business is in his partners name, she is pregnant and it will cause stress on the baby!!! I am now wondering what happens next? Anyone have any experience of weather the court will grant this? Do consumers really have any rights against these people?! To add insult to injury he has lied his butt off in his statement! Which I am not too concerned about as Can get evidence to prove he is lying!  I have reported to citizens advice, trading standards, Action Fraud, companies house, motor ombudsman and any other governing body I can find because he has been doing this for 10 years or more! Thank you in advance.

There's an MSE article just asking to be written about buying used cars.  The number of these types of threads where people buy cars without ever seeing them, often buying from miles away as well, is evidence of a problem. Two today on this sub-forum alone.  Why on earth do people part with thousands of pounds having never seen the vehicle, let alone had a chance to drive it or at least be in it when it's driven? 

Maybe you could write such an article? 

Your comment isn't helpful though and serves only to make the OP feel worse about what's happened. 

Aylesbury_Duck

MalMonroe said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

vickyr74 said:

Hi, I am new to all this so please bare with! Looking for some advice if anyone can help before I get legal advice! So, long story short, I purchased a used car in April over the phone from a used car trader. Was advertised as FSH and 6 month warranty. When car was delivered service records stated it hadn’t been serviced for 30,000 miles! The coil spring was broken and had no pads on the brakes! So after trying to work with the trader to get it sorted I now have to take him to court.  I have done extensive research on the guy and he is a real horror! (I know the horse has already bolted so to speak) He requested the extra 2 weeks from the court! Now is saying that he is unavailable to attend a court hearing for 9 months! The business is in his partners name, she is pregnant and it will cause stress on the baby!!! I am now wondering what happens next? Anyone have any experience of weather the court will grant this? Do consumers really have any rights against these people?! To add insult to injury he has lied his butt off in his statement! Which I am not too concerned about as Can get evidence to prove he is lying!  I have reported to citizens advice, trading standards, Action Fraud, companies house, motor ombudsman and any other governing body I can find because he has been doing this for 10 years or more! Thank you in advance.

There's an MSE article just asking to be written about buying used cars.  The number of these types of threads where people buy cars without ever seeing them, often buying from miles away as well, is evidence of a problem. Two today on this sub-forum alone.  Why on earth do people part with thousands of pounds having never seen the vehicle, let alone had a chance to drive it or at least be in it when it's driven? 

Your comment isn't helpful though and serves only to make the OP feel worse about what's happened. 

I disagree.  Whilst not helpful to OP, it may be useful to others contemplating buying a used car.  Or are thread replies supposed to be directed towards original posters only?  If they are, then surely we should all just provide advice via personal message.

vickyr74

MalMonroe said:

How did you pay? If by credit card, then you could possibly use Section 75 to recoup your losses

I don't know how that would fit in with a court case that's already been started though. I honestly don't see how this trader's pregnant partner's condition has anything whatsoever to do with him ripping you off - that really is clutching at straws. What about your condition, having your money stolen by a con artist?? He didn't care about how his actions would affect you, did he? Let's hope the court sees him for what he is.

A few years ago I was similarly ripped off by someone selling me a car that was not fit for purpose (cars have to be fit for purpose) and it took a while but I DID get my money back through Section 75. Plus some compensation too for the length of time it took the credit card company to act. We all make mistakes and we all trust people we shouldn't and I agree with you that people on this forum are being judgemental and blaming you, the victim, when it is not your fault. 

You say you have reported this to Citizens Advice but you can also get some valuable help and advice from them about situations such as this, too. Why not contact them again and see what they can do to help, especially in connection with Section 75. If applicable. 

Thank you very much for your advice, much appreciated.  Happy to hear someone has managed to get their money back, I knew it wasn’t going to be quick or easy. Much easier to dwell on my mistakes however trying to teach my kids to never give up no matter how hard it is😁 lesson well and truly learnt.

Grumpy_chap

Aylesbury_Duck said:

There's an MSE article just asking to be written about buying used cars.  The number of these types of threads where people buy cars without ever seeing them, often buying from miles away as well, is evidence of a problem. Two today on this sub-forum alone.  Why on earth do people part with thousands of pounds having never seen the vehicle, let alone had a chance to drive it or at least be in it when it's driven? 

It does seem as though COVID has encouraged some people to do this when they would not have done so before and the timing of the on-line car dealers has been perfectly timed.

In fact, it seems as though the totally remote on-line purchase of a car is the slightly better route (because of CCR, formerly DSR) than picking a car remotely then collecting in person when the Dealer no doubt gets the final paperwork signed at collection making sure it is not a remote purchase.

Are the prices fixed when buying a car from far away, or how does the negotiation part work?