My 88 year old mother asked her local garage to sell her car for her

[MrsSchadenfreude]

This was about eight months ago. They took it off her, as they said they were often asked to source small runaround cars. Hers was 15 years old and has very low mileage. They didn’t give her a receipt and have all the paperwork. She has phoned them several times to ask if they have sold the car and has been fobbed off - the person she needs to speak to is never there. She had some papers arrive re the sale/transfer of the car last week, and called the garage again to see what was going on. One of the men drove up IN HER CAR, took the papers and told her she would probably only get £70 for the car. She has never agreed a price - the man who took the car said he would call her and let her know what offers he got. I’ve looked online and she should get at least £800 for the car, potentially a lot more, given the mileage.

As they never gave her a receipt, it’s only her word against theirs, and they have all the paperwork, so where do we go from here, to get the money that they owe her? It’s a reputable garage and they have been servicing her cars for around thirty years.

Should have said, local company offered the same price again as in 2017, so Redcorn paid me over double.

@SaltyAF
We just sold a small, 4 door, 16 year old car 94,000 miles, cam belt snapped so completely useless for anything other than scrap. We got £150 for it for it, the scrap yard came and collected. Several people wanted it for that price.

So I think a low mileage, working car is going to go for much more than £160. I used to be in the car trade.

I'd threaten with police.
Their taking advantage it's disgusting

It’s a Nissan Micra, 2015. 27,000 miles on the clock. Very good condition as it never went anywhere!

Fingers crossed for you getting this sorted OP. If it’s in good condition don’t scrap it, sounds like it’d be a great car to sell on to a young new driver!

I’ve looked on motors.co.uk and similar cars with low mileage (but not that low!) go for around £1500 and up.

@MrsSchadenfreude

It’s a Nissan Micra, 2015. 27,000 miles on the clock. Very good condition as it never went anywhere!

£70 would be ridiculous for that if it's still a runner

If the V5 details changed last month the garage must have done something, if you can get there go asap, if not phone and threaten the police is they don't engage

Is this something Trading Standards could help with? Hope you get this sorted out.

Have you checked she's still paying tax OP? If it's still in her name, and she's stopped the tax, she needs to put on SORN

Well I spoke to the garage owner who said that he had agreed to give my Mum the scrap value for the car. She said she never agreed the price - that he had told her people often wanted a cheap runaround for their kids and they could sell it on. He said they had to do a lot of work on the bodywork , put it through the MOT etc etc. I said I had looked up online on redcorn and we could have got over £300 for it for scrap. He said he didn’t think so (he would, wouldn’t he), and that he had asked someone else to pay my mother £100 and this should have been done months ago.

So it looks like she’s going to get £100 and that’s it.

Can you speak to trading standards at the council? If she has no paperwork from the time then its just his word against your mums. Maybe a call from trading standards may encourage them to pay her the fair amount

I'd name and shame him over social media, the RIP of merchant

I would report to trading standards too.

I’d be tempted to report this to Adult Safeguarding at the council as it sounds a bit like your mother’s capacity is in doubt and she has been taken advantage of. You could also try Action on Elder Abuse for advice.

Thank you. I think as there is no paperwork then it will just be her word against theirs. I might have a word with Trading Standards. My Mum might be 88 but there is nothing wrong with her mind or memory.

I would be reporting this to the police and see if they could help. As I understand it, the garage has simply transferred ownership from your mother to themselves, without your mother's permission, and not paid her anything for the car?
Maybe also contact the DVLA to see if they can help?

In the motor trade they would have done the transfer of V5 online, but what most people do not know is that the V5 is not proof of ownership, its just who the registered keeper is
If you want to pm me the reg number and I can give you a trade and retail value for it, but will tell you know unless its a wreck or a write off its worth a lot more than that.

Has the garage put the car up for sale? If so how much?
I bet it's a lot more than £100...

Say you dispute his account of the transaction, consider him to be taking advantage of your mother and that you will be asking local journalists, councillors and trading standards to look into it. Decide what you want now and tell him - the car returned? £1000? What would make it right? If not, what will you do? Try to go back with your Mum, you and a witness, preferably someone they won't want to look bad in front of, and show that you are not going to be letting it go.

Dmils neighbour was pressuring her into paying a large amount of money towards lopping a tree that was unnecessary but they wanted doing. DH just turned up and knocked on their door and said 'why are you demanding money from a pensioner and causing her significant stress? What are you playing at?' and they were really nice ever since.

Maybe you could ask the opinion of another local garage?

Have they still got the car or have they sold it on?

@quicklybeingdrivenmad I’ve PM’ed you.

They still have the car. One of the “young lads” was working on it in his spare time. I accept that the bodywork needed attention, as there were a few dinks on it, but it was a low mileage car and it was still being driven. Yes, it needed a new battery, and to be put through the MOT, but it had never failed an MOT.

£70 for a 6 year old Nissan Micra that had never failed a MOT and only had 27k miles.

Your mother has been well and truly scammed here. Go to the police, MP, local papers etc.

Also police would definitely help in this situation.