Small claim court

Steveskinner96

So basically I bought a car from a guy via Facebook. Long story short hes sold me a written off car and can't be driven on the road again legally. 

Long story short hes refused to pay, so I  submitted a small claim court against him through money claims online form. I won the judgement by default as he didn't respond in time, he still hasn't paid, so I paid the balliff cost to collect the money on my behalf.

my issue now is his name is 'AKIM tyrelle Nathan Okai' but on the application form I've put 'Okai Akim tyrelle Nathan' so his name is right I've just put it the wrong way round. Where do I stand with this? Is there anything I should do to update his name properly?

BoGoF

Well his name isn't 'right' if it's the wrong way round. Think you need to restart the process in the right name.

Only you can decide if it's worth pursuing but if he decided to defend 2nd time round and it was a private sale then it's generally 'buyer beware' and you should have paid for an HPI check on the car.

DullGreyGuy

You say "my issue is"... so the Bailiffs have been and he's defended by saying he's not Okai Nathan? Your missing a bit of the story here.

There is no way to update a judgement if you have issued against the wrong name. You have to swallow the costs and restart the process correctly identifying the defendant. 

What category of write off is the car?

MattMattMattUK

Steveskinner96 said:

So basically I bought a car from a guy via Facebook. Long story short hes sold me a written off car and can't be driven on the road again legally. 

Long story short hes refused to pay, so I  submitted a small claim court against him through money claims online form. I won the judgement by default as he didn't respond in time, he still hasn't paid, so I paid the balliff cost to collect the money on my behalf.

my issue now is his name is 'AKIM tyrelle Nathan Okai' but on the application form I've put 'Okai Akim tyrelle Nathan' so his name is right I've just put it the wrong way round. Where do I stand with this? Is there anything I should do to update his name properly?

As the name is wrong the judgement is technically unenforceable. 

You could ask the court to amend, using The Civil Procedure Rules 1998. CPR Rule 40.12, but I suspect that they will not in this case as it is not a typo, but the wrong name. Both the first name and the last name are wrong, that would be a legitimate defence for him to have ignored it in the first place.

You will likely have to start the process from the beginning again, however you also need to keep in mind that even if you win he may not have the money to pay and that you might not win. Winning by default does not mean you would win if he defended the claim. Unless he is a motor trader or made serious misrepresentations when selling the vehicle it would have been "sold as seen", so if sold without MOT etc. and he did not lie (or you cannot prove he lied) then you would lose if he defended the claim, which he probably will do if you get his name right, or if he does not have any money he might ignore it anyway as it will not matter to him.

Steveskinner96

This guy is a trader he sells cars and owns his own recovery business and I paid him money into his business bank account so I have no idea where I stand

BoGoF

Steveskinner96 said:

This guy is a trader he sells cars and owns his own recovery business and I paid him money into his business bank account so I have no idea where I stand

Ltd company or sole trader? You need to make sure the claim is against the correct entity.

Steveskinner96

So I bought it off him privately through Facebook. But the advertisement said car was fine, while I had conversations with him before buying the car I asked if there was anything wrong and he again said no which I have proof off. He owns his own recovery business and I paid him into his business bank account. So as far as I'm concerned this is a business sale. And on his Facebook page he sells loads of other cars 

eskbanker

Steveskinner96 said:

I paid him into his business bank account. So as far as I'm concerned this is a business sale

You didn't answer the key question of whether he's operating as a sole trader or a limited company - was the name on the bank account the name of a company visible at Companies House?

DullGreyGuy

Steveskinner96 said:

So I bought it off him privately through Facebook. But the advertisement said car was fine, while I had conversations with him before buying the car I asked if there was anything wrong and he again said no which I have proof off. He owns his own recovery business and I paid him into his business bank account. So as far as I'm concerned this is a business sale. And on his Facebook page he sells loads of other cars 

Business or private sale makes little difference on if you issued against the right legal entity... if the seller was Okai Limited then you are going to get no where issuing on him wether you spell his name right or not as he is not the contracting party but the company was. 

sammyjammy

Seriously though lesson to learn from this is don't buy high value items off facebook!

MattMattMattUK

Steveskinner96 said:

But the advertisement said car was fine

Did the advert say "car was fine", did it say "Has X months MOT", did it say "Sold for parts", did it say "Sold as seen". 

Steveskinner96 said:

hes sold me a written off car and can't be driven on the road again legally. 

Referring back to this, lots of write-offs can be driven legally, they are written off as an uneconomical repair. What category was the write-off, A, B, C, D, N or S? Do you have a copy of the advert?