Hello,
I receive today, 27/05/2020 a civil money claim regarding a car that I sold on Facebook Marketplace in February 2020. (private sale)
I have attached the letter and a few other things I thought might be relevant.
Timeline of what happened:
25.02.2020 - On the day of the purchase three gentleman turned up to view the car, they all inspected it and one of them also test drove it giving it the green light and confirmed that the car works and drives well. During the viewing I mentioned the timing chain will need replacing soon. Following this, we both singed an AA private car sale contract, exchanged the v5 and after he transferred the money they left driving the car.
26.02.2020 - I received a text message from the buyer asking me for £150 towards the repair of the timing chain (see message attached). I replied politely saying that I already knocked money off the original asking price for this issue so I will not be refunding the additional £150 asked.
07/03/2020 - I received a phone call from the buyer asking me to take the car back and give him a full refund because the car has been in an accident, it doesn't have the original engine, has multiple electrical faults and the airbags removed. I reply saying that I will not take the car back nor offer a refund because I was not aware of any of these problems. I owned the car for nearly 9 months and I never had a problem with it. I used the car to commute to work and would not do so if I was aware of these problems, especially the lack of airbags. I also mentioned that if I probably knew about these things I wouldn't invite them inside my house so they would know my address and I definitely wouldn't be such a genuine guy by mentioning the timing chain even though they never been asked about it.
06/05/2020 - I receive a complaint letter saying that I miss-described the goods by saying that "The car has covered 48k miles from new when in fact upon inspection we have discovered the car doesn't have the original engine therefore your description of low mileage from new is incorrect". I replied to this by saying that I have found a HPI check that I have done on the day before I bought the car and the HPI check came back all clear without mentioning any of the stated problems.
27/05/2020 - I received a civil money claim that I have also attached in this thread.
In the civil money claim the buyer attached a version of his timeline of what happened, however there are many inconsistencies and untrue events in there.
For example:
Page 1 26/02/2020: The buyer mentioned he took the car to a garage and said the garage advised the timing chain was okay however the alternator was not charging the battery. In the text message I received on 26/02/2020 (see message attached) from the buyer he is asking for £150 towards repairing the timing chain.
Page 2 07/03/2020: - The buyer claims I advised him to sell the car on and that I deleted my Facebook account.
Page 3 07/04/2020 - The buyer said I originally claimed that I purchased the car from a garage where it had been brought in as a part exchange and then on 07/03/2020 via the phone call he claims I said I bought it from a friend. I originally said I bought the car from a guy in Manchester via Facebook marketplace and that the seller told me he got the car as part exchange when he sold a different car. I never mentioned I bought the car from a dealer or a garage.
On page 3 in the Evidence section the buyer is claiming that he sent two initial letters that I refused to take receipt off, however on page 3 16/04/2020 he is saying "Our correspondence had been addressed to the property next door".
In the claim on page 4 there is also a statement of truth that the buyer signed. It clearly states that he believes that the facts stated in this claim for are true, which they are not.
On contacting multiple solicitors I have been told that it would cost me more their representation then repaying for the car so they advised me to represent myself. I have never done anything like this before so I decided to post on here to see if there is anyone that can give me advice in this situation.
English is not my first language so I hope this makes sense. I am more than happy to provide more details if needed. Thanks in advance for your help.
I receive today, 27/05/2020 a civil money claim regarding a car that I sold on Facebook Marketplace in February 2020. (private sale)
I have attached the letter and a few other things I thought might be relevant.
Timeline of what happened:
25.02.2020 - On the day of the purchase three gentleman turned up to view the car, they all inspected it and one of them also test drove it giving it the green light and confirmed that the car works and drives well. During the viewing I mentioned the timing chain will need replacing soon. Following this, we both singed an AA private car sale contract, exchanged the v5 and after he transferred the money they left driving the car.
26.02.2020 - I received a text message from the buyer asking me for £150 towards the repair of the timing chain (see message attached). I replied politely saying that I already knocked money off the original asking price for this issue so I will not be refunding the additional £150 asked.
07/03/2020 - I received a phone call from the buyer asking me to take the car back and give him a full refund because the car has been in an accident, it doesn't have the original engine, has multiple electrical faults and the airbags removed. I reply saying that I will not take the car back nor offer a refund because I was not aware of any of these problems. I owned the car for nearly 9 months and I never had a problem with it. I used the car to commute to work and would not do so if I was aware of these problems, especially the lack of airbags. I also mentioned that if I probably knew about these things I wouldn't invite them inside my house so they would know my address and I definitely wouldn't be such a genuine guy by mentioning the timing chain even though they never been asked about it.
06/05/2020 - I receive a complaint letter saying that I miss-described the goods by saying that "The car has covered 48k miles from new when in fact upon inspection we have discovered the car doesn't have the original engine therefore your description of low mileage from new is incorrect". I replied to this by saying that I have found a HPI check that I have done on the day before I bought the car and the HPI check came back all clear without mentioning any of the stated problems.
27/05/2020 - I received a civil money claim that I have also attached in this thread.
In the civil money claim the buyer attached a version of his timeline of what happened, however there are many inconsistencies and untrue events in there.
For example:
Page 1 26/02/2020: The buyer mentioned he took the car to a garage and said the garage advised the timing chain was okay however the alternator was not charging the battery. In the text message I received on 26/02/2020 (see message attached) from the buyer he is asking for £150 towards repairing the timing chain.
Page 2 07/03/2020: - The buyer claims I advised him to sell the car on and that I deleted my Facebook account.
Page 3 07/04/2020 - The buyer said I originally claimed that I purchased the car from a garage where it had been brought in as a part exchange and then on 07/03/2020 via the phone call he claims I said I bought it from a friend. I originally said I bought the car from a guy in Manchester via Facebook marketplace and that the seller told me he got the car as part exchange when he sold a different car. I never mentioned I bought the car from a dealer or a garage.
On page 3 in the Evidence section the buyer is claiming that he sent two initial letters that I refused to take receipt off, however on page 3 16/04/2020 he is saying "Our correspondence had been addressed to the property next door".
In the claim on page 4 there is also a statement of truth that the buyer signed. It clearly states that he believes that the facts stated in this claim for are true, which they are not.
On contacting multiple solicitors I have been told that it would cost me more their representation then repaying for the car so they advised me to represent myself. I have never done anything like this before so I decided to post on here to see if there is anyone that can give me advice in this situation.
English is not my first language so I hope this makes sense. I am more than happy to provide more details if needed. Thanks in advance for your help.
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