Bought a broken car from a dealer

[Peronipony]

Can anyone tell me what the chances of getting anything back are?

I purchased a car around 2 months ago. It’s broken, probably boost leak. The car was cheap (4k) and not worth spending thousands on.

I bought it from a small local dealer. I’m really skint and couldn’t afford to go elsewhere. She seemed lovely at the time. The car had 6 months MOT.

I’ve looked into it and the law states the car should have been fit for purpose for 6 months. I’ve spoken to the dealer who told me to piss off as the car was fine when she sold it, then blocked me. Shes not registered with the motor shop ombudsmen.

Cifizeno advice told me to send a letter giving her 14d to reply. How’s this meant to help if she’s refusing to deal with it? And this means I need to hang onto the broken car on my drive for god knows how long doesn’t it?

if this has happened to anyone else, have you taken it to court and did you get your money back? An independent garage won’t certify that the car was broken when I bought it either, so what do I do? I really can’t afford to loose this money 🙁

I bought a car in January which had issues,it had a three month warranty, so the dealer sorted it. I was told that second hand dealers have to offer a three month warranty. I t was on the purchase paperwork. Good luck!

Caveat emptor. Was there any warranty?

No, but by law citizens advice told me a dealer must rectify any issues that occur within 6 months that were present at the point of sale. Not sure how I would prove this though?

Is she a proper dealer or just a random person selling cars?

This.
There are so many people who sell car after car from their house.
Regardless, it’s going to be really hard to prove it was faulty then - did you test drive?
The MOT thing is a red herring- lots of faults aren’t even part of MOT.

Six months is law for car dealers in England (and I believe the UK)

You don't need to. The dealer needs to prove in the first six months that the fault wasn't there when you bought it. Which is nearly impossible.

Report to Trading Standards and start a claim in the small claims court (it costs £35 to start a claim online).

The law around the car being fit for purpose for six months only applies to proper dealers though, and OP doesn't seem to think this person is properly registered.

Most cars are sold "as seen".

Thank you. Thanks to everyone else too.

The dealer is a woman with a compound and a load of cars. She operates as a business from it, posting the cars on autotrader. She hasn’t got a website or anything.

I asked her to rectify the fault and she told me to fuck off and blocked me so I don’t think I’ll be able to get her to prove the fault wasn’t there by myself.

If I go to court, how do I prove myself the fault was there? The garage I went to for repair stated that they can’t do this for me because they didn’t see the car at the point of sale.

If I start a court case am I likely to win or just sink more money?

You don’t have to prove the fault was there. The fault is there now so it will be assumed it was there when you purchased it. It is up to her to prove otherwise.

You don't need to prove it was there. Get a garage report/AA report

And provide that in your small claims application

It's mcol.gov.uk

You don't need to prove anything - it sounds from her language and behaviour that she's probably not a licensed/insured business though, so I'd probably consider reporting her to trading standards while taking her to court.

What made her a dealer? She owns a regulated dealership?

If you just bought the car from a member of the public then caveat emptor applies. Sales of goods act doesn't apply to a private sale.

What's the point of taking her to court. If she doesn't own a business then you're suing an individual. If she can't satisfy a judgment what's the point

You don't need to prove it, as you've asked her to rectify the issue. She has not, which she is legally required to do and instead blocked you. Definitely proceed legally. Too many rip off garages out there getting away with it

This is what I’m trying to ascertain really. Whether it’s worth it.

She has a company name. I bought from a garage on autotrader named ‘garage name autos’
If you ring it goes directly to her mobile number.

This is on my bank statement, payment to ‘garage name autos’ I didn’t get any paperwork though, other than a green slip

I can issue a court claim easily enough but I don’t want to unless I’ve got a reasonable chance of winning. So long story short I purchased car, engine management light on after a month, apparently it’s got a leak which I can’t afford to investigate because I’m broke. ‘Garage name autos’ tell me to fuck off and block me. So I’m carless and down £4k.

I understand I’ve made an error of judgement. My previous car broke (went on fire) and I needed a car to get to work or be sacked so I literally went and picked something local from a budget ‘garage’ I’ve passed many times.

I now don’t have a car again but I think I’ll get some sort of cheap finance if I can. It’s just so I stand this broken car on the drive and fight it or try and part ex it in? It seems pointless it sitting on my driveway for months if ive got no chance.

This. Before 6 months is up the onus is on them to prove it wasn't there, after 6 months the onus is on you to prove it was.

I bought a car from a local garage and within 6 weeks of having it was told by a Ford dealer it really needed a new engine so I told the other garage my rights, there was a bit of back and forth but ultimately they didn't want me to take them to court so they refunded me the full amount and came and got the car back.

Thankyou.

I can’t really go back and forth as I’m blocked, so I presume I’ll have to go straight to legal action? My bank has stated they can try and ‘mediate’ to claim the money but only if I have a report which I don’t have as my garage stated they didn’t see the cars condition when I bought it.

I don’t want to go to the garage in person as the woman doesn’t seem very reasonable or polite and I don’t want to get into an argument.

Yes, in that case I would just file now. She's had her opportunity and she's decided to disengage.

Be prepared for it to take a while - a friend had to do this and it took a year for all to play out and before she got the money back. She'd also spent money on the car trying to make it useable and didn't get that back, so don't spend anything else!

I think if she has premises you can reasonably expect for her to be registered and above board- I don’t think you have done anything silly.
I only questioned it as I have a neighbour who trades cars from his house. He’s got at least 7 parked on the road this morning and 1 I don’t recognise that could be his.

It probably will be a small claims court job though.

Send them a letter saying unless they refund you, you are taking them to small claims court as the car wasn't fit for purpose, give them a week to respond. I think you are meant to give them a chance to settle out of court and it shows willing on your part if you do. If you don't get a response you are willing to accept then send another letter saying you have initiated the claim (and do it). Others have said it only costs £35 to go to small claims which seems well worth if for £4k. Did the other garage give you a written report on the condition of the car? If not ask them to put it in writing, they can't say what the condition was when you bought it but the condition then should be sufficient. Send letters signed for and keep your receipts.

Thanks everyone. Ill send her a signed for letter and then go from there. I’ve honestly got no luck at all.

I don’t even know her name, just the company name. How do I find this out?

This. Save all communication.

My friend had to take to small claims in the same scenario. She did win and did get a refund.

You can look up the company somewhere on Gov.uk I think.
edited to add a link - not sure how helpful it is though
www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company