Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

[Trigger33]

Hello,

Just after a bit of advice if possible.

I tonight bought a second hand car as mine unfortunately gave up on the way in to work today. I bought the car through an advert on Facebook. I went to view the car, and test drove the car, and as mentioned in the advert, there didn't appear to be anything wrong.

Upon getting the car home and parked on the driveway, I noticed that the central locking wasn't working from the key. Accordingly I put the key in the driver's door lock and tried locking it that way. The drivers door wouldn't lock, and nor would any of the other doors and keys.

Immediately I emailed the previous owner and questioned the locks on the doors, to which a reply of "I dunno, I never locked it" was received. No mention of an issue with the locks was made prior to sale of the vehicle, it was only once home it was realised.

Where do I stand with this? I wouldn't have bought a car knowing it wouldn't have locked, and accordingly feel extremely mislead having been told it was "lovely" with "no problems at all" when an important feature such as the locks don't work.

I've attached the advert to this post.

I look forward to hearing your views.

Thanks,

Jamie.

[oldbadger]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Hello,

Just after a bit of advice if possible.

I tonight bought a second hand car as mine unfortunately gave up on the way in to work today. I bought the car through an advert on Facebook. I went to view the car, and test drove the car, and as mentioned in the advert, there didn't appear to be anything wrong.

Upon getting the car home and parked on the driveway, I noticed that the central locking wasn't working from the key. Accordingly I put the key in the driver's door lock and tried locking it that way. The drivers door wouldn't lock, and nor would any of the other doors and keys.

Immediately I emailed the previous owner and questioned the locks on the doors, to which a reply of "I dunno, I never locked it" was received. No mention of an issue with the locks was made prior to sale of the vehicle, it was only once home it was realised.

Where do I stand with this? I wouldn't have bought a car knowing it wouldn't have locked, and accordingly feel extremely mislead having been told it was "lovely" with "no problems at all" when an important feature such as the locks don't work.

I've attached the advert to this post.

I look forward to hearing your views.

Thanks,

Jamie.

Hello!
I understand your concerns, but just wonder about other points 'on the side' of your issues.
1. Can you lock the car manually, by locking each door from inside and then locking the driver's door with they key 'in the lock'?
........ if so, are you willing to overlook the fact that it's central locking is not working?
It looks like a clean car, and you seem to like the way that it drives...... so is it worth keeping?

[des8]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Sorry, but have bad news for you!
As a private sale between two individuals, where the purchaser has the opportunity to examine the goods prior to purchase, the purchaser has very few rights.
As you examined the car, and actually took it for a test drive, the principle of "buyer beware" operates, and you would be unsuccessful in any court claim.
Your best chance is to try and negotiate a solution with the vendor, but he does not have to co operate.

If the seller was a dealer (especially if he was masquerading as a private seller, the position is completely different.
Check the paperwork to see if he was the registered keeper etc. just in case he was a dealer.

[ostell]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

I did notice that the advert said "taxed till April next year" I hope you are aware that there is no tax on the car now as it has changed hands. As the new owner you have to tax it in your own name, immediately. Difficult without the docs being in your name but that was the change

This article explains

PS If you get rid of your old car as soon as possible you will get back any tax remaining.

[Tools]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

May be a daft question but, have you tried replacing the battery in the key fob. It may just be as simple an issue as that, start with the basics and take it from there.

[ostell]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Rereading what you put in the original post have you checked the fuses? Since there is no locking even when mechanically locking the drivers door it suggests an electrical malfunction. (Tools' suggestion also triggered the thinking process).

[Trigger33]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Hi Everyone, and thanks for your responses.

I'll try and be brief, as I don't want to confuse the situation.

I have spoken to the seller regarding the issue, and he has agreed to pay for the repairs of the central locking. I have subsequently found the heating doesn't work, but have said I will repair this myself out of goodwill.

The seller is indeed a dealer, however he's posing as an individual online to make people think he's selling his old car. He's sold many cars on a local Facebook group.

He's currently selling my old car which I 'traded in', and his name isn't on the logbook. As a side note, he's also selling this as being perfect and having no faults, yet is claiming via private message; "Hello there this peugeot needs one wheel bairing passenger side and two tyres on the front as getting low are u willing to do the repairs".

Regards to fault finding, I've checked batteries in the remote, no problems there. Tried locking the door manually with the original and spare key to no avail. I've also tried locking the car by using the lock button on the dashboard, however this doesn't work. The seller seems to have gone from knowing nothing about the fault to now suggesting that the fault is being caused by the rear door being jammed (Which I didn't know about!). A quick trip to the garage is in order tomorrow!

Given the seller has changed his mind on things a fair few times, if he didn't pay for the repairs, would I be able to pay for them myself and then file a small courts claim for the cost of repair? I've attached the whole FB Chat log incase anyone fancies a laugh.

Cheers,

Jamie.

[ostell]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

As he is a trader pretending to be a private seller then list all the faults and ask him to fix. You have to give him the opportunity to fix first. If it doesn't get fixed then you reject the car and get your old car and your money back. Forget about you fixing the problems.

You may want to have word with you local trading standards.

He is pretending to be a private seller so that he can bypass all the consumer protection that exists. As the advice above says as a private sale the buyer really has no comeback. As a dealer sale the there is lots of protection now.

P.S. get cpies of a few of his adverts toshow that he is trading.

[des8]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

H

Given the seller has changed his mind on things a fair few times, if he didn't pay for the repairs, would I be able to pay for them myself and then file a small courts claim for the cost of repair? I've attached the whole FB Chat log incase anyone fancies a laugh.

Cheers,

Jamie.

Yes!
What a plonker.

It is a criminal offence for a motor trader to pretend to be a private seller
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008,businesses must not mislead consumers about their status.

[Trigger33]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Right, the dealer is still trying to sell my old car, even though I've told him about wanting a refund (Returning my old car back) if he doesn't pay for repairs. What can I do?

He's advertised my old car at £695. Would the value he's advertising the car at be amount I would claim in court if he sold it, and refused to pay for the repairs to the 'perfect' car he traded to me?

As a side note, I haven't shifted the V5 in his name yet, so technically the vehicle is still mine right? The receipt says sale is conditional on documents being sent V5, MOT etc., which he is yet to fulfill either.

[ostell]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Straight down to Trading Standards to report.

He is going to have trouble selling it he does not have a V5 to give.

As you say keep that advert both as proof of value and the fact that he is dealing.

You will be sending a lette before claim rejecting the car, claiming a refund and your old car back. Give him 7 days to respond. In those seven days set up your money claim online user name and password ready to go so as soon as the 7 days are up you make the claim.

[des8]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

First things first.
You say you have sold the vehicle "conditionally on receipt of V5C". Why?
You do realise that if an offence is committed by the driver whilst the vehicle is registered to you, you are in line for lots of hassle!
As the V5C is only a record of the registered keeper, and duplicates can be obtained quite easily, I think as a condition of sale it is unsuitable.
If the vehicle is purchased from this dealer, and the new owner applies for a replacement V5C you will be answering some hard questions from DVLA for not advising them of a new "keeper" (not owner!)

You need to finalise the purchase of the new vehicle . (If it is a conditional sale do you have authority to initiate repairs?)
You can then proceed to either have the car repaired by the seller, or failing his cooperation have repairs carried out by a third party and bill the dealer.If he fails to pay, then court beckons.

Meanwhile you are the new keeper... have you advised the DVLA?
Have you even seen the current V5C, and checked the VIN and engine numbers?

[Trigger33]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

I sent him the following message;

"You have 7 days to return the Peugeot and take the Merc, or i'm going to pursue actions via the small claims courts. You valued the Peugeot at £695, therefore if you sell the Peugeot, or refuse to hand it back, I will be claiming for a total of £695 to cover the value of the car. You can have your Mercedes back without any problems".

In response, I received the following message;

"Right let's get this straight 1 I am not swapping cars back 2 a deal is a deal no come backs 3 your holding paper work that don't belong to u 4 if your not happy with merc sell it 5 it was your choice to make sure everything was working 6 I will apply for a logbook my self 7 you cannot take me to court as I have sold car to my mum"

I'm not brilliant at drafting letters, so could you clarify?

As he's confirmed he's sold the car to his mum, should I just send a simple LBC that states payment to the value of the car (Value as per his advert), along with me returning the motor he traded to him. Or, should I ask he refunds the new owner, and then pass the car back to me?

Sorry to pester you with this! It seems I'm dealing with a 12 year old!

[Trigger33]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

First things first.
You say you have sold the vehicle "conditionally on receipt of V5C". Why?
You do realise that if an offence is committed by the driver whilst the vehicle is registered to you, you are in line for lots of hassle!
As the V5C is only a record of the registered keeper, and duplicates can be obtained quite easily, I think as a condition of sale it is unsuitable.
If the vehicle is purchased from this dealer, and the new owner applies for a replacement V5C you will be answering some hard questions from DVLA for not advising them of a new "keeper" (not owner!)

You need to finalise the purchase of the new vehicle . (If it is a conditional sale do you have authority to initiate repairs?)
You can then proceed to either have the car repaired by the seller, or failing his cooperation have repairs carried out by a third party and bill the dealer.If he fails to pay, then court beckons.

Meanwhile you are the new keeper... have you advised the DVLA?


Have you even seen the current V5C, and checked the VIN and engine numbers?

Thanks for your reply.

He refused to give me the V5 of his vehicle. He claimed it was "lost in his room". However now I know it was likely a case of he'd only just bought the vehicle, and didn't have/apply for the V5.

Stupidly I took his word, however wrote into the receipt that the sale was conditional on the paperwork being produced as a safeguard. The car he traded has been sat on the driveway, hasn't been used on the roads since.

What should I do? I don't want to keep this car any longer, it's more hassle than it's worth.

[ostell]

Re: Misleading Second Hand Car Sale

Trading Standards in the first instance.