Dealer mis-sold car - offering refund - options ?

[metallica]

Hello everyone,

Brief history -

Purchased an "Approved Used" car from a main dealer

The dealer mis-sold service history and warranty
Promised FSH but car has partial history with 6 years history missing.
Warranty is invalid as the condition for warranty needs car to have service done annually.

After threatening with legal action, they are offering a full refund. No apology or admission of mistake. Rather praising their ethos.

However I did not ask for a full refund. My offer was to refund some amount to reflect the true value as the car is not worth what I paid for - due to partial history and no warranty. In my proposals I have asked 20% of the price I paid as refund.

I do not ideally prefer to return the car as I like it and it does not have any issue and it will be hassle and additional expenses (parking permit, insurance etc) to get another car. Plus the time I will be without a car.

Just to add - I am aware of the right to reject but I was ideally hoping to keep the car and get a certain % money from them which I feel I over paid due to mis-selling
However they are rejecting that and offering a full refund - makes sense from their perspective as they will sell the car at same price or higher to another customer.

Is there any ground for me to take this to small claims court for a partial refund OR
will the court go against me suggesting that as the dealer offered full refund, I should have taken it?

I am still within the 30 day period and I made some payment with the credit card.

If the broad consensus is that I should take the offer for full refund, what other actions can I take so that car dealers do not get away with such outright lies which cause unnecessary trouble to customers.

Thanks

[atticus]

If you can get the seller to agree a partial refund, then fine, albeit that you may fetter your rights in respect of any further issues that arise. Otherwise your choice is to keep the car or take the refund.

[metallica]

Many thanks.

The dealer has refused a partial refund which I initially proposed.

So the choice for me is

Full refund from dealer and give the car OR
keep the car and claim partial refund via small claims court.

Only if the latter is bound to be successful I would like to pursue that option ? The primary reason being I felt inconvenienced.

It took me months to find the right car and now I will be without one for what I see as clearly their fault. Beside I have to pay insurance cancellation fees.

[Pezza54]

You should contact Citizens Advice. Their website has an article about consumers being misled into buying a product that he or she might not have otherwise bought.

The article goes on to state that the consumer may be entitled to a full or partial refund if the item has been miss sold. If returning the article causes the consumer inconvenience a partial refund may be the answer.

A claim on the small claims track is always a risk and for a claim under £5k there would be court costs approaching £600 if your claim goes to a hearing in the county court. You should get these costs back if you win your case.

To set a value for your claim I believe you would have to show that the car without full service history and warranty is worth £??? less than what you paid for it..

[metallica]

Many thanks.

Are you able to provide the link to CAB advise about inconvenience and partial refund? I was unable to find.

I did speak to CAB last week and they advised to reject the car saying it was mis-sold and advised how I go about it. The £5K claim amount is now raised to £10k

I have cited internet articles which say that a car without FSH and warranty is 20% less than the asking price and this formed the basis of me asking 20% back.

[Pezza54]

citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/if-you-were-misled-or-pressured-into-buying-something-you-didn't-want/

AutoExpress estimates the value of a car is worth 5-10% more with full service history. Can a car warranty be purchased without full service history?

Might be worth contacting the motorombudsman who try to settle disputes before court action.

[metallica]

citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/changed-your-mind/if-you-were-misled-or-pressured-into-buying-something-you-didn't-want/

AutoExpress estimates the value of a car is worth 5-10% more with full service history. Can a car warranty be purchased without full service history?

Might be worth contacting the motorombudsman who try to settle disputes before court action.

Many thanks for the link. I will try to speak to CAB again.

The warranty cannot be purchased, as it is approved used - it came with a years warranty.
I have a week more to return the car so want to make a decision soon.

[Pezza54]

Yes you can purchase a warranty for a car without full service history. So AutoExpress 7.5% plus the cost of a warranty for your car produces a more accurate and reasonable value for your claim.
Just basing your claim on 20% and expecting the judge to come up with a fairer sum is a dangerous thing to do.
For claims over £5k court fees are increased and claims over £10k are likely to be allocated to the fast claims track.

[des8]

You can do all sorts of things, but how old is the vehicle? what was the price?
Besides the credit card was a finance company involved?
Rather than going down the court route consider a section 75 claim

[Pezza54]

I suspect the ccc would reject a S75 claim on the grounds the trader has offered a full refund.

If I had to return a mis-sold car I would have to hire a car until I found another car to buy. Public transport is not reliable and journeys take too long.

[des8]

"Suspect" is not "know".

Doesn't cost anything to lodge the claim, and if declined refer it to FOS.
At some point they might give in.

Your other options include lodging a court claim, (but whether or not that is viable depends partly on the values involved), or
accepting the refund and returning the vehicle or keeping the vehicle

[Pezza54]

Point taken DES8. I was only going on personal experience. I wasted 15 months with a S75 claim and the FOS and wouldn't recommend that route.

[des8]

Until recently I considered FOS as much use as a chocolate teapot, but a couple of months ago they upheld a complaint of irresponsible lending to a person I was helping.
That has caused me to revise my opinion somewhat

[metallica]

Many thanks all for the helpful suggestions.

Having thought about this, I have decided to return the car for a refund.

It will be a massive hassle to be without a car until I get another one, but I feel the choices are limited.Thanks

[des8]

Thanks for the update and hope next purchase is less fraught