Taking trader to court - help / advice with particulars of claim needed pls

[pringles001]

Hi
I am taking a trader to court regarding my late fathers car which was purchased in October 2019, and since purchase it has had ongoing issues. The trader has had the car for a total of 22 months out of 24 months allegedly repairing it and since my fathers death (this Jan 2021) has been particularly unhelpful and has refused to return the car. I don’t know where the car is and he has stated that it requires a new engine however despite my numerous requests of asking for photos, location, the trader has not provided this. The car has been taken apart and is now in an undriveable condition. There have been no written reports, no evidence of parts he has ordered / replaced etc - it’s all been his say so.
I have been in telephone contact with the trader from Feb - Apr 2021, and have also sent him written letters. My local trading standards office have been in contact with him and he has advise “customer misuse” however this has never been communicated to me or my late father.. More so if this was the case then why has he accepted the car back for repair a number of times and not returned it back on the last occasion?
In addition, the trader has advised the trading standards officer that he will be perusing for the non-return of the courtesy car which was given to my father while his was allegedly being repaired. The courtesy car is still on the drive and the trader has only mentioned it being returned once during the time I have been in contact with him. We agreed at the time that he could pick the courtesy car when my fathers car was returned.

I would appreciate some advice on writing the particulars of claim so I can get this matter resolved once and for all

[pringles001]

Also, do I need to apply for the claim as “personal representative of Mr (my late father)” or “estate of the Late Mr (my late father)

Thank you

[echat11]

Also, do I need to apply for the claim as “personal representative of Mr (my late father)” or “estate of the Late Mr (my late father)

Thank you

Hi PRINGLES001

Sorry for your loss.

Here's some info - https://www.hughjames.com/blog/how-c...eceased-person (posted for info only)

There are pre - action protocols (you've probably done some of them) that need to be followed, the court's require you to try everything to resolve the matter before you turn to them. - https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...civil/protocol

You need to nail down the dates after the date of purchase, dates of repair etc. Details i.e. is his company registered at company's house etc.

I'm sure other members will advise too.

[pringles001]

Thank you for your condolences - it’s just a horrible situation to be in, and the trader is definitely taking advantage of the fact that my father isn’t here.

I have text message exchanges between the trader and my father in regards to the faults being reported and chasing the repairs. The car came with a 1 year warranty (which was orally stated, and not written) which my brother in law is a witness to that conversation at the time of purchase.

I have sent the pre-court action letters, asking whether he wants to go through an ADR scheme, and had no response. I sent a letter before claim and gave 14 days to respond, however on the 15th day I received a letter from my local trading standards office to say they would write to the trader on my behalf. He did respond to them last week and after speaking to the TS officer , she said she doesn’t get the feeling it is likely be resolved through them so has informally recommended me taking further action i.e court action

i have the company house address details too. It is registered as a limited company.

The company is still active - was incorporated in June 2012. The company was previously trading under a different but similar name from Sept 2009 - Aug 2013, but the company was dissolved. The dissolved company had 3 directors, one of which is thedirector of the current company, that I have been dealing with.

thank you for your help and advice

[pringles001]

Hi again,
For my particulars of claim, would I need to bullet-point into paragraphs, the events in chronological order, or would a summary be sufficient?
thank you

[echat11]

A great guide for Litigant's in Person - https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdf

[pringles001]

Thank you for the above link - it’s very helpful. I had prepared the below however I may need to amend this based on the information in the link above.

It would be useful to have your thoughts on the below
‘MY NAME' is acting as the personal representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (claimant). Hereafter, 'MY LATE FATHER'S NAME' will be referred to as the claimant.
The claimant bought a Jaguar vehicle registration number XXXX XXX from the defendant for £10995 on 4th September 2019.Soon afterwards, the vehicle developed serious defects and despite the defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle has continued to exhibit problems. The vehicle is in the possession of the defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the claimant's ownership. The defendant is fully aware of the nature of the defects and has been fully appraised. The defendant has supplied a vehicle which not of satisfactory quality and the claimant has been fundamentally deprived of substantially for the whole benefit of the contract. Prior to issuing proceedings, the claimants representative / executor of the estate sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant demanding payment. In the circumstances, the claimants representative / executor of the estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

[echat11]

Thank you for the above link - it’s very helpful. I had prepared the below however I may need to amend this based on the information in the link above.

It would be useful to have your thoughts on the below

MY NAME' is acting as the personal representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (claimant). Hereafter, 'MY LATE FATHER'S NAME' will be referred to as the claimant.

The claimant bought a Jaguar vehicle registration number XXXX XXX from the defendant who is a car dealer for £10995 on 4th September 2019. Soon afterwards (when was the first repair carried out), the vehicle developed serious defects. Despite the defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle continued to exhibit problems. The vehicle is in the possession of the defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the claimant's ownership.

The defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects, but instead the defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, which is not of satisfactory quality (do you know the value of loaned vehicle?).

The claimant has been fundamentally deprived of the whole benefit of the contract for a substantial period of time. Prior to issuing proceedings, the claimants representative / executor of the estate sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant demanding payment. In the circumstances, the claimants representative / executor of the estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

Remember the link is a Guide, as long as you don't omit anything important, then it will be fine.

You need to add the following -

1. explain what legislation is involved and why state that you rely on the provision of this legislation.
2. Describe briefly what problem is. What paragraph of agreement or legislation was breached.
3. Also a date when the first repair was carried out.

Post up once done.

[pringles001]

hello, thank you for your comments above and for checking this for me.

Im not entirely sure when the 1st repair was carried out, as am only going by text messages from my fathers phone but it’s clear that my dad reported a fault in the 24th October however due to a mixup at the garage it was taken in on the 4th November. The trader had the car until sometime end of Jan / beginning of Feb 2020.

The fault was still there so my father reported this again mid-Feb and tried to arrange for the car to be collected, but it wasn’t collected until mid-March 2020 (just before lockdown) and the trader had the car until August 2020. The car was returned with the intial electrical fault resolved however my dad noticed a knocking sound coming from the engine (which wasn’t there previously) and spoke to the trader , who advised that the car was running low on engine oil and had to top it up, and told my dads to take it for a long drive. My dad followed this advice and it still didn’t resolve the issue and again contacted the trader. The trader again collected the car after a week of it being returned (in Aug 2020) and it’s been with the trader ever since.
he is claiming customer misuse due to the engine oil not being tipped up but my father hardly even had the car to use as it’s been in the traders possession for most of the ownership, and also why was my father not advised soon afterwards in Aug 2020 that it was customer misuse and returned back ? It’s now in an undriveable condition and I have no idea where the dar is despite numerous attempts requesting th location and photos of the car.

in regards to the courtesy cars, my dad was given a few of them, the one on my parents drive is a golf, which has a very high mileage. I don’t think it’s been used since my dad last drove which was in November last year. When I was in phone contact with the trader earlier this year he mentioned it once , that he would “take it off my hands” and at the time, it wasn’t long after my father had passed, so i suggested he collect it once my fathers car had been fixed and dropped back to us, to which he agreed. And that was the only time we spoke about the courtesy car.
in regards to referencing the courtesy car in the PoC, is this relevant because of the trader mentioning to the TS officer that he will be persuing me for this car?

also in terms of the claim , my father our £5500 via cash (bank transfer) and the rest of was part ex of his previous vehicle. I cannot find the invoice receipt for the car (I’m not sure if one was given, or it may still be in the glove box of the car) but I have the receipt for the £500 deposit and the bank statement for £5000.

I know the limit for small claims is up to £10k, and the anything above is £10k goes to fast track, where I could claim interest however there is also a risk of paying the other sides legal costs which just wouldn’t be worth it, hence the £10k claim in my statement. I could add that as we had some very minor use of the car this is the reason but would be good to know your thoughts around this please.

ive amended the below (amendments in bold) - please can you sense check it for me?
thank you so much for your help

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MY NAME' is acting as the personal representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (claimant). Hereafter, 'MY LATE FATHER'S NAME' will be referred to as the claimant.

The claimant bought a Jaguar vehicle registration number XXXX XXX from the defendant who is a car dealer for £10995 on 4th September 2019. The car was collected on the 12 October 2019. Soon afterwards, on / around the 24th October 2019, the vehicle developed serious defects. Despite the defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle continued to exhibit problems. The vehicle is in the possession of the defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the claimant's ownership.

The defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects, but instead the defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, which is not of satisfactory quality (do you know the value of loaned vehicle?).

The claimant has been fundamentally deprived of the whole benefit of the contract for a substantial period of time. Prior to issuing proceedings, the claimants representative / executor of the estate sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant demanding payment. In the circumstances, the claimants representative / executor of the estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

The defendant is in breach of contract as the goods are not for purpose, not of satisfactory quality and were misdescribed contrary to the Consumer Goods Act 2015. In addition, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 also states that “service to be performed with reasonable care and skill” and “service to be performed within a reasonable amount of time”, which is contrary to the service received.

[echat11]

hello, thank you for your comments above and for checking this for me.

Im not entirely sure when the 1st repair was carried out, as am only going by text messages from my fathers phone but it’s clear that my dad reported a fault in the 24th October however due to a mixup at the garage it was taken in on the 4th November. The trader had the car until sometime end of Jan / beginning of Feb 2020. - That's fine.

The fault was still there so my father reported this again mid-Feb and tried to arrange for the car to be collected, but it wasn’t collected until mid-March 2020 (just before lockdown) and the trader had the car until August 2020. The car was returned with the intial electrical fault resolved however my dad noticed a knocking sound coming from the engine (which wasn’t there previously) and spoke to the trader , who advised that the car was running low on engine oil and had to top it up, and told my dads to take it for a long drive. My dad followed this advice and it still didn’t resolve the issue and again contacted the trader. The trader again collected the car after a week of it being returned (in Aug 2020) and it’s been with the trader ever since.
he is claiming customer misuse due to the engine oil not being tipped up but my father hardly even had the car to use as it’s been in the traders possession for most of the ownership, and also why was my father not advised soon afterwards in Aug 2020 that it was customer misuse and returned back ? It’s now in an undriveable condition and I have no idea where the dar is despite numerous attempts requesting th location and photos of the car. - you seem to have the important timelines.

in regards to the courtesy cars, my dad was given a few of them, the one on my parents drive is a golf, which has a very high mileage. I don’t think it’s been used since my dad last drove which was in November last year. When I was in phone contact with the trader earlier this year he mentioned it once , that he would “take it off my hands” and at the time, it wasn’t long after my father had passed, so i suggested he collect it once my fathers car had been fixed and dropped back to us, to which he agreed. And that was the only time we spoke about the courtesy car.
in regards to referencing the courtesy car in the PoC, is this relevant because of the trader mentioning to the TS officer that he will be persuing me for this car? - the defendant will state the courtesy car in his defence to your claim, so it will come up at some stage. It would be good to show the cost difference between Golf and Jaguar.

also in terms of the claim , my father our £5500 via cash (bank transfer) and the rest of was part ex of his previous vehicle. I cannot find the invoice receipt for the car (I’m not sure if one was given, or it may still be in the glove box of the car) but I have the receipt for the £500 deposit and the bank statement for £5000. There should be some documentation, no doubt you will be able to get that from the Trader when there's an exchange of documents.

I know the limit for small claims is up to £10k, and the anything above is £10k goes to fast track, where I could claim interest however there is also a risk of paying the other sides legal costs which just wouldn’t be worth it, hence the £10k claim in my statement. I could add that as we had some very minor use of the car this is the reason but would be good to know your thoughts around this please. That's fine.

ive amended the below (amendments in bold) - please can you sense check it for me?
thank you so much for your help

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/


MY NAME' is acting as the personal representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (claimant). Hereafter, 'MY LATE FATHER'S NAME' will be referred to as the claimant.

The claimant bought a Jaguar vehicle registration number XXXX XXX from the defendant who is a car dealer for £10995 on 4th September 2019. The car was collected on the 12 October 2019. Soon afterwards, on / around the 24th October 2019, the vehicle developed serious defects. Despite the defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle continued to exhibit problems. The vehicle is in the possession of the defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the claimant's ownership.

The defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects, but instead the defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, which is not of satisfactory quality (do you know the value of loaned vehicle?).

The claimant has been fundamentally deprived of the whole benefit of the contract for a substantial period of time. Prior to issuing proceedings, the claimants representative / executor of the estate sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant demanding payment. In the circumstances, the claimants representative / executor of the estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

The defendant is in breach of contract as the goods are not for purpose, not of satisfactory quality and were misdescribed contrary to the Consumer Goods Act 2015. In addition, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 also states that “service to be performed with reasonable care and skill” and “service to be performed within a reasonable amount of time”, which is contrary to the service received.

The Particulars of Claim is fine, do you want to include the value of the loaned vehicle?
I'll see if I can ask another member to take a look.

[echat11]

pt2537

R0b

Celestine

[pringles001]

Thank you so much for your advice...

Yes I suppose adding the value of loan car wouldn't be a bad thing and shows that I have acknowledged that we still have possession of it, although the purpose of a courtesy car is as a loan and provided for use while the garage is repairing your own car.

The last MOT (in Aug 2020) shows the mileage was at 111,000 so I've taken these values and done a quick search, The value of the courtesy car is as follows:
Autotrader - £2,240
parkers - £2,490 - £3,165

I've amended some of the wording below. I have also taken out the not fit for purpose part (not sure whether to include this as how do I back this up), and also taken out misdescribed - just checked the archived Autotrader advert for the car, and it doesn't have a lot of detail although one presumes when you buy a car it will be in good working order - do you think I should leave these in or take them out as I have done?

I've also swapped the last 2 para around as I think it reads better that way...

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'MY NAME' is acting as the personal representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (claimant). Hereafter, 'MY LATE FATHER'S NAME' will be referred to as the claimant.

The claimant bought a Jaguar vehicle registration number XXXX XXX from the defendant who is a car dealer for £10995 on 4th September 2019. The car was collected on the 12 October 2019. Soon afterwards, on / around the 24th October 2019, the vehicle developed serious defects. Despite the defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle continued to exhibit problems. The vehicle is in the possession of the defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the claimant's ownership.

The defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects and the vehicle has been fully appraised, but instead the defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, current market value of approx. £2,240 (as taken from Autotrader Aug 2021).

The defendant is in breach of contract as has supplied a vehicle which is not of satisfactory quality contrary to the Consumer Goods Act 2015. In addition, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 also states that “service to be performed with reasonable care and skill” and “service to be performed within a reasonable amount of time”, which is contrary to the service received.

The claimant has been fundamentally deprived of the whole benefit of the contract for a substantial period of time. Prior to issuing proceedings, the claimants representative / executor of the estate sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant demanding payment. In the circumstances, the claimants representative / executor of the estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

[echat11]

'Yes I suppose adding the value of loan car wouldn't be a bad thing and shows that I have acknowledged that we still have possession of it, although the purpose of a courtesy car is as a loan and provided for use while the garage is repairing your own car. - correct, but he hasn't done anything to get his loan car back.

The last MOT (in Aug 2020) shows the mileage was at 111,000 so I've taken these values and done a quick search, The value of the courtesy car is as follows:
Autotrader - £2,240
parkers - £2,490 - £3,165'

'I've amended some of the wording below. I have also taken out the not fit for purpose part (not sure whether to include this as how do I back this up), and also taken out misdescribed - just checked the archived Autotrader advert for the car, and it doesn't have a lot of detail although one presumes when you buy a car it will be in good working order - do you think I should leave these in or take them out as I have done? - Leave out.

I've also swapped the last 2 para around as I think it reads better that way...- That reads better.

[pringles001]

Thank you for your advice... I have numbered the points (not sure if this is necessary) and tidied up some of the grammar / wording. In addition I have included other valid points such as the 1 year warranty that was agreed verbally (not written) for the car, for which my brother in law was a witness to. - please could you kindly review and provide your comments?

I also have a few questions that I'm hoping you can help with please:

1. when I fill in the form, do I need to complete in my late fathers name (i.e. Late Mr XXX) , or in my name (Ms XXX as a personal representative of the Late XXX)

2. as I have mentioned before I cannot find an invoice for the receipt, so I am going on the value on the car advert which was £10.995. My father paid £5500 cash, and the rest was the value of this previous car, therefore it may be that his previous car was part-ex'd for £5000, rather than £5500 etc. But without paperwork I have no way of confirming this - is this something I need to worry about? Like you mentioned, it may be disclosed by the trader alter (if he has copies etc) but i'm worried he could fabricate figures / invoices etc.

3. Do I need to include an Annex now (at the time of submitting the form) with the receipt, bank transfer etc (as I've stated ) or shall i leave the bit in italice out of the PoC statement?

Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated

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1. 'MY NAME' is acting as the Personal Representative on behalf of the Late 'MY LATE FATHERS NAME' (the Claimant).
2. On or around the 4^th September 2019, the Claimant entered into a contract for the purchase of a Jaguar XF vehicle, registration number XXXX XXX (the “Goods”) from the Defendant, a car trader. Attached to these Particulars are copies of the deposit receipt, bank statement showing bank transfer of monies, and confirmation of new vehicle keeper for previous vehicle part exchange at Annex A.
3. The Claimant agreed to buy, and the Defendant agreed to sell the Goods for the sum of £10,995.
4. The Claimant subsequently collected the Goods from the Defendant at its registered office on 12 October 2019. A verbal one-year warranty period for the Goods was provided by the Defendant.
5. Following collection, on / around the 24^th October, the vehicle developed serious defects. Despite the Defendant's attempts at repairs, the vehicle continued to exhibit problems.
6. The vehicle is in the possession of the Defendant and has been with him for 22 months during the entire 24 months of the Claimant's ownership.
7. The Defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects and the vehicle has been fully appraised, but instead the Defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, current market value of approx. £2,240 (as taken from Autotrader Aug 2021).
8. The Defendant is in breach of contract as has supplied a vehicle which is not of satisfactory quality contrary to the Consumer Goods Act 2015. In addition, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 also states that “service to be performed with reasonable care and skill” and “service to be performed within a reasonable amount of time”, which is contrary to the service received.
9. The Claimant has been fundamentally deprived of the whole benefit of the contract for a substantial period of time.
10. Prior to issuing proceedings, the Claimant’s representative / Executor of the Estate sent a Letter of Claim to the Defendant demanding payment.
11. In the circumstances, the Claimant’s representative / Executor of the Estate seeks reimbursement of £10000.

[pringles001]

in addition, the courtesy car (which hasn't been used since Nov 2020, when my dad last used it), now has a flat battery, which I can try jump start. My sister has informed me that she recalls seeing an engine management light on the car when she started the car in Jan this year, whilst my dad was in hospital.

How would I acknowledge this point in my PoC, that the loan car had issues etc?
I don't want the trader to make false accusations and say that the issues were caused by my dad etc.

Can i just add to point 7:

7. The Defendant has been made fully aware of the nature of the defects and the vehicle has been fully appraised, but instead the Defendant has supplied a loan vehicle, which is not of satisfactory quality, current market value of approx. £2,240 (as taken from Autotrader Aug 2021).