We Buy any Car - Changing their mind

ArbitraryRandom

Bmd1989 said:

I don’t want to go round in circles either...

Okay, then your next step? 

Citizen advice helped you with your first letter I think?

So back to them... but what do you plan on saying given you've read the different views here and have had a bit of time to think about your options. I mean, it's easy for us to say what we'd do  

Bmd1989

ArbitraryRandom 

good question, I’ve sent a letter and evidence of email trails. I’m just riding it out. CAB mentioned I can request a third party to look at both views if it gets that far without a court scenario which I dont want to be honest. I want any easy life hence using WBAC 😂 lol 

HillStreetBlues

Ask WBAC under what terms are they trying to void the contract.

Bmd1989

Am I in the right here as a personal view? I’ve tried to be as honest as possible. 

Bmd1989

What would use do? 

Grumpy_chap

HillStreetBlues said:

The fact they needed an expert to know that the CAP ID was incorrect, they will have trouble showing that it was likely you knew about the CAP ID being wrong.

I personally feel WBAC has little chance in winning if you go the full distance with it

ArbitraryRandom said:

I would agree that there's nothing in the terms (to my reading) to allow them to void the signed contract.

There could be.
It might come under the "misrepresentation" part that was noted above.
This would depend on the very exact mechanics of how WBAC works.
I have never used the service but just looked at the website and it seems as though the valuation is worked out from your car registration.
I assume it then puts a result that says something like "your car is a BMW M4 da-de-da 6.4.2 - is that correct?"
If the OP knew that the car was a "BMW M4 da-de-da 6.4.1" but still ticked the box to say the version "6.4.2" was correct, that might be argued as misrepresentation.
Does the WBAC site work in that type of manner?
Does the model identifier that the seller confirms as correct go so far as to identify right down to the version "6.4.1" or version "6.4.2"?
Misrepresentation via a "tick box" confirmation could still be misrepresentation.

I am giving the above simply as a possibility - it is worth to be aware as it is a point WBAC would bring up at some later point.

If this is what happened, I am surprised that WBAC would not have brought that up straight away.

I do think this is looking stronger for the OP.
Who (outside the motor trade) even ever heard of a CAP ID?
Let alone what it means or whether it is correct or incorrect?
If WBAC even share that CAP ID back to the OP in any case.

The terms are for misrepresentation / error by the OP.
The error in the CAP ID was by the WBAC specialist sub-contract service, HPI.
In my opinion, WBAC should make the full payment to the OP as per the agreed value.
If the error by HPI results in loss for WBAC, then WBAC should seek to recover that loss from their appointed specialist contractor (HPI).
If WBAC needed a specific industry specialist to correctly identify the car, the time for them to engage this service was prior to the deal being done.

Another query - maybe I missed this in the length of the thread - WBAC website says:

• 30 second valuation
• 13 minute drive
• 15 minute payment

Why didn't the OP get paid in the "immediately" timeframe the website suggests?
If I read the thread correctly, the OP was not paid and a few days after the car was delivered to WBAC, the issue was raised that WBAC don't want to pay the agreed amount.

It is looking like WBAC offered "compensation" because they know they messed up and have no grounds to cancel the deal, so return the car and pay, say £1k, is better for WBAC than pay the £44k for the car and potentially sell at a loss.  
Tough really.  WBAC need to pay the OP in full.

HillStreetBlues

@Grumpy_chap
The OP didn't give any incorrect info
OP has a old look car, and sold it as such, unbeknownst to him, WBAC though they were buying the new look (worth more) The OP hasn't at any stage said it was the new look. WBAC just used faulty info not supplied by OP.
After noticing their error, WBAC wants to back out of agreed deal.

ArbitraryRandom

Bmd1989 said:

What would use do? 

Bmd1989 said:

ArbitraryRandom 

good question, I’ve sent a letter and evidence of email trails. I’m just riding it out. CAB mentioned I can request a third party to look at both views if it gets that far without a court scenario which I dont want to be honest. I want any easy life hence using WBAC 😂 lol 

If it was me (and I'm not you/this is not legal advice!) I'd wait a couple of days for them to respond to the CAB letter (a working week is probably reasonable). 

Then go back to CAB... but assuming the CAB letter was a generic letter setting out your rights, a 'letter before action' is probably a sensible bet (it's free and doesn't actually commit you to anything but shows you're serious). That gives them another 2 weeks to think about what they've done/improve their offer. 

After that I'd always try mediation - but you HAVE to be happy with the idea of coming away with less than the full amount, or it's an expensive and frustrating tick box exercise... which is to say, mediation costs (a few hundred likely) but the cost is generally split between both of you. You can't force WBAC to agree to mediation, but even making the offer looks good if you do end up in court. You always want to be 'the reasonable one' in any dispute  

Last resort is always court. There's more cost there, but if you win you can add the costs to the claim - and there's no guarantee that you'll win. It can take ages (realistically expect at least 6 months) and if your claims is for more than £10k you might be adding legal costs... but assuming what you've said in here is the full picture then I think you've got an excellent chance. 

HillStreetBlues

If you haven't done so already I would contact WBAC saying to  consider the car sold and expect full payment and will not accept return of car.
This should stop them trying to return car without your agreement.

Grumpy_chap

HillStreetBlues said:

@Grumpy_chap
The OP didn't give any incorrect info
OP has a old look car, and sold it as such, unbeknownst to him, WBAC though they were buying the new look (worth more) The OP hasn't at any stage said it was the new look. WBAC just used faulty info not supplied by OP.
After noticing their error, WBAC wants to back out of agreed deal.

Thanks.
I think, reading my post as a whole, I think it is clear that I did not say the OP had given incorrect information.

I was trying to give a postulation as to how that might have happened and the OP not necessarily realised / recalled.

It was actually taken from my experience of obtaining car insurance - when I enter my car registration, the insurance systems return a car that is "nearly" my car and I then have to select the car manually.  It is a subtle difference and, if I were in a hurry, it would be easy to read the description that auto-returns and tick box "yes, that's my car" incorrectly.  In fact, the bit that is "incorrect" in the auto-return result is right at the last couple of characters and not even always visible on some insurance sites unless hovering over the box to ring up the full text.  I did, at first, just "tick box" until I realised the discrepancy.
It is not beyond plausible that the WBAC site could work in a similar manner.  I think the OP said the only difference in the model reference between the old and the new is an "M" somewhere towards the end.

I do think it is helpful to the OP to have any possibility where a "misrepresentation" by the OP could have happened, even unintentionally, as it allows that to be understood by the OP and considered if taking legal action.

I also think it would appear that this type of event likely did not occur.  If it had occured, WBAC would have said to the OP "we identified your car as a version 6.4.2 and you confirmed that as correct but we now find your car is a version 6.4.1".  WBAC have not said that but referred to an incorrect HPI CAP ID (whatever that is) as the reason for the change of valuation.  This is entirely the fault of WBAC (or their agent / sub-contractor) and not the OP.