Cam Chain snapped on new van after 20 months / 114k miles

[WhiteVanMan5]

Serious question - is this something I'm capable of attempting myself, or should I be paying a lawyer to help me?

Here is my attempted rewrite (given the public nature of this forum, I have redacted bank account number, credit card number and name of the dealer):

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to your rejection of my complaint, upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service on 13^th July 2024 (ref: PNX-5013176-C7G1) I am writing to advise you that it is my intention to pursue my claim further through the courts. If you have changed your mind and now intend to resolve this matter, then please advise me of your intentions within 14 calendar days of delivery of this letter to avoid court action.

Details of my claim are as follows:

• I contend that [REDACTED] are in breach of contract in relation to my van purchase under the Sale of Goods Act Part 2 Section 14 (2B)(e). Namely that the van was not of satisfactory quality because it didn’t have the durability that a reasonable person should expect for the purpose it was bought for.
• I paid a £250 deposit on 19^th November 2021 using credit card [REDACTED] and the balance of £18,554 by bank transfer from my account [REDACTED]. I contend that you are liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for the full value of the van purchased for £18,804.
• Whilst my actual losses are significantly higher (as detailed in previous correspondence), I am reducing my claim to £10,000 in an effort to get this resolved. The value of this claim includes £4,500 for the adjusted loss in value of the vehicle from the failure, £4,100 for lost income, £1,300 for expert reports and £100 for vehicle recovery.

The van has a timing/cam belt (scheduled for replacement every 125,000 miles) and a timing/cam chain that is expected to last the lifetime of the van. After 113,887 miles, on 31^st of July 2023, a link in the timing/cam chain snapped, destroying the engine and making it uneconomic to repair.

If I do not receive a response to my letter within 14 days from the date of this letter then I intend to commence court action without further reference to you

Yours faithfully

[Pezza54]

The letter is much better
The claim value seems contrived
It would be safer to obtain a garage quote for a replacement engine
Reduce the amount for lost income - you will need proof
Provide actual costs (to the penny) for inspection report and recovery

[WhiteVanMan5]

Given it's a Vauxhall vehicle, am I not entitled to rely on the quote from Vauxhall? Although i haven't actually used that in my calculations as it's higher than the difference between value before the failure and the value after.
In my original submission to the credit card company, I provided an online valuation for my van, adjusted for the mileage, as reported by parkers.co.uk. This was some time after the issues (so provided a lower valuation). The figures there were £10,380 (dealer price), £7,255 (Dealer Part Ex) and Private Seller (£9,455). As I'm not mechanically minded I don't trust myself to buy from private sellers, so I buy from main dealers. I believe it is fair to use the dealer price as that is what it would cost me to replace the vehicle? (Incidentally, I've just got a new valuation and it has fallen a lot on those figures, with no extra miles - we're now looking at a dealer price of £6,680).
I believe the scrap value of the van from enquiries I made (verbal only) was approximately £1,500. I have no evidence of this.
The figures might look contrived, basically because they are, to cut the claim from over £25,000 to £10,000. However it is split up, justifying losses of £10,000 should not be a difficult job in that scenario should it?
I am self employed, and keep books for self assessment, so loss of income shouldn't be too hard to prove? I can tell you very quickly that my gross income in calendar year 2023 was £16,063.09 lower than in 2022. My gross income in Q3 2023 was £7,040.07 lower than Q3 2022. My gross income in Q4 2023 was £8,553.26 lower than in Q4 2022. The claim, IMO, falls very easily within the provable range. The lost income claim is very low against reality (really!). It almost seems easier to prove than the lost value on the van.
The expert reports figure is already exact. The vehicle recovery figure is not exact (it was £13x.xx).

Right, I've rewritten it with the following values.
Van value loss £6,955 (calculated with the Private seller price of £9,455 minus a generous assumed £2,500 scrap value)
Expert Report cost of £1,300, as charged
Vehicle Recovery £132.96 as charged
Lost earnings £1,612.04 a completely contrived number to take the value of my claim up to £10,000 (and well short of my actual lost income).

Does that sound more like the kind of numbers you were thinking of?

[Pezza54]

On Autotrader there is one Vauxhall Combo van (2020, double cab) that has over 100k miles on the clock, priced at £7795
If you can, print this advert just in case you need extra evidence to support your claim value
You shouldn't make up figures, you will need to show you have obtained the scrap value and how you have calculated your lost income for say a couple of weeks.
There is no need to show your calculations in the letter, but when you write your Particulars of Claim you need to keep the figures the same and show your calculations

[Pezza54]

You asked the question " should I be paying a lawyer to help me?"
I don't know the current rates a lawyer would charge to write the LBA and PoC. Possibly over £2k. More if you wanted the lawyer to continue to represent you completing the Directions Questionnaire and representing you in court

If you win your claim on the small claims track you will not get your legal costs back from the defendant.
The least financial risk is to be a litigant in person on the small claims track.

If you decide to represent yourself and send your LBA, you could start to draft your PoC

There are plenty of articles on the internet covering procedures on the small claims track, writing PoCs etc

To avoid wasting time redrafting the PoC you are welcome to return to LB for advice under this thread

[Pezza54]

There is an example of a PoC for a faulty car purchase (CRA not SoGA) under djz's thread "Used car problems" started on 29 February this year
You can either use the search function to find this thread or scroll back in time under view all posts

[WhiteVanMan5]

Can I ask what PoC stands for please? Using Google, the only answer I can get is "Proceeds of Crime" and it's clearly not that.

[Huxie]

Can I ask what PoC stands for please? Using Google, the only answer I can get is "Proceeds of Crime" and it's clearly not that.

PoC = Particulars of Claim. The thread pezza refers to is this one:
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...d-car-problems

[WhiteVanMan5]

Thank you Huxie that is really helpful.

Pezza54 The nearest vehicle to mine that I can find on Autotrader is this one - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/van-det...02410185332804 - it's actually a pretty good match. Main differences are that the advertised one is slightly older (21 plate v 71 plate) and has slightly lower mileage (108k v 114k). The value now though is obviously considerably lower than it was over a year ago when the chain snapped. Should I use these figures now anyway? I have also just obtained a scrap value quotation from www.cartakeback.com of £1,534.

If I revise my claim using these figures, then it will look something like this:
Van value loss £5,421 (calculated with the Autotrader price of £6,955 minus Cartakeback scrap value of £1,534)
Expert Report cost of £1,300, as charged
Vehicle Recovery £132.96 as charged
Lost income £2,971.20 (My lost income from 1/8/22 to 17/8/22 compared to 1/8/23 to 17/8/23)
Total claim £9,825.16

Just to confirm that I have noted your previous comment about not showing calculations in the letter, I will display it in the letter as follows:
Van value loss £5,421
Expert Report cost of £1,300
Vehicle Recovery £132.96
Lost income £2,971.20
Total claim £9,825.16

I haven't sent the LBA yet. Is that ready to go now and should I do that straight away? I then prepare the PoC whilst I am waiting for a response?
Is an email of LBA acceptable (attached pdf) if I get confirmation of receipt?

[Pezza54]

The claim amount is now calculated ok. You have evidence to support it
You can attach the letter to an email
I would also send a paper copy in the post and obtain proof of postage.

[WhiteVanMan5]

I emailed the LBA to the credit card company this morning, as I was leaving for work. Just got home and have the following response (my email was sent at 07:56, their reply was timed at 09:10):

"Your claim under Section 75 of The Consumer Credit Act 1974

Thank you for contacting us.

Our decision remains unchanged as per the decision provided on 14/11/2023 under Section 75.

Since no new information has been provided and this matter was addressed by the ombudsman service on 13th July 2024, we will not respond further.

We would advise you to seek your own independent legal advice."

[Pezza54]

I couldn't find the ombudsman decision on their website
Are you able to find out the DRN number by searching on their website using the bank name, subject matter: section 75 and decision date?

[WhiteVanMan5]

I have searched and like you can't find it. It's not there under the obvious searches!
Unfortunately I haven't really got time to look any deeper at the moment (I'm up at 1am for work - so need to get to bed!).
I will try and work it out as soon as I can - it may not be until the weekend.