Car Fraud : Where to Start ?

Eminster

We purchased a car, the car developed a major fault after half hour driving and the dealer disappeared, price paid £6500, possible fault : head gasket

We don't know which steps to take and in which order

1. How can we be sure the guy we met matches his name and address ?
2. How long to wait before start a lawsuit ?
3. Contact Citizen Advice or trading standards ?
4. Contact a lawyer or a private investigator ?
5. Take on the chin and consider to repair the vehicle (we need it) ?
6. Do it the point 5 straight away or wait for seller to respond ?
7. Chances eventually to see any money back ? I'm not very optimistic after reading the other thread

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660924/car-fraud-where-to-start

Was this supposed to be a dealership or a private seller?

The first point should have been done before buying the car

You are going to need to gather evidence, you are going to have to give them a reasonable timescale to put things right and notify them of the intent to go to court. If its a private seller you have little chance as they dont have to declare anything, what they do declare has to be true to the best of their knowledge so unless he said the head gasket is fine you may not have any claim

Citizens Advice will give you general advice, again if they go any further will depend on if it's a business or private seller. Trading Standards generally dont take individual complaints any more but will be passed cases from CAB however only if the seller is a business

You can if you want, both will be at your own expense. You are in small claims court values which dont allow many expenses being added to the case

Undervalued

Trading standards don't deal with individual complaints on a consumer's behalf.

What would be the cost of a satisfactory repair? That will affect what other action is prudent to take.

Even assuming your are 100% right and the dealer is 100% wrong be very careful not to throw good money after bad.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6660924/car-fraud-where-to-start

1. Not, unless you verify it.
2. What do you mean by "lawsuit"? If you mean attempting to get a CCJ you first need to make sure you have the right person to serve notice against, then send a letter before action, giving them two weeks minimum, then start the MCOL claim. It also depends on the timeline between attempting to contact them, you need to give them a "reasonable time" to respond first, if this is a day or two then that is too soon, if it has been several weeks then you need to send an LBA.
3. Neither, both are irrelevant.
4. Neither, both are irrelevant and costs their are unrecoverable.
5. Depends on the cost to fix the issue, if you know who you actually bought it from, they are real etc.
6. See point two.
7. If they are giving false details then zero, if they are real details then still very low, but slightly higher than zero.

Eminster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934038#Comment_81934038

It's a dealership, he has 11 cars currently for sale

Even if it was a private individual he can not know the car overheats and disconnect the thermostat, the car was sold as 'no issues no problems'

We inspected and tested the car two weeks before, we pointed some issues, like worn tyres, scratched alloy wheels, missing boot cover etc, he offered to fix them. We waited two weeks, met again, paid and drove off.

The car started to lose power, we stopped and smoke was coming off

Then I noticed lose pipes, missing bolts and nuts, missing covers, like it was a different engine put together in a rush (we need to check with a mechanic because the engine number is not visible)

Eminster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934042#Comment_81934042

Matt, point 1 and point 4 are connected, even assuming we get a name and an address which way do I have to make sure name and face are the right ones?

Yes, I can ask a friend to fix an appointment to see another car, but if this guy is dangerous ?

Eminster

Do we have any realistic chances with the Bank under the Faster Payments System and CHAPS ?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934063#Comment_81934063

Given it's a business what a private individual may or may not know is an irrelevance so won't go down that rabbit hole.

How did you pay? Cash? Card? Bank Transfer?

Did you meet him and the car at business premises? Somewhere he claimed was his home? A random place?

Eminster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934098#Comment_81934098

Bank Transfer, we met him but we have been deceived. We performed the due diligence buying the car history check and looking at VIN number, etc

We met him at an home address but many small dealers do that, so it didn't ring any bells

I had a similar problem with my old car, it didn't overheat for half hour but I knew something was wrong, even if WBAC would have take it we sold for scrap. In this case the recovery guy noticed the thermostat was missing so we didn't have any lights on the dashboard

MyRealNameToo

So if you paid for by BT you at least should know the name on the account is correct and presumably that did match the name of the person selling the car?

Eminster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934127#Comment_81934127

Yes, the bank details are under a **** Car **** LTD as the invoice, however there is not any LTD with that name. Fake invoice ? The address is a residential property which is recorded as Land on the Land Registry.

The seller was a bit in a rush because for him was Eid day and he was celebrating with family. As soon he got the money he was gone