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Buying a used car, does this sound dodgy?
Lizmoretti
Forumite 40 Posts
We’ve seen a car at an independent dealer which I’ll call X Cars Sales ltd. I’ve driven past them many times, they’ve been there for years.
Inside their showroom I saw a notice saying they were actually Y Car Sales ltd. I looked them up and they started trading in 2021. They said this particular car was actually being sold on behalf of a friend of the owner.
I’ve seen the V5 which says it’s currently owned by Z Car Sales ltd. I looked them up and they also started trading in 2021.
X and Y companies are coincidentally owned by two people with the same name, but according to companies house, their date of birth is 12 years apart.
Z company (on the V5) is owned by someone else.
Done an HPI check and it’s all clear so should I care about the blatant shenanigans going on?
Inside their showroom I saw a notice saying they were actually Y Car Sales ltd. I looked them up and they started trading in 2021. They said this particular car was actually being sold on behalf of a friend of the owner.
I’ve seen the V5 which says it’s currently owned by Z Car Sales ltd. I looked them up and they also started trading in 2021.
X and Y companies are coincidentally owned by two people with the same name, but according to companies house, their date of birth is 12 years apart.
Z company (on the V5) is owned by someone else.
Done an HPI check and it’s all clear so should I care about the blatant shenanigans going on?
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The premises is X Car Sales Limited, which according to companies house is owned by 50yr old Mr A.
The notice I saw within the premises says they’re Y Car Sales Limited, which according to CH is owned by 38yr old Mr A.
The V5 says the car is owned by Z Car sales Limited, which is owned by Mr B.
What the V5C actually says, in large block capitals in a red banner, is "This document is not proof of ownership".
So you really have no idea who actually owns the car!
However, when a car sales company buys a car, it is normally notified to the DVLA as 'in trade', and the V5C remains in the previous keeper's name. The fact that it's in Z Cars' name suggests that this car was not bought by Z Cars for resale, but as a personal car, or maybe a courtesy car or staff runabout.
Stop using the word owner, technically if you bought a new car you'd be the first keeper and probably the third owner. There is no record of owners
Who are you paying and who's giving you the invoice?
Is anyone providing any warranty?
Does it look like the sort of car the dealership owner would own?
Who owned the business before? If it's the same people, then it's likely they've phoenixed to get out of paying something.
Unless it's a unique car I'd walk away. If it's suspiciously cheap then there's a reason.