Used car garage has sold our car

[Guest]

We bought a car some 3 years ago, the oil sump plug fell off whilst driving in the fast lane on the M1 with our boys in the back seat. Having had to replace the previous car with the same garage we had this one towed straight to them. The swore at us saying its not their effing fault. We rejected the car but they refused to do anything, they did taken the engine apart to see if it can be fixed, they also applied to be the registered keeper within 5 days for some reason.

Within days we were in a stalemate and no car so we had to rent one, they then said as we weren't being reasonable they were going to charge us storage as we had rejected the car... they rejected our rejection because the car was over a few miles over 3000 miles and we'd had it for 6 weeks. We stuck to our guns but they kept insisting it was someone else failt, the AA who recovered the car, claim off our car insurance, claim off the AA, claim of our repairs warranty etc.... the list went on, never accepting their part. I should point out that we had kept calling the garage after we bought it saying we think the gearbox is going like the previous car and it was jumpy. They said take it for long run, put some premium oil in etc

We are now at 3 years, no car, no money, we've had to lease a car because we had no money to buy another one, this is a real struggle now to keep this going. We owe them over 25k in storage for a 12k car which we don't have. We have spent 12k on the car, 2k on legal, 1.5k on forensic tests on the car, 4k on car hire and now 18k on leasing a car.

We have just found out that they have sold the car, its being used as a taxi. The forensic report said the car had so many things wrong with it it wasn't roadworthy when we bought and the oil sump plug wasn't the issue.

How do we get our money without taking them to the county court?

What are our right.... they have done no repair work, just claiming we owe them for storage (we did say we would store the car on our driveway 2.8 years ago so cost didn't keep increasing whilst we sort this out... they rejected this offer)

They had the car because we rejected it and we are still the registered owners.

Help.

[des8]

How do we get our money without taking them to the county court?

You won't!

[pt2537]

Statutory demand if there is no dispute over the debt but otherwise its Court proceedings

[Awareness]

Issuing a Statutory Demand is only a pre-emptive strike (for want of a better term) to bankruptcy proceedings. If the garage is as gun-ho as suggested, they will know you are bluffing and they will ignore it.

If I was in your shoes, I would write a pre-action letter to them explaining a brief summary of your case and that unless they either (1) pay what you say they owe within 28 days or (2) enter into a meaningful discussion within 28 days, you will issue proceedings. This will seem less of a bluff and more a genuine threat.

I'm sure I, or someone else, could help draft that letter for you.

If you'd like some help, it'd be useful to understand the situation in more depth. Some questions which would also be helpful to know the answer to;

1. How old is the car? It's not clear if you bought the car 3 years ago or 6 weeks ago.

2. You've said; "We rejected the car but they refused to do anything, they did taken the engine apart to see if it can be fixed". Did they refuse to fix it before or after they had taken it apart? If after, did they offer any explanation other than "it's not their fault"?

3. "they also applied to be the registered keeper within 5 days for some reason." Have you ever asked/been given an explanation for this?

4. "they rejected our rejection because the car was over a few miles over 3000 miles and we'd had it for 6 weeks." Depending on the answer to (1) above, did they give you a warranty with the car, if so what were its terms?

5. "I should point out that we had kept calling the garage after we bought it saying we think the gearbox is going like the previous car and it was jumpy. They said take it for long run, put some premium oil in etc". What was the actual issue with the car? The start of your post indicates it's a failed sump. The gearbox shouldn't have anything to do with that (not a mechanic so happy to be corrected!). Was there a problem with that too?

6. "We have spent 12k on the car, 2k on legal, 1.5k on forensic tests on the car". I presume the £12k you've spent on the car is what you paid for it? You say you've spent £2k on legal costs - what for? What "forensic tests" have you had done? What problems did you have? How are you sure they were all present when you bought it?

7. "(we did say we would store the car on our driveway 2.8 years ago so cost didn't keep increasing whilst we sort this out... they rejected this offer)". This seems odd to me - if you were the owner of the vehicle, why wouldn't they let you take it back? Was it because you refused to pay for storage?

8. "They had the car because we rejected it and we are still the registered owners." Have you contacted who they sold the car too? Can't have been a legit sale if they sold it without the V5 being updated.

[ostell]

4) surely CRA overrides any warranty statement issued? And I believe the OP is hinting the first fault was reported within 30 days

8) The V5 does not show ownership