Bought used car privately but invoices appear to be false

[Sooty20235]

I very recently bought a used car from a private seller. Some faults which could be serious were not declared even though seller has since verbally admitted she knew about them but sadly that could be buyer beware.

The other issue is that it looks like the company on the invoice for sorting mot advisories and doing a service doesn't actually exist. I'm taking it to a garage on Friday to see if the work has been done or not. The original advert states they have been done. Ive called so many garages in the area and no one has heard of the company on the invoice. One garage has said how cheap the invoice is for what it details.

What can I do if these advisories and service haven't been done? I was specifically looking for a car with good service history and no mot advisories.

If you bought privately, nothing. Did you not check the MOT history on the dvla?

Tbh I would always set aside a repair bill for a privately bought second hand car. There's a reason it's not gone to a dealer, usually. I've even had one from a dealer with a fan belt that needed replacing. It's buyer beware, the AA does a service that can check a used car the next time you buy, not sure how much it costs. However, the fake invoice is completely illegal so if you can prove it's fake and can be bothered to go to small claims, you can probably get your money back.

Yes so knew there were advisories which the advert and invoice say have been sorted. Im getting a garage to check if they have but the company on invoice doesn't seem to exist.

That sounds like deliberate deception. Go and see a solicitor.

The seller is under no obligation to disclose faults. However if they lied about about work they have had done then in theory you can sue them. The problemis that you will need good evidence if you want to take them to the small claims court.

This is wrong. Even from a private seller, the car must match any description. In this case, the description stated that the work on the invoices had been carried out. If it has not, OP is entitled to reject the car and receive a full refund.

Great! How would she go about getting that from someone who is clearly a dodgy scammer?

That's what the courts are for. Of course, even with a judgement, it can be difficult to extract payment and OP needs to consider whether the seller is actually able to pay. But, even with a private sale, the buyer has rights under the Consumer Rights Act. Of course, if the seller is a dealer pretending to be a private seller, they are committing a criminal offence, so Trading Standards would be interested.