Advice please on a car purchased 2 days ago

Mildly_Miffed

dustiebustie78 said:

I typed in the vin number and it says "Citroen/DS asks you to stop driving your vehicle fitted with Takata airbags. The chemicals contained in these Takata airbag inflators can degrade over time and, in the event of an accident, may rupture with excessive force. This can cause severe injuries or even death".

OK, so the previous keeper ignored the recall letter they received.

If I am caught driving the car, I risk losing my license (I'm a new driver so no points for me), a £2,500 fine, and it would void my insurance.

No, you don't. No, it wouldn't,

I bought a car assuming it was fit for purpose and roadworthy, I have since found out that it's not and is quite literally a death trap.

It's exactly the same car as somebody has been driving around in since it was new at least a decade ago. Nobody has died in it.

It was recalled last year, but the previous keeper was quite happy to continue driving it around, in the knowledge of the issue.

Yes, the trader - who will definitely have known, given the publicity there's been over the last fortnight since the stop-drive was announced on the 20th - has been naughty.

And, yes, a trader with any integrity will return it. If they do not do so willingly, then the path you legally must follow is to physically return the car, all the keys, paperwork etc - and launch a small claim for the money. https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

born_again

paul_c123 said:

Of course there is an entity that exists, the OP bought a car from them 2 days ago!

Except as soon as Op sends letter before action.
They go bust & cease trading.
There then is no company to return car too, or claim any money back from.

Could even say when they take car back. Sorry no longer trading as bust. OP is in same situation.

Meanwhile, they are back trading under new name. Sadly the way it goes.

sheramber

Mildly_Miffed said:

dustiebustie78 said:

I typed in the vin number and it says "Citroen/DS asks you to stop driving your vehicle fitted with Takata airbags. The chemicals contained in these Takata airbag inflators can degrade over time and, in the event of an accident, may rupture with excessive force. This can cause severe injuries or even death".

OK, so the previous keeper ignored the recall letter they received.

If I am caught driving the car, I risk losing my license (I'm a new driver so no points for me), a £2,500 fine, and it would void my insurance.

No, you don't. No, it wouldn't,

I bought a car assuming it was fit for purpose and roadworthy, I have since found out that it's not and is quite literally a death trap.

It's exactly the same car as somebody has been driving around in since it was new at least a decade ago. Nobody has died in it.

It was recalled last year, but the previous keeper was quite happy to continue driving it around, in the knowledge of the issue.

Yes, the trader - who will definitely have known, given the publicity there's been over the last fortnight since the stop-drive was announced on the 20th - has been naughty.

And, yes, a trader with any integrity will return it. If they do not do so willingly, then the path you legally must follow is to physically return the car, all the keys, paperwork etc - and launch a small claim for the money. https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

One poster has confirmed with his insurance company that he would not be insured if he drove the car  while not fixed. 

I bet the French woman was killed had driven the car for a long time before it killed her. 

If the so called dealer has no assets there is little chance of getting your money back.

paid by bank transfer. 

House rented or owned by wife. 

Car on HP or leased. 

No money in the bank. 

No business premises etc. 

No money. 

Grumpy_chap

dustiebustie78 said:

On Wednesday 2nd July, I purchased a car from a dealer that trades at home. 

Yesterday, I'm browsing social media and find out that the car I purchased is on a stop-drive recall. 

I know this won't help the OP, but when exactly was the stop-drive notice issued by Citroen?

I happened to hear about that yesterday (3rd July) as it was on the BBC website.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m8872n9gxo

If the stop-drive notice was only yesterday, then it is a very unfortunate timing that the car was purchased two days ago.

From a consumer rights perspective, that might not change anything.

Out of interest, was all the money paid by bank transfer or was an initial deposit paid by credit card?

Grey_Critic

***One poster has confirmed with his insurance company that he would not be insured if he drove the car  while not fixed. ***

And there is an answer - The OP has checked the vehicle online and it says Do Not Drive. You can take a chance but if you are pulled by Plod what do you say? 

As another poster says Talk to Trading Standards If nothing else IF THEY consider it sharp practice they may get involved and the so called dealer may actually have history

Myci85

I'm not recommending this way of sorting the issue, but when my son bought a car and I then found out there were lots of issues with it that the dealer wasn't sorting out, I contacted them saying we were rejecting using our rights within 30 days. He clearly had no intention of accepting this, so I found another listing of a car he had for sale and made an appointment to view it, had my son meet me there with the car, all keys and paperwork etc, by which point I was sat firmly in the seat of the car I'd booked to view and refused to get out until he'd refunded my son the money. He wasn't at all happy, made all sorts of threats, but ultimately we walked away with a full refund. 

Car dealers are notoriously slimy, and through lots of research, I had found out that this particular one had a habit of closing down his ltd companies when customers were clearly getting wise to him, and opening again in a new name, so I knew we had no chance of getting my son's money back through the correct measures. I decided if he could play dirty, I would play him at his own game. 

Mildly_Miffed

Grumpy_chap said:

dustiebustie78 said:

On Wednesday 2nd July, I purchased a car from a dealer that trades at home. 

Yesterday, I'm browsing social media and find out that the car I purchased is on a stop-drive recall. 

I know this won't help the OP, but when exactly was the stop-drive notice issued by Citroen?

I happened to hear about that yesterday (3rd July) as it was on the BBC website.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m8872n9gxo

If the stop-drive notice was only yesterday, then it is a very unfortunate timing that the car was purchased two days ago.

19th June.

https://www.media.stellantis.com/em-en/corporate-communications/press/stellantis-extends-stop-drive-action-in-europe-for-citroen-c3-and-ds3-vehicles-manufactured-between-2009-and-2019

Ectophile

born_again said:

paul_c123 said:

Of course there is an entity that exists, the OP bought a car from them 2 days ago!

Except as soon as Op sends letter before action.
They go bust & cease trading.
There then is no company to return car too, or claim any money back from.

Could even say when they take car back. Sorry no longer trading as bust. OP is in same situation.

Meanwhile, they are back trading under new name. Sadly the way it goes.

The seller was a personal trader.  "Going bust" would mean the trader declaring themselves bankrupt.  Which would be a career death for anyone who trades for a living, as nobody would give them credit for anything for many years to come.

paul_c123

OP - do you have an invoice of the purchase? It would clear up a lot of misinformation/guesses/inaccuracies as recent posts demonstrate.

sheramber

paul_c123 said:

Let's try to focus on the issue at hand here. The OP is inconvenienced because the dealer sold a car without checking if there were any outstanding recalls, and getting these done. There is ample case law to support that it is a dealer's responsibility to do this, so the rejection should be quite clearly valid in this case. Whether a bigger dealer would have done this, is moot.

Read first post

 I paid via bank transfer to a personal account. I have a receipt of the purchase and the business name is the seller.

Money probably moved from personal account  now.