Bought crashed car

gofast

I bought a car two years ago from a dealer. When I bought it the dealer showed me the full service history and said the car was never crashed. I recently had to get it NCT'ed, it failed the slip slide test. After getting the 4 wheel allignment the car still failed, after the garage took the back off the car there were visible repairs done on the car, which had been done poorly. The car was in a serious crash previously.

The dealer sold me the car with a full service history and guaranteed everything for 12 months, stating that it was never crashed. I can't sell the car on and can't get it NCT'd. I don't know what my rights are, does anyone know what I should do here?

Seth Brundle

The only thing you really can do is contact a solicitor.

BigCon

Normally the dealers say that "the car has never been crashed as far as they are aware", thus covering their arses, I seriously doubt that you got it in writing that the car was never crashed...

Steve

Sale of goods act applies, no question.

If you've anything in writing about it 'not being crashed' then all the better, verbal statements are also binding but are impossible to prove unless you've a witness.

If it were me then I'd argue that it wasn't fit for purpose (given what it failed on, it was unroadworthy) and seek my money back from the dealer you bought it from.

As KB said, you may need a solicitor. Any communication with the dealer should be in writing from now on.

On paper or not you would have to first prove that the repair work on the car was done before you bought it.

First I would get a full car history check done to see what that pops up and to determine if it was previously written-off, go to: http://www.cartell.ie/
It might be that the car may of been deemed BER - beyond economical repair but was fixed anyway. If this was the case it should of been fixed right but that doesn't always happen, and as for anyone that may tell you an assessor should of looked at it after repairs, that doesn't always happen either.

ShayK1

whats the slip slide test?

-Chris-

1) Get an assessor to look at it

2) Get a history check on it

3) Contact the dealer and get them to pull the paperwork on it - someone traded that car in, and normally the previous owner signs something to say if the car has ever been in an accident before - find out if the dealer was ever made aware of any damage

4) See if you can get the previous owner's details - contact them and see if they can shed any light on the history of your car. Did anything happen while they had it, was it serious, did they make the dealer aware of it? Most people are pretty helpful when they realise you've potentially been done

5) When you have all this info, go to the dealer and demand an explanation. Get your solicitor involved


Get your homework done before involving the solicitor. Do/get everything in writing.

gofast

Thanks, the car was imported from the UK and only had one previous lady owner

-Chris-

Then definitely do a history check. There's written-off UK cars coming over here and being re-sold all the time (don't mean to scare-monger btw).

Moanin

gofast wrote: »

Thanks, the car was imported from the UK and only had one previous lady owner

Get a HPI check done if you have not had one done prior to purchasing the car

gofast

Moanin wrote: »

Get a HPI check done if you have not had one done prior to purchasing the car

Would the cartell.ie check be enough for this? I noticed they have a UK search as well, bnut not sure if it is worth it?

gofast

ShayK1 wrote: »

whats the slip slide test?

I thinnk it's the back wheel alignment for the car is not straight. It should be within 15% in order to pass

gofast

Thanks for the advise, just to update you on how it has panned out

I had to get an accessor to look at the car, after getting it up on a ramp he was able to tell that the car was crashed badly from behind. The good news was that I had the original SIMI receipt from the dealer, this receipt has to outline any previous major damage / repair work done to the car, if it doesn't then the dealer is liable. This is very important for anyone buying a car, make sure you keep your SIMI receipt.

The accessor advised me that I could take them to court (or to be more precise SIMI arbitration were you still need a solicitor) and they wouldn't have a leg to stand on, but I asked him to approach the dealer and outline the situation, which he did, the dealer eventually agreed to do a deal (sic) for around the market value of the car.

testicle

2 years later, I wouldn't have thought you had a hope of a comeback.

alias no.9

Does the fact that the dealer caved in so easily suggest that this was something the dealer was aware of rather than an honest mistake?

-Chris-

Well done OP. Fair play for investigating it properly and standing up for yourself.

@alias, I don't this reflects in any way on the dealer. We'll never know if they were aware of any damage to the car (I hope not), but when presented with such evidence from the assessor I don't think they really had any arguement against it.

Fair play to the dealer for doing the right thing too, without dragging the whole thing through court/arbitration.

meathstevie

Well done. Their fault or not but the dealer copped on fairly quickly that you had a nice little package under his seat ready to go off and seriously tarnish his reputation.

bazz26

So what does the dealer do with the car now?

L-M

Sell it to the trade or for scrap? I'm sure they won't want to get caught a second time.

allybhoy

alias no.9 wrote: »

Does the fact that the dealer caved in so easily suggest that this was something the dealer was aware of rather than an honest mistake?

Yeh probably, or else he was afraid of legal action.

I hope the dealer doesnt sell this on to some unfortunate fecker again

Steve

Would the dealers insurance policy cover stuff like this? I assume they'd have to have some form of product liability cover...

In any case, it would be professional suicide if the dealer failed to honour this and the media got involved.

gofast

The dealer will probably fix it and sell it on, he has to let the buyer know that it was crashed previously and will have to put it on the SIMI sales form, but there is nothing wrong with him selling it on as long as he gives disclosure.

L-M

gofast wrote: »

The dealer will probably fix it and sell it on, he has to let the buyer know that it was crashed previously and will have to put it on the SIMI sales form, but there is nothing wrong with him selling it on as long as he gives disclosure.

If he gave near market value for it, i can't see him selling it on. Adding to the fact he will have to repair it and bring it up to retail stanard, also giving a warranty and the hassle of tryin to sell a crashed car, i don;t think it would be worth his while trying to sell it on.