used car purchase, small claims court

lordmountararat

I once made the mistake of believing a dealer when he told me the air-con just needed a re-gen. Actually it needed a new condenser which cost just short of £1000 and wasn't (surprise!) covered by the warranty.

Car_54

born_again said:

UncleFoss said:

Car is a 58 plate, has done 46000 miles, upper bodywork and interior in pretty good nick. It's the subframe that's the problem, tyres I was prepared for changing at some point but not as soon as has transpired. He was up front about him buying the car to move it on, V5 had previous owner name and address on it, have seen this before with purchasing a used car from a franchised dealer so didn't ring any large bells. HPI checks flagged nothing and v5 transfer without issue. 
Yes, correction, it's a spring that's rusted and snapped. He'd said that he'd replaced the tyres with some part worn ones but clearly not the case. Have taken it to a couple of garages, both concluding the same fault list. There's also an oil leak that is yet to be investigated.
My conclusion from all of your input so far is that it's still worth pursuing the seller through small claims.
Do I get the work done, move on the car and pursue for the repairs and any loss on the resale or keep hold of the car, don't fix it, hold out for the refund? 

If you feel like doing something then HMRC & seeing if he is declaring this is a business & paying tax etc. 

Do you imagine HMRC would reveal that info?

DjangoUnchained

trouble with small claims, or any court is even if you win, unless he pays up straight away, you have to then pay to enforce the judgement and possibly find he has no way of paying you back.

born_again

Car_54 said:

born_again said:

UncleFoss said:

Car is a 58 plate, has done 46000 miles, upper bodywork and interior in pretty good nick. It's the subframe that's the problem, tyres I was prepared for changing at some point but not as soon as has transpired. He was up front about him buying the car to move it on, V5 had previous owner name and address on it, have seen this before with purchasing a used car from a franchised dealer so didn't ring any large bells. HPI checks flagged nothing and v5 transfer without issue. 
Yes, correction, it's a spring that's rusted and snapped. He'd said that he'd replaced the tyres with some part worn ones but clearly not the case. Have taken it to a couple of garages, both concluding the same fault list. There's also an oil leak that is yet to be investigated.
My conclusion from all of your input so far is that it's still worth pursuing the seller through small claims.
Do I get the work done, move on the car and pursue for the repairs and any loss on the resale or keep hold of the car, don't fix it, hold out for the refund? 

If you feel like doing something then HMRC & seeing if he is declaring this is a business & paying tax etc. 

Do you imagine HMRC would reveal that info?

Does not need anything to be revealed to poster. They are just reporting a protentional dodger 👍