Am I likely to win a small claims court against Evan Halshaws

Aylesbury_Duck

Georgemcdeee said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Do I think you would win in court?  Probably.

Do I think you're entitled to a full refund?  No.

Hello, 

thank you for you reply could I please ask what would you think is fair?

I have had to pay for insurance for my car for those 5 months I’m not driving it. Had to go without my car for these 5 months and be in a courtesy car.

could you please tell me what do you think would be a fair compromise?

thank you for answering I appreciate everyone’s comments i am just looking for advice, help, direction so everything is taken in good stead 

Taking things in order:

I think a mileage deduction is fair.  While "up to £1" sounds a lot, it is "up to", and perhaps something like the standard mileage rate minus approximate fuel costs is a fairer rate.

Insurance isn't a loss, you'd have paid that had the car been OK, and presumably your insurance rolled over to cover the courtesy car?

The courtesy car means you aren't out of pocket for public transport, etc. And has saved wear and tear on your own car.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sorry but I don’t think knocking £8 grand off a £12 grand car is acceptable.

I would imagine most people do 8000 miles in a year and I’d also image most would expect a £12 grand can to last longer than 18 months / 12000 miles.

OP you can reject, a court would have decide what a fair deduction is really. 

There was a high court case where a deduction was imposed on a car, I’ll have a look and see if I can find it and update the post later. 

powerful_Rogue

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sorry but I don’t think knocking £8 grand off a £12 grand car is acceptable.

I would imagine most people do 8000 miles in a year and I’d also image most would expect a £12 grand can to last longer than 18 months / 12000 miles.

OP you can reject, a court would have decide what a fair deduction is really. 

There was a high court case where a deduction was imposed on a car, I’ll have a look and see if I can find it and update the post later. 

Upto £8000.

Worth finding out the actual figure EH first.

eskbanker

powerful_Rogue said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sorry but I don’t think knocking £8 grand off a £12 grand car is acceptable.

I would imagine most people do 8000 miles in a year and I’d also image most would expect a £12 grand can to last longer than 18 months / 12000 miles.

OP you can reject, a court would have decide what a fair deduction is really. 

There was a high court case where a deduction was imposed on a car, I’ll have a look and see if I can find it and update the post later. 

Upto £8000.

Worth finding out the actual figure EH first.

Indeed, but it should also be possible to determine some sort of ballpark figure from independent car valuation sources, in terms of the realistic loss in value represented by 8k miles over nine months.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

There was a high court case where a deduction was imposed on a car, I’ll have a look and see if I can find it and update the post later. 

It was a Merc costing £122,000, at a quick glance no mention of miles but the car was delivered on the 7 September 2018, problem occurred on the 22 November 2019 and on the 30 September 2020 the proceedings commenced.

Deduction in value was £5,000 (approx 4.1%).  

https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2022/1339.html

eskbanker said:

Indeed, but it should also be possible to determine some sort of ballpark figure from independent car valuation sources, in terms of the realistic loss in value represented by 8k miles over nine months.

Whilst that may be of benefit to the OP as the value may not have reduced that much, guidance from business companion says (their emphasis)

https://www.businesscompanion.info/sites/default/files/CRA-Goods-Guidance-for-Business-Sep-2015.pdf

Note that the deduction must be calculated based on the use that the consumer has had from the goods, and not the second-hand value of the goods.

eskbanker

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eskbanker said:

Indeed, but it should also be possible to determine some sort of ballpark figure from independent car valuation sources, in terms of the realistic loss in value represented by 8k miles over nine months.

Whilst that may be of benefit to the OP as the value may not have reduced that much, guidance from business companion says (their emphasis)

https://www.businesscompanion.info/sites/default/files/CRA-Goods-Guidance-for-Business-Sep-2015.pdf

Note that the deduction must be calculated based on the use that the consumer has had from the goods, and not the second-hand value of the goods.

Fair enough, but I'd have thought that the reference to 'second-hand' there is intended to reflect the usual scenario of brand new goods being inherently devalued by virtue of becoming second-hand during the problematic ownership, whereas this situation, involving a second-hand car becoming more second-hand (so to speak), is perhaps not what was anticipated in that wording.

But fundamentally, yes, as that says, the basis is use rather than value as such - I was simply suggesting that it may be worth checking out some independent sources, in response to "Worth finding out the actual figure EH first" and anticipating that some negotiation may be necessary!

PHK

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sorry but I don’t think knocking £8 grand off a £12 grand car is acceptable.

I would imagine most people do 8000 miles in a year and I’d also image most would expect a £12 grand can to last longer than 18 months / 12000 miles.

OP you can reject, a court would have decide what a fair deduction is really. 

There was a high court case where a deduction was imposed on a car, I’ll have a look and see if I can find it and update the post later. 

The average UK mileage as of Jan 2024 was 6,700 per year , last year was slightly higher. 8,000 in five months is on the higher side. In 2023 only five percent of people did more than 15,000 a year with the most common mileage band being between 4,000 to 8,000 per year. 

I think 8,000 in five months is towards the higher end of mileage but what you would expect for that type of car.