Bought a car..later found it has been in an accident…… HELP!

Grumpy_chap

I feel for the OP here, and they seem to have done reasonable due diligence before buying the car.  This does prove, though, that checks can only uncover recorded data and not all undesirable data is recorded - particularly as @Sandtree mentioned there is no register of vehicles having bodywork repair, only insurance write-off categories if applied.  On a 1 yo car (at time of purchase), a quite large event could still be well within the "affordable repair".

The OP is now concerned about driving the car, but although the hesitancy is understood, nothing stated actually establishes that the car is dangerous.  What steps is the OP taking to assess this and return themselves to at least having a useable car?

As for:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

When selling a car, traders are not allowed to mislead you by failing to disclose that the vehicle was previously damaged in an accident.  

An omission is classed as misleading if it would alter the economic activity of the average consumer (a car being in an accident would certainly fall under this) and is prohibited. 

 The whole thing about failing to disclose / misleading omissions.  There must be an element of reasonable on that so "knowingly" must be in there somewhere. 

I expect the level of checks that a garage undertakes pre-sale on used cars is very minimal to be honest - a basic fluid level check, drive round the block, almost certainly no more than a full MOT.  I also expect these checks are all about the engine and very little about the bodywork - other than whether it is good enough to photograph.  I certainly would not expect items such as "aftermarket" headlamps to ring alarm bells, especially on a BMW which is a brand often "blinged" up.



None of that helps the OP and I can't offer much given the OP clearly has high moral standards from their comments about selling and disclosing the information they now know (expect they don't really know the full details).  I wonder whether the OP has any choice other than to sell to the trade and do so by absolutely honestly answering the question asked, and to answer the actual questions (not imagined questions):

So, if the question is "has the car ever been in a total loss accident?"  answer "no, not to the best of my knowledge, the car had a clear HPI check at purchase and no event during the period of my ownership"

If the question is broader "has the car ever been in a collision?"  then answer "I purchased the car second-hand and no incidents were declared by the selling Dealer (Motorpoint) and there have been no incidents in the time of my ownership.  However, at one service, BMW mentioned the car may have been in a front-end bump as it appeared the headlamp units had been exchanged."



The OP was looking to trade the car in and the local dealer where they were looking to buy a replacement was not able to do so because of the damage. 

What I would have done at that point is to offer the car to the local Motorpoint as a "cash sale" and see what value they offered - with current used prices, that may have been similar to the trade in value on another car elsewhere.  I'd even still try that, or WBAC / Motorway, though Motorpoint may not now be compliant if they are aware and logged the issued on an internal central list.

Flight3287462

OP have you checked if its on the register of written off cars?  That would help a lot but might require a lot of digging and unfortunately previous keepers details are not on the V5c now.

But of course it may never have been reported as being in an accident

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Grumpy_chap said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

When selling a car, traders are not allowed to mislead you by failing to disclose that the vehicle was previously damaged in an accident.  

An omission is classed as misleading if it would alter the economic activity of the average consumer (a car being in an accident would certainly fall under this) and is prohibited. 

 The whole thing about failing to disclose / misleading omissions.  There must be an element of reasonable on that so "knowingly" must be in there somewhere. 

I expect the level of checks that a garage undertakes pre-sale on used cars is very minimal to be honest - a basic fluid level check, drive round the block, almost certainly no more than a full MOT.  I also expect these checks are all about the engine and very little about the bodywork - other than whether it is good enough to photograph.  I certainly would not expect items such as "aftermarket" headlamps to ring alarm bells, especially on a BMW which is a brand often "blinged" up.

All good points but worth noting something like after market headlamps probably needs to be disclosed as well, if my assumption this would be classed as a modification for insurances purposes is correct? 

Again it really depends on the circumstances, the dealer in question specialises in "nearly new cars" whilst age is one factor I don't think many would class a car that's been in an accident to the extent mentioned in the OP to be nearly new. 

Checks may be limited but if so shouldn't be called comprehensive and may only cover certain aspects but those aspects should be detailed.

For 99.99% of car sales this kind of nit picking I'm placing on the advertising doesn't really mater, it gives the customer assurances and they'll likely have years of happy motoring.  

In the case of the OP the dealer may have to off set that 0.01% of transactions that do crop up with issues against the extra they earn from their marketing assurances. 

Sandtree

Flight3287462 said:

OP have you checked if its on the register of written off cars?  That would help a lot but might require a lot of digging and unfortunately previous keepers details are not on the V5c now.

But of course it may never have been reported as being in an accident

HPI checks normally include a MIAFTR check and the OP states they had one done.

bris

Th02msn ….

We purchased a 2018 BMW 320D in June of 2019 from Motorpoint in Glasgow.  The vehicle had been given a full inspection and we did a HPI check. No record of damage.  All was good.

Sorry to say it but whoever gave it the full inspection did a pretty poor job of it if the repairs were that bad they were obvious

The HPI check didn't flag it either so it was never an insurance loss.

You checked it bought it and drove it for two years trouble free so after 2 years you're going to struggle to convince anyone that was not you who had accident, and unfortunately it's you who now needs to prove it, .

Flight3287462

Sandtree said:

Flight3287462 said:

OP have you checked if its on the register of written off cars?  That would help a lot but might require a lot of digging and unfortunately previous keepers details are not on the V5c now.

But of course it may never have been reported as being in an accident

HPI checks normally include a MIAFTR check and the OP states they had one done.

These things a not infallible.  Wonder what the cheapest way to check again?  Might have been late on the system?

Jumblebumble

Th02msn said:

Will try and keep story short and on point but would like help with regards to where I stand here….

We purchased a 2018 BMW 320D in June of 2019 from Motorpoint in Glasgow.  The vehicle had been given a full inspection and we did a HPI check. No record of damage.  All was good.

However - a couple weeks ago, we decided we would like to change our car to something more suitable for family life.  We visited our local dealership who informed us upon closer inspection that our car was missing its ‘chassis stamp’ and they would not be able to proceed with purchase of our car.  They advised us to contact BMW to see if they could find it.
Upon visiting BMW we were gobsmacked to be told that our car had sustained frontal damage at some point and it was clear repairs had been made (and too a very poor standard).  Both headlights had been replaced (not BMW factory issued) heavy duty rivits had been used to fix new parts together, the bonnet had been resprayed, the roof had been resprayed (or partially resprayed) side panels had been resprayed, wiring clips were missing & sealant is used around top of suspension strutts to hide weld …. the list goes on.
We contacted Motorpoint to make them aware of our findings in the hope they could offer a solution.  They requested that we have a report done from a professional to state damage and the repairs that were evident which we did and presented it back to Motorpoint. The report was done at our expense (£100)
We then had a reply from MP saying that their inspection did not show up any defects prior to sale - they only have photographs of the outside of vehicle - which shows no evidence of damage.  

If they had taken photographs under the bonnet, where the faults and bad repairs are located, it would have been far more obvious & there would not have been anything to dispute. 

Motorpoint have now advised us that if we want to take this further, we must contact ‘ADR’ which they are a member of.

Can anyone give me some advice on where I stand?  Im aware its more than 2 years since we purchased the car but we were absolutely oblivious to all the above until we were notified  by our local dealership when we decided to change the car

Nor my wife or I are mechanically minded and would never have been able to spot these repairs unless pointed out - as has happened.

Im not looking for compensation or any special treatment - all we want to do is to be able to change our car without hassle.  I also don't want to sell it privately and not disclose what I know now.

In the mean time we have decided not to use the vehicle from a H&S point of view.

I can absolutely assure anyone reading this - the damage and repairs certainly did not take place in the time of our ownership.  How I prove this is the difficulty.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all

I imagine you are going to have a very hard time 
A big company like MP will probably have competent  lawyers and they will have run your report past them and have presumably been advised that you have to prove the repairs were there before you purchased the car from them and I do not see how you can do this.
They have an inspection report and photos that evidences that there was no damage at sale to you.
 What do you have?

kaMelo

BMW approved repair methods extensively use "Bond and Rivet" technology to replace parts that were originally welded together from the factory. These methods are researched and produced by BMW and done correctly, the car is structurally as safe as an unrepaired vehicle. Hopefully that will go someway to allay your fears over driving the vehicle.

However, whilst all that may be true about the safety of the vehicle, it is impossible to repair BMW's using these methods in an invisible way. The other area of concern is the missing VIN stamp. This should be present in numerous places, sticker inside the doors, bottom of windscreen and laser etched into the front suspension strut. Which one is missing is a good indicator of where the repair was.

The thing is, anyone with a trained eye would spot all these things. The repair methods may be structurally sound but are easy to detect, checking vehicle VIN are all present, correct and importantly, matched is an absolute basic thing to do. Motorpoint are not some dodgy back street dealer so it seems a stretch to believe they wouldn't spot these things when doing their inspection. They may not have been a defect as such but that doesn't exclude them from declaring them.  

There is a possible method for finding the date of repairs, BMW parts order logs. I notice you mentioned that non BMW parts have been used in places but some parts only available from BMW.  When ordering parts a VIN is usually required to ensure the correct ones are supplied. Whether these logs are kept and/or available to anyone within the BMW network I don't know but it's an angle that may help you to determine when and where the repairs were carried out.

pulliptears

There is a group on Facebook that finds cars like these for sale and posts the new sale photos alongside the crash photos.  It's fascinating stuff and I'm buggered if I can remember what they are called.  Usually the dealer denies all knowledge and deletes the listings.  These are mostly CAT registered cars though and I'm making the assumption that this isn't?

m0bov

Just take it to WBAC or similar and get an offer that way.