Another Dodgy Secondhand Car Dealer

[des8]

Sorry, bit of a delay ... will get it out tomorrow.
In meantime, if this is your first time in the court process you might like to read these two guides:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/...+web+FINAL.pdf
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdf

[Greenfrog]

des8 thanks for info, it is my first time in court so I appreciate the guides. I'll have a browse tonight

[des8]

Draft PoC for you:

1)At the material time the defendant was J bloggs t/a xxxx, a trader.(or was it a limited company?) and the claimant a consumer
2)On dd.mm/yy the claimant purchased a vehicle Make & model Reg No xx 00 abc from
the defendant for £xxxxx
3)This is a claim for breach of contract.
4)The goods were not fit for purpose, nor of satisfactory quality, and were mis described.(assuming they were!)
contrary to the Consumer Rights Act 2015
5)It was agreed the defendant should meet the cost of repairing the vehicle at a third party garage.
6) All attempts at repair failed.
7)The defendant has subsequently ignored the notices of rejection
8)Accordingly the claimant claims
(a)the sum of £xxxxxxxxx
(b) additional costs of £xxxxxxxx
(c)court costs
(d) Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just.

[Greenfrog]

des8 I see what you mean now when you mentioned my initial draft was more like a witness statement.

Thanks so much for going to the effort of putting together the above draft. I feel a lot more confident working from what you've written. I certainly think this gives the garage very little room to manoeuvre.

Thanks again for your help. I'll let you know how this progresses!

[Greenfrog]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

I thought I'd share an update regarding my claim for anyone who might be interested.

After submitting the claim, with a lot of help from the community here, we're finally at the final date of reply for the defendant (after they requested a two week extension).

Unfortunately, the defendant has rejected the claim and requested mediation. The grounds they've used are that they have offered to return and fix the car. My view is that every action they have taken is to avoid payment/resolution and so this is just another effort to drag out the process and avoid settling.

I'll be requesting to pursue the claim and not go to mediation. I'm a little wary this may not look great when going to court. However the fact that the garage have never previously engaged in resolving the problem, I'm hoping will explain my decision to the court.

Thanks again for all the help, and I'll let you know what happens next!

[ostell]

You will be safe as you have given him, and he took, one chance to repair and that failed.

[Greenfrog]

Thanks for the reply.
I do have one question, I'm just clicking through the process of continuing the claim now. What I didn't realise is that I can elect for the 'free mediation phone call' and still progress to a court, assuming we don't agree.
Do you think it's worth taking that route? Apparently it doesn't delay the court date.
Many thanks

[MIKE770]

you must agree mediation shows court you have tried "save as to courts time" well thats what they say! not believed.

[echat11]

Thanks for the reply.
I do have one question, I'm just clicking through the process of continuing the claim now. What I didn't realise is that I can elect for the 'free mediation phone call' and still progress to a court, assuming we don't agree.
Do you think it's worth taking that route? Apparently it doesn't delay the court date.
Many thanks

Yes, you lose nothing agreeing to mediation, the court process carry's on if you don't reach agreement during the mediation call.

[Greenfrog]

That's great, thanks echat11

[des8]

If you do not intend to settle for anything less than your claim there is no point going to mediation.
It won't make any difference to the outcome of the court hearing if you decline mediation.

However it is a lot less stressful than a court hearing, so if you feel you can accept a small reduction in your additional costs it may be worthwhile.
If you go to mediation, set yourself a minimum below which you will not go!

[Greenfrog]

I didn't go for mediation in the end. As per des8 's point, I'm not willing to settle for anything less - I'm returning the car, so want it's full value.

I have now received a court order. There will be a 'Dispute Resolution Hearing'. The only thing which confuses me is the date by which evidence/documents are to be provided to each party. The order states this must be done 14 days prior to the hearing. The only date I have on the order is the 17th January, which is the date to apply for the hearing to cancelled, changed, etc.

Will a second order be issued with a court hearing date once the 17th of January has passed?

Considering the amount of time and money involved, I'm paranoid about missing something. I've emailed the contact address provided on the order. However, they have a 15 day turnaround for queries.

Many thanks,

[des8]

From the wording of your post there will be a later instruction from the court regarding the date of this preliminary hearing.
It is rare for a case which would be allocated to the small claims track to go to a preliminary hearing
I presume the court is minded to decide all or part of this matter without a full hearing.

From what you have posted the defence seems pretty pants so hopefully the court is looking to strike it out.

Better get working on your witness statement!

[Greenfrog]

ahh, that makes sense - I was thinking this was the final court hearing. The defendant's defence was pretty weak (and very brief), it amounted to; 'we didn't fix it ourselves, so the attempt to fix it so far doesn't count', despite the fact they instructed the repair!

Well, hopefully this is good news. I will get started on my witness statement.

Thanks again for everyone's help. I'll let you know how it goes

[des8]

good luck.
post up your draft witness statement and we can give it the once over for you if you want