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Hi
Firstly what a great forum helping people through stressful and difficult times
Secondly please don’t judge me as I have made some schoolboy errors
First error not reading all reviews on auto trader before buying for a dealer (only read the first page) they were rated 4.6 out of 5 from 46 reviews
Second error not doing my own HPI check before purchasing.
So let the story begin,
I purchased a car I had seen on auto trader on the 10/4/21 for £6500 on first inspection the car looked good and on the test drive it all seem fine so agreed to purchase the car and paid for it and drove it away
On the 15/04/21 while driving the car to work a warning light came on “service engine now” I continued to work as it was only 2 miles away and after work when turning the car back on the light went off so drove the car home with no issues.
The next day the same happened again so I called a friend who owns a garage and where I have taken my cars for work for a few years to ask him to take a look. I wanted him to look at it first to give his opinion before contacting the dealer as the dealers garage was 75 miles away and he would just have said bring it back and we will take a look.
I am glad I did now as the mechanic ask me has the car been in an accident and I said not that I am aware of and the dealer didn’t advertise it as being a category car. He said that several panels had been replaced and the electric had had previous work done on them and there we several error codes when he hooked up the diagnostic computer.
At this point I completed a HPI check and the car came back as CAT D for an insurance write off on 2017.
I call the dealer and explained all this to him and said that he had sold me a CAT D car and not advertised it as that on auto trader. Not knowing the extent of the accident damage or the level of internal work done on the car I would not have bought the car and I would like to reject the car as I had only had the car 7 days
The dealer said he would look into it on Monday when he was in the garage and call me back.
I contacted auto trader as I wanted the original listing for the car to ensure that it wasn’t in the small print somewhere it was CAT D and also why is didn’t come up as CAT D on the website which it should of the reg plate is inputted when selling on auto trader. The person at auto trader said it is not compulsory to put the reg plate in for dealers but if they knew the reg plate there wouldn’t be a reason not to add it (especially as he has inputted other reviews plates for other cars he is selling) This just got me thinking he didn’t input it as he knew it would flag up on the listing it was CAT D
I wait all day Monday but didn’t get a call from the dealer so tried to call him on 2 numbers I had for him but he didn’t answer so I text both numbers saying that he had mis sold me a CAT D car and I want to reject the car as it was mis sold to me.
A couple of hours later I got a text back saying I had 2 options
1. He would refund me £6400 as long as car is on as sold condition
2. I keep the car and we agree an amount of compensation to what I think the car is worth.
I messaged back saying I am entitled to a full refund of £6500 and want to reject the car as it had been mis sold and I would not have bought a CAT D car if I had been made aware.
He replied saying sorry I thought you paid £7000 my offer would be £6000 to return it.
I realised at that point that this wasn’t going to resolved amicably and messaged to say I would be going down the legal route.
At this point I did some more googling about the company and looked at all the reviews on auto trader and found that he has done this at least 5 other times to people and offered them £500 less than they paid for the car after only having the cars for around a week.
I contacted citizens advice who gave me a template letter to send giving 14 days to respond which I sent recorded deliver and was signed for at the garage. I waited the 2 weeks without response so contacted citizens advice again who sent me a second template to send giving another 7 days to respond or that I would make a claim though the county courts. This was also sent recorded and was signed for at the garage
Again no response so I texted him to say that I had sent 2 letter and not received a response and will be making a claim in the county court.
This time I got a reply saying my original offer still stands of a £6000 refund.
I replied to say I would not accept that offer as I am entitled to a full refund.
It looks like this dealer does this on a regular basis and pressures people into taking less in refunds so they can get some money back and then he re lists the car and sells it on again, in some cases listing the cars higher.
So on to why I have posted on this forum
Firstly do I have a chance of winning my case in the county courts as it looks like this dealer is very savvy with all this and has been doing it for a while and I have never done this before?
Is reasonable for him to offer £500 less after only having the car for 7 days?
I am gong to begin filling out the claims court forms tomorrow, is here anything I need to be adding to the form that will help my case?
If I lose the case could I incur any cost from the dealer?
Lastly I parked the car up since the first time I spoke to dealer and told him I wouldn’t be driving until this was resolved, can I claim even though I am still in possession and is it his responsibility to collect the car if I win in the county court or do I have to take him back to him?
Thank you in advance and thank you for reading this, it’s longer that I though it was going to be
Firstly what a great forum helping people through stressful and difficult times
Secondly please don’t judge me as I have made some schoolboy errors
First error not reading all reviews on auto trader before buying for a dealer (only read the first page) they were rated 4.6 out of 5 from 46 reviews
Second error not doing my own HPI check before purchasing.
So let the story begin,
I purchased a car I had seen on auto trader on the 10/4/21 for £6500 on first inspection the car looked good and on the test drive it all seem fine so agreed to purchase the car and paid for it and drove it away
On the 15/04/21 while driving the car to work a warning light came on “service engine now” I continued to work as it was only 2 miles away and after work when turning the car back on the light went off so drove the car home with no issues.
The next day the same happened again so I called a friend who owns a garage and where I have taken my cars for work for a few years to ask him to take a look. I wanted him to look at it first to give his opinion before contacting the dealer as the dealers garage was 75 miles away and he would just have said bring it back and we will take a look.
I am glad I did now as the mechanic ask me has the car been in an accident and I said not that I am aware of and the dealer didn’t advertise it as being a category car. He said that several panels had been replaced and the electric had had previous work done on them and there we several error codes when he hooked up the diagnostic computer.
At this point I completed a HPI check and the car came back as CAT D for an insurance write off on 2017.
I call the dealer and explained all this to him and said that he had sold me a CAT D car and not advertised it as that on auto trader. Not knowing the extent of the accident damage or the level of internal work done on the car I would not have bought the car and I would like to reject the car as I had only had the car 7 days
The dealer said he would look into it on Monday when he was in the garage and call me back.
I contacted auto trader as I wanted the original listing for the car to ensure that it wasn’t in the small print somewhere it was CAT D and also why is didn’t come up as CAT D on the website which it should of the reg plate is inputted when selling on auto trader. The person at auto trader said it is not compulsory to put the reg plate in for dealers but if they knew the reg plate there wouldn’t be a reason not to add it (especially as he has inputted other reviews plates for other cars he is selling) This just got me thinking he didn’t input it as he knew it would flag up on the listing it was CAT D
I wait all day Monday but didn’t get a call from the dealer so tried to call him on 2 numbers I had for him but he didn’t answer so I text both numbers saying that he had mis sold me a CAT D car and I want to reject the car as it was mis sold to me.
A couple of hours later I got a text back saying I had 2 options
1. He would refund me £6400 as long as car is on as sold condition
2. I keep the car and we agree an amount of compensation to what I think the car is worth.
I messaged back saying I am entitled to a full refund of £6500 and want to reject the car as it had been mis sold and I would not have bought a CAT D car if I had been made aware.
He replied saying sorry I thought you paid £7000 my offer would be £6000 to return it.
I realised at that point that this wasn’t going to resolved amicably and messaged to say I would be going down the legal route.
At this point I did some more googling about the company and looked at all the reviews on auto trader and found that he has done this at least 5 other times to people and offered them £500 less than they paid for the car after only having the cars for around a week.
I contacted citizens advice who gave me a template letter to send giving 14 days to respond which I sent recorded deliver and was signed for at the garage. I waited the 2 weeks without response so contacted citizens advice again who sent me a second template to send giving another 7 days to respond or that I would make a claim though the county courts. This was also sent recorded and was signed for at the garage
Again no response so I texted him to say that I had sent 2 letter and not received a response and will be making a claim in the county court.
This time I got a reply saying my original offer still stands of a £6000 refund.
I replied to say I would not accept that offer as I am entitled to a full refund.
It looks like this dealer does this on a regular basis and pressures people into taking less in refunds so they can get some money back and then he re lists the car and sells it on again, in some cases listing the cars higher.
So on to why I have posted on this forum
Firstly do I have a chance of winning my case in the county courts as it looks like this dealer is very savvy with all this and has been doing it for a while and I have never done this before?
Is reasonable for him to offer £500 less after only having the car for 7 days?
I am gong to begin filling out the claims court forms tomorrow, is here anything I need to be adding to the form that will help my case?
If I lose the case could I incur any cost from the dealer?
Lastly I parked the car up since the first time I spoke to dealer and told him I wouldn’t be driving until this was resolved, can I claim even though I am still in possession and is it his responsibility to collect the car if I win in the county court or do I have to take him back to him?
Thank you in advance and thank you for reading this, it’s longer that I though it was going to be
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