Second Hand Cars - Consumer Rights

JPS66

Won a County Court case… but still no payment – is the system broken?

I wanted to share a recent experience and see if others have been through something similar.

After purchasing a used car that turned out to be faulty, we went through the full legal process and won in the County Court under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The judge ordered a full refund.

However, what has surprised me is what happens after you win.

We are now facing:

• Delays receiving the written judgment
• Uncertainty around enforcement
• The risk that the company simply doesn’t pay (despite multiple CCJs already showing publicly)

It feels like winning in court is only half the battle, and the burden then shifts back to the consumer to recover the money.

Has anyone else experienced this?

• Did you manage to enforce payment successfully?
• What route worked best (High Court enforcement, bank account freeze, etc.)?
• Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Interested to hear from others who’ve been through this, particularly with second-hand car purchases.

Thanks

caprikid1

Welcome to the real world, the law is no magic wand to make things right again.

You need to get judgements, you need to enforce those judgements and they need to have money to pay you.

Car dealers are notorious for running on Zero assets, zero cash and phoenixing at the first sign of danger.

Good luck.

It is really important before taking any legal steps to decide the desired outcome and understand the likely chance of success, a check for existing assets and CCJ's is a good start.

caprikid1

don't forget if the company has existing CCJ's they will know the process far better than you !.

Do your research on the company and seek professional debt recovery advice.

Isthisforreal99

"Anything different you would have done?" - Hindsight is a wonderful thing but carrying out due diligence before buying the car and not buy from a company that has had numerous CCJ's against it.

You don't ay whether the entity is a Ltd company, if so have you checkes it's status at companies house.

If it is Ltd with no assets then your chances of recovering funds are next to nil so bare that in mind before spending more on enforcement.

fatbelly

Providing it is for more than £600, the usual route is High Court Enforcement. There is a small upfront high court fee of £80 and the rest of the fees are collected from the debtor. A trading car dealer will have removable stock so that is the way to go

caprikid1

"A trading car dealer will have removable stock so that is the way to go"

Not sure that is rock solid, Stocking loans, Sale or Return may make this quite complex but agree that its an option.

born_again

Always check the companies house, then via that look at the directors. How many different companies have they been through that have been dissolved.

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926265#Comment_81926265

Sounds like they know all the dodges to avoid paying.

Alderbank

Since the company you bought from and then sued has multiple CCJs already showing publicly, it is very likely that

(a) they have made sure that any assets the company has are safely out of reach

(b) they don't care about one more CCJ added to their collection.

lincroft1710

Where is the car now? As previous posters are doubtful of you receiving any refund, you at least ought to be in possession of the car