[apelstrudel]

Hi

My sister bought a car from a back street garage 18 months ago. She it recently serviced by another garage 2 months ago and the mechanic spotted that it was badly damaged in the rear. We did a check and it was imported in from the north with damage. We contacted the garage and he is claiming that he knew nothing about the damage.

Have we any case to sue him?

[Atlantic Dawn]

What category damage was it when it came from the north?

It's possible if it was B category and fixed properly there's no issue with it from a safety point of view, however when selling it your likely to get less.
I think the legal stance is if you asked was it crashed and they said no you have a comeback, otherwise once it's roadworthy at time of sale there may not be much you can do.

[Henry Ford III]

Too late I reckon. As always you should have checked it out fully when it was bought.

[garhjw]

you need to check if it was written off and if so which category as someone already suggested. it could have been illegal for them to sell the car if it is unsafe

[kincaid]

to be honest 18 months have now passed which makes it alot harder to do anything about it...

[Nonoperational]

What's stopping him saying you did the damage in the last 18 months? Too long has passed to proove anything in my opinion.

[Absurdum]

Originally Posted by apelstrudel

Hi

My sister bought a car from a back street garage 18 months ago. She it recently serviced by another garage 2 months ago and the mechanic spotted that it was badly damaged in the rear. We did a check and it was imported in from the north with damage. We contacted the garage and he is claiming that he knew nothing about the damage.

Have we any case to sue him?

Originally Posted by gpf101

What's stopping him saying you did the damage in the last 18 months? Too long has passed to proove anything in my opinion.

If a mechanic spotted it during a service, imo it is reasonable to assume that the dealer should have spotted it too before selling it. That's also assuming that he didn't know that it was already damaged.

I have no idea where this leaves you from a legal point of view though, best to speak with a solicitor.

[langdang]

Originally Posted by Atlantic Dawn

What category damage was it when it came from the north?

It's possible if it was B category and fixed properly there's no issue with it from a safety point of view, however when selling it your likely to get less.

Cat A and B are never to be returned to the road AFAIK. C or D is ok with D being the lightest damage

Quick google returns this from autocheck.co.uk
Category A A vehicle which should have been totally crushed, including all its spare parts.
Category B A vehicle from which spare parts may be salvaged, but the bodyshell should have been crushed and the car should never return to the road.
Category C An extensively damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road.
Category D A damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road.
Category F A vehicle damaged by fire, which the insurer has decided not to repair.

If there was an insurance claim on this vehicle that resulted in it being written off as a result of the accident it should have showed up on a proper history check before purchase. Also possible that it was just repaired on the QT or the damage was not sufficient to write it off at the time.

[Mr.Boots]

What type of car is it?
Whats the current value of the car?
What did she pay for it?

[MarkoC]

Originally Posted by gpf101

What's stopping him saying you did the damage in the last 18 months? Too long has passed to proove anything in my opinion.

Exactly my thoughts ...

[mickdw]

If you can show that the car was a CAT A or B write off in the north, you would have a case. If not, forget about it.

[mathepac]

Originally Posted by langdang

Cat A and B are never to be returned to the road AFAIK. C or D is ok with D being the lightest damage

Quick google returns this from autocheck.co.uk ...

Do you know if these categories apply to cars sold / repaired / insured / driven in Ireland?

Originally Posted by mickdw

If you can show that the car was a CAT A or B write off in the north, you would have a case. If not, forget about it.

I don't believe it's insurance damage classification in the UK has any bearing on its sale or road-worthiness in this country. Besides, as someone has pointed out already, unfortunately too much time has elapsed since the original sale.

[cadaliac]

Originally Posted by mathepac

Do you know if these categories apply to cars sold / repaired / insured / driven in Ireland?
I don't believe it's insurance damage classification in the UK has any bearing on its sale or road-worthiness in this country. Besides, as someone has pointed out already, unfortunately too much time has elapsed since the original sale.

No, bollix to that I say.
The seller sold a crashed car to the punter. This is only valid if proven of course. It doesn't matter what country they iomported the car from, if it was a wright off by an insurance company, it will be illigall to re-sell.
But agreed on the time lapse - you might not get anywhere if the sale of goods is over 12 months.

[Atlantic Dawn]

Originally Posted by langdang

Cat A and B are never to be returned to the road AFAIK. C or D is ok with D being the lightest damage

Yes I mixed them up, I meant the other way around, thanks

[apelstrudel]

The Car was a Honda civic. It looks like the whole back was welded and probably the back is from another car! She paid 8k for it and the garage owner had the car transfered into his name.

The garage/seller does'nt want to know.