Bought a car that has been written off - no one told me!

paigebeaa

Back in September 2021 I purchased a car from Facebook marketplace for the sum of £2000. The car had a small dent on the rear, when I asked the seller about this he informed me that it'd had a little knock and it was nothing to worry about, purely cosmetic. I then took the car home, and when I went to put the tow bar onto the car I was told that the bumper wasn't even connected to the car, and that the rear crash bar had to be replaced. As I'd only paid 2k I paid to have the work done and the tow bar fitted, as I still thought the car was a bargain. Since then I have also replaced the clutch at a sum of £1300 and an MOT which was a few hundred too. Yesterday I enquired about part exchanging my car, only to be told it was a total loss category N write off in July 2021. I have proof the person I bought the car from owned this car at this point. I didn't know anything about this, and didn't know hpi checks even existed. Do I have a leg to stand on? I feel like the seller deliberately misled me by not informing me that the car had been written-off. Had I known I wouldn't have bought it, and certainly wouldn't have spent so much money on it. My insurance company hasn't mentioned anything either, does this mean they are unaware too? Would really appreciate any advice on what I can do to resolve this matter. 

Sandtree

Was it a private seller? 

Your insurers wont care, a small scratch can write off an old car as a cat N/D, when it comes to the point of a claim and its a potential total loss then the insurers will check as it reduces the value of the car slightly but that's all. 

You say you thought the car was a bargain even after work was needed to it... why did you think the seller was selling it so cheap?

paigebeaa

Yes, he was a private seller. The reason I thought it was so cheap was because it had 213000 miles on the clock

Olinda99

written off can mean it would cost more to  repair a dent than thr car is worth. 

it can also meen it's been in a masdive crash and shouldn't be on the road

which sort of written off is your car?

google to find out more info

Sandtree

Olinda99 said:

written off can mean it would cost more to  repair a dent than thr car is worth. 

it can also meen it's been in a masdive crash and shouldn't be on the road

which sort of written off is your car?

google to find out more info

Op said it was a cat N - non-structural - what used to be Cat D in old terms

tacpot12

I'm not sure there is much you can do to 'resolve' the matter. You haven't lost any money. 

Aylesbury_Duck

tacpot12 said:

I'm not sure there is much you can do to 'resolve' the matter. You haven't lost any money. 

Exactly this.  If you can demonstrate your loss, you can consider whether to pursue it or not.  What quantifiable loss have you suffered?

bris

Cat N is cosmetic damage, Cat S is structural (but still repairable) with a Cat N all it takes is replacing a few parts, maybe even as little as one.

Insurers take the whole picture into consideration when writing off a vehicle. The work out the cars value, the cost of repairs at a dealership so max price, storage fees, car rental for the insured driver etc, they then factor in what they know it's worth as salvage and can very easily know that it's cheaper and easier to just write it off.

A private seller doesn't need to tell you anything about the car, but neither can they lie about it.

Bottom line is a £3 vehicle history check would have brought up an issue, a little bit more money for a proper check would tell you all about it.

DB1904

paigebeaa said:

Back in September 2021 I purchased a car from Facebook marketplace for the sum of £2000. The car had a small dent on the rear, when I asked the seller about this he informed me that it'd had a little knock and it was nothing to worry about, purely cosmetic. I then took the car home, and when I went to put the tow bar onto the car I was told that the bumper wasn't even connected to the car, and that the rear crash bar had to be replaced. As I'd only paid 2k I paid to have the work done and the tow bar fitted, as I still thought the car was a bargain. Since then I have also replaced the clutch at a sum of £1300 and an MOT which was a few hundred too. Yesterday I enquired about part exchanging my car, only to be told it was a total loss category N write off in July 2021. I have proof the person I bought the car from owned this car at this point. I didn't know anything about this, and didn't know hpi checks even existed. Do I have a leg to stand on? I feel like the seller deliberately misled me by not informing me that the car had been written-off. Had I known I wouldn't have bought it, and certainly wouldn't have spent so much money on it. My insurance company hasn't mentioned anything either, does this mean they are unaware too? Would really appreciate any advice on what I can do to resolve this matter. 

Did you ask?

£1300 for a clutch sounds expensive but nothing to do with the damage.

paigebeaa

To clear up a few things, yes I have lost money due to this, as the resale value of my car is less than half of what it would've been had it not been a write off. Yes I am aware that a £3 check would've prevented this but as I stated in the post I didn't know this was something I could do! I don't remember outright asking if it had been written off but I do feel like this is something that should've been disclosed at the point of sale, particularly when I asked about the dent in the boot. I appreciate all the useful comments so far, thank you. 

Archie_Duke

paigebeaa said:

To clear up a few things, yes I have lost money due to this, as the resale value of my car is less than half of what it would've been had it not been a write off. Yes I am aware that a £3 check would've prevented this but as I stated in the post I didn't know this was something I could do! I don't remember outright asking if it had been written off but I do feel like this is something that should've been disclosed at the point of sale, particularly when I asked about the dent in the boot. I appreciate all the useful comments so far, thank you. 

The value of a car at 213000 miles is really hard to calculate. With no details of the car involved here it’s impossible to say if it was worth £2000 or closer to the £1000 you now think it’s worth. The seller may have priced high expecting to be chipped down on their price, may have just been hoping for an easy sell, and got exactly that.
You don’t know for certain that your seller even knew themselves if it was written off, may have happened in previous ownership and not disclosed.
Good lesson on second hand car sales for the future.