Husband and I are in the small claims court tomorrow - disproportionately stressed - any advice?

[CuppaTeaAndAJammieDodger]

Husband and I put a claim in for a second-hand car that was sold to us by a dealer which turned out to have had the dash removed and chewing gum and tape placed over the ABS light to disguise the fact they were illuminated (we did all the checks we could before committing to buy - obviously didn't remove the dash though!).

It all came out when the car went in for its MOT some months later, and although they spent weeks trying to fix it, the only solution was to replace the whole ABS system - which would have cost approximately the same amount that we paid for the car! It is now off the road.

Anyway, after trying to contact them for ages, and then eventually getting a response to say that weren't interested (including rejecting mediation) we put a small claim through online (along with a letter from the garage explaining what they'd found), which has ended up being transferred to court - the hearing is tomorrow.

Has anyone had experience of this kind of thing before? I am not one for confrontation and get really stressed. Will it actually be in a court like setting or just a room? The money involved isn't great enough for us to justify a solicitor so we're "representing" ourselves.

It's likely that they won't turn up, case will be found in your favour. They won't pay, take the hit of a ccj and carry on selling not fit for purpose cars. You will have to decide if it's worth pursuing the money. How much are we talking?

the claim is about 2k

thanks BrandNewHouse - they put a defence in, hence why it's going to court.

What is their defence? Have you seen the paperwork?

I have - basically saying that because it took for me to put the car in for its MOT to find the fault (and camouflage of said fault) with the tape/gum (which was a period of some months as the car had some MOT left when we bought it and we had no need to use the ABS system during this time, i.e. no crashes, skidding etc.) that it was out of their hands as no warranty was in place. They told us when we bought it that we weren't allowed to buy a warranty from them as it was a part-ex car (i.e. they took original ownership of it from someone as a part-ex) - which sounded a bit fishy in retrospect.

Doesn't sound like much of a defence to me.

They could have tried to argue that it wasn't faulty when they sold it. But the argument they are actually putting forwards sounds like a tacit admission that the vehicle was faulty when they sold it. On the facts as you have presented them here I don't think the judge will have any difficulty deciding this case.

The case will be heard in a courtroom. However, the hearing itself will be fairly informal. The idea is that people using the small claims court should not use solicitors and the informality is designed to help with that. The judge will keep the hearing moving and keep it structured. There will be limited time for the judge to get through the evidence and decide the outcome so s/he will want to avoid spending time on distractions and concentrate on the central issues. It won't be rushed but he won't want to hear a 5 hour speech from you!

Keep your cool. Treat any witnesses from the garage with respect. Don't interrupt them even if they are lying or being rude to you.

Call the judge "sir" or "madam" as appropriate unless you are instructed otherwise.

Put your case clearly. You have done so here although you will obviously need to go into more detail in the hearing. Stay calm. Stay polite. It is a simple case so don't confuse it. On date X the dealer sold you this car. On date Y you took it for MOT and the garage to which you took it found the fault (which you should describe). Here is the garage's report on the fault (if you've got one). The fault was clearly present when the car was sold to you so you want compensation from the dealer.

You will be fine.

Hope it goes well.

My experience was that it got found in my favour but I never saw any money, they just didn’t pay.

Thanks loads for the advice prh47bridge, thats really helpful.

A couple of people have posted about not getting paid. If you win but the dealer doesn't pay up you will have to go back to court to take enforcement action. Hopefully you won't need to do so.