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.

I’d be worried about your DM still being liable for any fines etc. Who is currently the registered owner? Keeper?

I think they changed the registered keeper about a week ago.

I am as angry about her fucking stupidity as much as anything else.

Oh that’s sad. They are clearly crooks. I wouldn’t want to be dealing with slippery auto crooks when I’m 88.

In fact “fucking stupidity” in relation to an 88-year-old mum is just nasty. Have you made great progress yourself?

@Elisandra obviously I am angry about the garage first and foremost, but secondly, I am angry about her stupidity. Wouldn’t you be? We had discussed it, I said to leave it to me and I would try and get her as much money as possible. For her to come out yelling about £150 meant that she had basically stopped any chance of negotiation. So no, thanks to her intervention, I made no progress. And with the amount of cash in his wallet, he had clearly come prepared to give more, given that I had said we would have got at least £300 for scrap. Anyway, it’s her loss, not mine. My Dad always said we should put “She wouldn’t be told” on her tombstone. Trying to find some positivity, it’s one less thing that she or I have to worry about.