Garage withholding proceeds of sale

[Woodmeista]

A few months ago I bought a second hand car from a local garage. After a few weeks I tried to return the car as it had developed a number of faults which they had tried to repair to no avail. to cut a long story short I agreed with them that they would take the car back and sell on my behalf and pass me 100% of the sale. I received an update last week saying 'the car has been sold and monies will be transferred next week'. I chased this up today and have just received an email stating that the 'car has developed a fault and the new owner may choose to return it so we are unable to send you any money at this time'.

To my mind this is of no concern to me. As they have sold the car and provided warranty; have transferred ownership to him etc then surely I have every right to expect the monies to be transferred especially given the email they sent me last week.

I'm unsure as to next steps other than I no longer have an asset; the garage has my money and they refuse to part with it.

Any advice on what I can/should do next would be most gratefully received.

Thanks.

[des8]

Hi & welcome

Regret to say you have handled this situation to your disadvantage.

You now need to write (get free certificate of posting from post office & keep copy) to the dealer and tell them the agreement for them to sell the car on your behalf is rescinded if the new buyer returns the vehicle.
In that event you are exercising your right to reject the vehicle and require a full refund within 14 days of the return.
If the vehicle is not returned within the next seven days you require the proceeds of the sale to be paid to you at the end of the seven days without delay.

As a matter of interest the new buyer has upto 6 years in which to return the vehicle..... were you expected to wait that long?

[Woodmeista]

Thanks very much for taking time to respond.

just to clarify though - it appears that the vehicle has been sold and transferred to the new owner. I declared the vehicle as SORN on handover and having checked today I see the vehicle is taxed and has a new MOT.

My View (and this May be wrong) is that the issue is now between the purchaser (and new owner) and the garage and any interaction they have will he covered by CRA2015. If that’s the case then surely I have every right to be paid?

In effect do they have any right to withhold payment and if not what could I do to ‘force’ them to do so?

thanks Again

[ostell]

No, the garage were acting as your agent in the sale and have no responsibility. You yourself should have used the CRA against the garage. Do as Des8 is suggesting, a CRA rejection

[Woodmeista]

Thank you.

Part of the long story was their refusal to accept my rejection under CRA 2015 and we reached the stage of a final letter before court action. Their offer to sell was in response to the final letter and my view was I would lose more in solicitor fees etc by going the court route and I need the proceeds of the sale to purchase a new vehicle.

Fully understand the view I should now push back under CRA2015 but as I no longer own the vehicle as am I still
entitled to do so? Apologies if this is a legally stupid question but I have been a one mans band trying to sort this for 3 months!

Appreciate the help.

[Woodmeista]

I have written to the garage as suggested and they are refusing to engage saying they are waiting for the new owner to decide what he wants to do before coming back to
me. Any other thoughts welcomed.

[des8]

You gave them 7 days? ..... wait for the 7 days to expire

[Woodmeista]

I have. And if/when that expires?

[des8]

If the vehicle is not returned you initiate a court claim for the price it realised (you do know how much the new owner paid?}
If the vehicle is returned you initiate a claim for the price you paid as per CRA 2015 rights

[Woodmeista]

Thanks. Yes I do know the price it went for so good there. Presumably one needs a solicitor to help lodge a claim?

[des8]

No need to use a solicitor because if your claim is for less than £10,000 and not overly complicated it will almost certainly be allocated to the small claims track.

[ostell]

So between a rock and a hard place for the dealer

You must give the dealer a sufficient time to respond to the letter before claim, another 14 days unfortunately.

Start creating an account with MCOL now in readiness

[Woodmeista]

Thanks both. The sum is approx £17k so I may need some legal advice looking at the various websites. I will create an account as you suggest and crack on. Their 7 days expires tomorrow so I will send the letter before court action then.

[des8]

How did you pay for the car?
If on HP or credit card there might be other ways of obtaining your refund

[Woodmeista]

Thanks to all. Money paid back to me today after following the various advice here. Really appreciated your help.