Sold a Cat A/B car - dealer will not refund

Jojorich

reg was a typo  (stressed and didn't realise) - dvla thinks that car is scrapped already, but this only came through to me after applying for tax and V5, so we had a gap of over a week before we heard back from them. 

Checks were all on auto trader with the car advert.
.
Paid by bank transfer.

Know we messed up on the checks - we had urgent circumstances  that meant we needed a car asap, so rushed and wasn't as vigilant as we should be, but the car is a Cat a/b and he sold it as a cat s, not looking to be told all of my mistakes ( trust me, I've done that to myself multiple times! ), just some advice please on what I can do next . 

I have reported to action fraud, DVSA, police and in the process of trading standards. Getting evidence of his long list of unhappy customers that I have found though forums, who have been ripped off by him too, as evidence of this not just being a one off mistake. 

Is there anything else I can do? 
Still not sure what to do with the actual car while this is all going through (its off the road, on private land), I'd like to never see it again, but it will probably be needed as evidence. 

Thanks everyone for your help so far  

born_again

All you can do is start a money claim online to try & get the money back
So letter before action to dealer, giving them 14 days. If that does not prompt a refund then on to court (not quick) & hope that they do not shut down in the mean time & still have funds if they stay open.
There is not 100% guarantee of getting money back.

Grumpy_chap

The Dealer either made a mistake when advising the status of the car, or knew and misled you.  The later seems more likely, especially given the reports from others that you have also located.  I suspect your chances of recovering anything are zero.

Notwithstanding the above, your only route is to follow the process set out by @born_again

GDB2222

Just to expand on what’s been said above, I think that you would probably win any court case. I doubt that the dealer will bother to defend, and there doesn’t appear to be any possibility of defending it successfully.

But, a win in court doesn’t mean that you will get paid. If it is a limited company, these people just let it go bust and open another. If you dealt with a sole trader in person, you will just find that he’s impossible to track down. 

The court fees are several hundred pounds, so I’m not sure it’s worth bothering, as you have little chance of getting even that amount back. Having said that, some people on benefits are exempt from paying court fees. 

That’s all in the civil court. Trading standards may be persuaded to make a criminal prosecution, but that is mostly centred on getting a conviction, and reimbursing the victims is way down the list of priorities, even if the trader has any assets. 

GDB2222

It’s a long shot, but it might be worth complaining to your bank on the basis that you have been defrauded, and they have a duty to protect you. The point is that the car the dealer handed over was not just a dud, but it was unsaleable to a retail customer. It was illegal to sell it. It does appear that this trader has a history of defrauding people, so you might be able to put together a case for the bank to compensate you based on that. 

When you paid the deposit, how was that paid?