Car A Previous Write Off

supermonkey

Hello fellow moneysavers.

I've just found out my car was a previous write off so you can guess how happy I am! I've also been told that although the repair work was safe, it wasnt a good job. I bought the car privately just under 2 years ago.

I specifically asked the seller if it had been involved in an accident and was told no. My question is - do I have any kind of comeback. Should I have been informed by the DVLA or police?

Theres no mention of it on the V5 reg doc.


Thanks for your help
SuperMonkey

cowbutt

supermonkey wrote: »

Should I have been informed by the DVLA or police?

Theres no mention of it on the V5 reg doc.

Nope; that's one of the things HPI checks are for.

supermonkey

Yes, I shall defeinately be getting one next time.

But i've been told the police used to inform people of things like this...

Crabman

Hi supermonkey, I'll move this over to the Motoring Board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

tinkerbell84

HPI is the only thing that would have told you.

It's buyer beware, I'm afraid.

supermonkey

thanks all,

just wish I could get some comeback on the seller!

hartcjhart

with nothing marked on the logbook(a fairly recent thing)the previous owner might not have known either

BenL

When people have asked me before when selling a car that I have not owned from new I have always said "Not to my knowledge"

Its the truth as someone else before may have had a prang so i'm not lying.

As other people have said its HPI checks and a keen eye for repainted surfaces, crumpled boot floors, overspray, obvious replacement parts, go faster stripes all down the side to break up what you are viewing.

jrrowleyws

HPI wont neccessarily know, if its not on the log book, its likely to never have been declared.

Iamthesmartestmanalive

If you could prove that the previous owner knew and lied you may have a claim for your loss, which tbh would be minimal- at possible a small amount for the loss of value the claim made

If you cant prove he knew you would get nothing

TBH its not going to be worth pursuing, it cant be that poor a job if you never noticed

supermonkey

Iamthesmartestmanalive wrote: »

If you could prove that the previous owner knew and lied you may have a claim for your loss, which tbh would be minimal- at possible a small amount for the loss of value the claim made

If you cant prove he knew you would get nothing

TBH its not going to be worth pursuing, it cant be that poor a job if you never noticed

Thanks, I can prove he knew as the car was given to him by his mum and they were the only previous owners. Basically I had an accident and the cars value has been decreased because of this previous accident so I'm losing out because of his dishonesty.

Even a minimal amount would be useful, do you know how I would go about getting something back?