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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do I have grounds to take this car sales person to a small claims court?

29 replies

SecretStash · 23/05/2018 18:06

He sold me a car less than 3 months ago.

It’s had a whole bunch of crap wrong with it.
But the main things being that the underneath back end is so rusty that it “looks like it’s been in the sea for 5 years and won’t pass it’s next MOT” direct quote from my garage, I’ve had a look underneath and boy, can I see what they mean.

The speedometer works intermittently, which he apparently fixed. Theres loads of small things not working.

He’s offering to fix it all, but my argument is that he can’t fix the rust. He can coat in something that might get me an extra year out of it (if I’m lucky) but otherwise it’s nearing the end of its life because of it.

I want my money back. I would never have bought it had I known there was terminal rust, interestingly there’s nothing about it on the MOT, no advisory.

He’s saying his mechanic can fix it.

I’m saying I want to go through small claims, he’s saying he will defend it.

OP posts:
reddington · 23/05/2018 18:10

As a consumer the law should be on your side but there are other variables that will come into it such as the age of car, price paid etc.

Onesmallstepforaman · 23/05/2018 18:10

Speak to trading standards at your local council, they should be able to help

MikeUniformMike · 23/05/2018 18:13

Did you buy the car 'as seen'? I would think that your chances of a refund or in a small claims court are pretty slim.

Allthewaves · 23/05/2018 18:14

How old is car? What did you pay? Did u buy sold as seen?

KittyHawke80 · 23/05/2018 18:15

Caveat emptor. The rust was discoverable; try looking underneath the car next time.

reddington · 23/05/2018 18:21

Did u buy sold as seen?

You can’t buy a car from a trader “sold as seen”

Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 18:21

How do I know whether it’s ‘sold as seen’?

OP posts:
Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 18:22

Ah ok.

Also, it couldn’t be ‘seen’ until the car was on a ramp.

OP posts:
reddington · 23/05/2018 18:25

If you bought it from a trader and not a private seller then “sold as seen” does not apply. The only get out for a trader is if the car was sold “spares or repairs” and trailered away.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 23/05/2018 18:26

You're in luck, as you've had it less than 6 months. The Sale of Goods Act is on your side. Have a read of this:www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-second-hand-car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights

reddington · 23/05/2018 18:29

SOGA was replaced in 2015

BobbinThreadbare123 · 23/05/2018 18:33

Consumer Rights Act then; basically the same principle but cheers for your overwhelmingly helpful contribution, reddington

Racecardriver · 23/05/2018 18:36

Well what exactly did he tell you about the condition of the car when you bought it? How bad is it? Presumably you test drove it and it works etc?

reddington · 23/05/2018 18:37

Well, if the OP goes in quoting SOGA they’re not going to appear credible are they?

Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 18:38

I test drove it and it worked. And then it didn’t. Then it didn’t again. And again.

And I took it to my garage who diagnosed the terminal rust.

He described it as in great condition.

Thanks Bobbin, I will look into that...

OP posts:
GloGirl · 23/05/2018 18:39

Who is he? A private seller or not?

gingergiraffe · 23/05/2018 19:06

I really feel for you. My son bought a car from a dealer. On the way to the airport that week the engine light came on. We phoned the dealer who advised turning the engine off and on again. The light went off. However, on the way home it came on again. We took car into trader’s workshop who said it was an historic fault and now wiped off.

Son took the car back to London and only used it occasionally on short journeys but on a longer journey the car lost power going around a roundabout and the engine light came on. From then on it was one thing after another. Each time he got something sorted, another problem would crop up. We always thought that would be the last thing because it seemed like a decent car after having only been able to afford old bangers in the past.

Then the car completely shut down. An auto electrician supposedly fixed it and charged £600. It happened again and the auto electrician took a month to fix it, but this time he actually had to replace the mother board at his own expense as he guaranteed the first repair and we think he tried to repair it the first time and ripped us off.

Eventually he decided to cut his losses. He took it to trader as he could not morally just sell it onto another poor person. Trader allowed him £200 to trade against a newer car (but then charged about half that in admin fees!) it was a diesel so not popular. Bought a newer car which has been fine for about six months now.

My garage thinks all the faults could possibly be due to the car having been flooded as many of the problems were electrical. With your rust problems op, maybe yours had also been in a flood. Best to get rid, but I hope you manage to get some compensation or something from your dealer.

adaline · 23/05/2018 19:11

Who did you buy it from? A company? A website? A private dealer? Just someone who was selling their car online?

Where you bought it from makes a huge difference to your rights in this situation. For example, cars brought through private sale on Facebook (and then in person) are often sold as seen and you'd have no comeback. Through a garage or auto trader, you often have a warranty and some form of legal comeback if you're sold a dud.

Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 19:18

Sorry I totally left that key information out! I’m writing on here as well as talking to his mechanic and starting the claim.

He is trade, sells many cars and does so via Autotrader and Gumtree.

I just spoke to his mechanic who he says will fix everything.

Last week the car was in because I had ongoing issues with the gear box and the speedometer and mileage (together) only worked half the time.
I got the car back and was told they were both fixed, that the problem with the gear box was the linkage.
The mechanic says nope, he didn’t fix anything. The day he had it, he took it out for a test drive and the problems didn’t arise (both at are intermittent, I filmed one happening!) therefore he was unable to fix it.

So the fucker has lied as well.

There’s so much wrong with this car.

OP posts:
reddington · 23/05/2018 19:21

Also makes a big difference if we’re talking about a £300 banger or a decent £20k one.

Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 19:48

Oh its a 04 plate, but only one previous owner and only 65k miles.

I’ve just realised that it’s probably done way more miles though. The speedometer only works about 60-70% of the time and the mileage doesn’t go up during that time.

I have photographic evidence of this.

It may be an old banger but it’s still £1100 that I’ve wasted on a car that I currently can’t drive that has supposedly been fixed (which of course I’ve found out that it hasn’t at all).

OP posts:
FASH84 · 23/05/2018 19:53

This hairbrush to DH the race eventually became aggressive with him. We'd gone to trading standards, then someone crashed into the back of him whilst he was stopped at a roundabout and wrote the whole thing off, he got his money back barring £100 and got a different car which has been great. Trading standards were really helpful.

FASH84 · 23/05/2018 19:53

*happened

Original poster
SecretStash · 23/05/2018 20:00

I can’t even drive it, let alone driving around hoping that someone crashes into the back of me. Hmm

OP posts:
reddington · 23/05/2018 20:32

At that age and price a car is going to have issues. What is it that’s stopping you driving it currently?