Another Dodgy Secondhand Car Dealer

[des8]

watch the numbering of paragraphs!

Point 4 negotiations by phone/email
point 5 detail where you were when arranging transfer
point 6 again detail location

The statement of truth should read:
“I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.”

Regarding your final paragraph note that once you have given notice of rejection you must make the vehicle available for collection by the dealer.
You should not make it conditional on payment of alledged outstanding debts!

[Greenfrog]

Hi des8 , as ever, thanks for your help!
I've made the adjustments as recommended.

Your last point is interesting, i.e. I should make the car available without condition that the bills are paid. I hadn't got to the that stage with the dealer, so didn't make this stipulation directly to them. However, it would worry me considerably returning the car with outstanding bills and no return of the original payment! However, I appreciate this is a legal point and must be abided by.

Thanks again for everyone's help on this. I do really appreciate it. without the support of this forum I would either have an expensive legal bill to cover, or be very unprepared!

I'll check back in a few weeks with an update...

[des8]

Re making vehicle available for collection by trader cf CRa 2016 sec 20 (7):

"(7)From the time when the right [to reject] is exercised—
(a)the trader has a duty to give the consumer a refund, subject to subsection (18), and
(b)the consumer has a duty to make the goods available for collection by the trader or (if there is an agreement for the consumer to return rejected goods) to return them as agreed."

[Greenfrog]

Hi all, I thought I'd provide an update on todays 'Dispute Resolution Hearing'. I have to admit, it's left me a bit bewildered!

I went into the hearing after putting together a 20 page document maliciously detailing every stage and exchange of this conflict so far (put together with a huge amount of help from members of this forum).
The defendant did not provide a witness statement, or any kind of prepared response. In fact they weren't even available to take the call, instead the sales manager took the call after 10 minutes and multiple calls. The sales manager had only a vague knowledge of the case.

What then followed was the briefest of exchanges, this can be summarised by the judge asking if the defendant was willing to accept my claim (he didn't), then judge asking me if I will accept the defendant's offer (to continue to attempt to repair the car). I declined the offer. The judge then referred the case to a full hearing which will likely take place in March of next year.

I cannot fathom the point of the Dispute Resolution Hearing. I'd waited around 9 months just for a judge to ask both parties if we'd changed our minds. Also, seemingly, there was no point in preparing the witness statement. The judged refenced it's existence, but not it's content. Furthermore the defendant suffered no disadvantage from having prepared nothing.

This process has left me very frustrated! Rant over!

I do have a question for the forum though. It's not really practical form me to wait another circa 6 months for the next hearing. I'm thinking about attempting another repair of the car (I've since spoken to a few people who have ideas of what the issue could be). If I did succeed in repairing the car, and then decide to keep the car, can I alter my existing claim to now be for the warranty repair cost? To remind you, I was claiming to return the car plus the costs of the repairs incurred so far. So now I would only be claiming for around a £1,000 worth of repairs and instead keeping the car.

As ever, any help would be much appreciated. Apologies for the rant style of this post, I'm just very frustrated to have come this far and made no progress!

[des8]

You can amend your claim on application to the court (cost £175?).

If you are considering a change of tack try negotiating with the dealer before altering claim.
To avoid court he may be prepared to meet your costs.
If that works out you can then discontinue your claim at no cost