Bought a car that turned out to be faulty

Herzlos

dillydully said:

Herzlos said:

Note for anyone else watching: A dealer trying to pretend to be a private sale almost always means there's something about the car he doesn't want to deal with on a forecourt. so avoid.

If you're trying to get him to take the car back and take him to court you need to stop using it and physically return it (with evidence). If he's got a dealership, then you can dump the car back there, leave the keys along with a letter. Or if he's trading from home, just leave it on his driveway.  Make sure you update the registered keeper details and take a photo of the odometer, because you don't want him to drive it around generating tickets for you.


What's the car? What did you pay for it and what's the estimated repair bill?

Im not using the car, its unusable anyway. I know his home address, on the Companies House he has a business address too. I bought the car at his home address, should I return it there I guess? He doesnt have a drive way that I could access, only outside the house public road. 'Make sure you update the registered keeper details': Im not sure what you mean here, his or my name? I think he already submitted it to my name, I have the green slip

Where is the business address?
You could always leave it on the street right outside his door.
He'll have transferred the ownership to you with the green slip, you need to transfer it back to him (I'm not sure if you need to wait for the V5 document to arrive or if you can do it online with the info on the green slip) so that the car is legally being kept by him. If you leave it in your name, you'd be liable for any speeding/parking/use on a public road without tax/insurance, etc.

If you return the car to him, it could take you months, cost you a lot of money, and potentially not get you any money back at the end. Dodgy dealers have a habit of closing down companies in order for there to be no assets to pay any court losses from, simply re-opening a new business with the same details.

For the car itself, you've got a pretty tough choice between taking the loss on the full value of the car, trying to pursue through the courts or just paying to get it fixed.

Pragmatically, paying to fix it is your cheapest and least stressful option, but morally you want to at least try and make life difficult for the dealer. I'd probably pay to get it fixed, then take him to court for the repair bill, complain to trading standards (via citizens advice), complain to your MP, and report anything you think is illegal to the police.

motorguy

dillydully said:

Herzlos said:

Note for anyone else watching: A dealer trying to pretend to be a private sale almost always means there's something about the car he doesn't want to deal with on a forecourt. so avoid.

If you're trying to get him to take the car back and take him to court you need to stop using it and physically return it (with evidence). If he's got a dealership, then you can dump the car back there, leave the keys along with a letter. Or if he's trading from home, just leave it on his driveway.  Make sure you update the registered keeper details and take a photo of the odometer, because you don't want him to drive it around generating tickets for you.


What's the car? What did you pay for it and what's the estimated repair bill?

Im not using the car, its unusable anyway. I know his home address, on the Companies House he has a business address too. I bought the car at his home address, should I return it there I guess? He doesnt have a drive way that I could access, only outside the house public road. 'Make sure you update the registered keeper details': Im not sure what you mean here, his or my name? I think he already submitted it to my name, I have the green slip

Its not an expensive car, I payed £1700 for it, it has small body damage, usually they go for around £2000-£2300. That is still quite a lot of money to me. 

Repairing would cost around £800 area. If I file a case for a refund it could take 3 to 6 months, so at this point I am considering to get it repaired and chase him for the bill so I can have a functioning car.

You then do as proposed, get the work done and take him to the small claims court for it.

It will only cost you a few pounds to do that and you will almost certainly win.  The trick then will be getting him to pay, but thats another story.

DB1904

dillydully said:

DB1904 said:

dillydully said:

DB1904 said:

Check him out on Companies house. If it's a limited company no doubt he'll close it once you file your claim and your money and refund are gone. 

Yep, just found him, and screenshoted everything. He actually has an active 'CARS' business registered.

How many companies has he closed?

As far as I can tell, he closed one. The current one is really fresh, less than a month old.

Started before or after you bought the car?

Jumblebumble

Herzlos said:

dillydully said:

Herzlos said:

Note for anyone else watching: A dealer trying to pretend to be a private sale almost always means there's something about the car he doesn't want to deal with on a forecourt. so avoid.

If you're trying to get him to take the car back and take him to court you need to stop using it and physically return it (with evidence). If he's got a dealership, then you can dump the car back there, leave the keys along with a letter. Or if he's trading from home, just leave it on his driveway.  Make sure you update the registered keeper details and take a photo of the odometer, because you don't want him to drive it around generating tickets for you.


What's the car? What did you pay for it and what's the estimated repair bill?

Im not using the car, its unusable anyway. I know his home address, on the Companies House he has a business address too. I bought the car at his home address, should I return it there I guess? He doesnt have a drive way that I could access, only outside the house public road. 'Make sure you update the registered keeper details': Im not sure what you mean here, his or my name? I think he already submitted it to my name, I have the green slip

Where is the business address?
You could always leave it on the street right outside his door.

Hmm
And if the car ends up streuight away in the nearest crusher then the OP is in for a world of pain.

dillydully

DB1904 said:

dillydully said:

DB1904 said:

dillydully said:

DB1904 said:

Check him out on Companies house. If it's a limited company no doubt he'll close it once you file your claim and your money and refund are gone. 

Yep, just found him, and screenshoted everything. He actually has an active 'CARS' business registered.

How many companies has he closed?

As far as I can tell, he closed one. The current one is really fresh, less than a month old.

Started before or after you bought the car?

Just few weeks before.

Herzlos

Jumblebumble said:

Herzlos said:

dillydully said:

Herzlos said:

Note for anyone else watching: A dealer trying to pretend to be a private sale almost always means there's something about the car he doesn't want to deal with on a forecourt. so avoid.

If you're trying to get him to take the car back and take him to court you need to stop using it and physically return it (with evidence). If he's got a dealership, then you can dump the car back there, leave the keys along with a letter. Or if he's trading from home, just leave it on his driveway.  Make sure you update the registered keeper details and take a photo of the odometer, because you don't want him to drive it around generating tickets for you.


What's the car? What did you pay for it and what's the estimated repair bill?

Im not using the car, its unusable anyway. I know his home address, on the Companies House he has a business address too. I bought the car at his home address, should I return it there I guess? He doesnt have a drive way that I could access, only outside the house public road. 'Make sure you update the registered keeper details': Im not sure what you mean here, his or my name? I think he already submitted it to my name, I have the green slip

Where is the business address?
You could always leave it on the street right outside his door.

Hmm
And if the car ends up streuight away in the nearest crusher then the OP is in for a world of pain.

It's not the OP's car at that point, though. The dealer scrapping it would imply that they knew it was scrap, given it's supposedly working fine and worth £2k.

motorguy

I personally wouldnt be attempting a rejection.

If the O/P does, then the unscrupulous dealer has the O/P's money AND the car.  And its not like they're going to turn around and go "oh.  You've rejected it by parking it here.  Here is your money back this instant". 

lincroft1710

If you bought the car at several hundred pounds below retail, the seller could argue that the price reflected the condition of the car. I agree with @motorguy's suggestions.

Ectophile

Make certain that you know who actually sold the car to you - was it him or his company?

If it was the company, you can't sue him.  If it was him, then you can't sue the company.  If you have no paperwork saying that his company sold the car, then sue him.

Generally, you're better off if you're suing a person.  Companies can be wound up at the drop of a hat.  People don't really want to declare themselves bankrupt to get out of paying a debt.

DB1904

Ectophile said:

Make certain that you know who actually sold the car to you - was it him or his company?

If it was the company, you can't sue him.  If it was him, then you can't sue the company.  If you have no paperwork saying that his company sold the car, then sue him.

Generally, you're better off if you're suing a person.  Companies can be wound up at the drop of a hat.  People don't really want to declare themselves bankrupt to get out of paying a debt.

If you sue the person are you suing them as a trader?