Comeback on Cat C car bought privately?

blancysteve

Hi All,

I was struggling to sell my 335i and in trying to get it sold took a px against a 13 Mini Cooper SD. I was contacted with the offer though Donedeal.

The mini was sold to me as a Northern Ireland registered car which was vrtd in the south before I agreed to buy it.

I was told that the car was his ex wife's which he took back when they split, he claimed they had owned it 12 months and the only damage to it was a dent on the bonnet which was fixed by them.

I went to trade the car in against a newer BMW. BMW did a cartel report in Ireland and N.I as I did and no damage was reported, however the garage had suspicions over repairs to the lights and ran the chassis number. It has transpired that the car was originally out of the UK, it was declared a CAT C in 2013 and only put back on the road in 2015. There mechanics looked at the car feels that it is roadworthy and in good condition but are unwilling to take the car in due to the cat rating in the UK. The sales man has suggested that I take legal action against the seller who they feel was fully aware of its prior history.

The seller will not now take my calls. I do have his address and contact details. My Solicitor feels that it will cost more to go after him that what I may get back.

I am annoyed that I was lied to and want to go after this seller for fraudulently selling a written off car.

Has anyone on here experienced anything similar and could they share their experience?

bazz26

I'd imagine that you would have to prove that the seller knew about the car's shady history when he sold it to you. Other than that I'm not sure what else you can do considering your solicitor is not confident of success. A little late now but while the history report came back with an all clear it's always a good idea to have a car looked over too either by a set of professional eyes to reaffirm or contradict what a history report states.

Out of interest how did the BMW dealer find out it was a Cat C write off in 2013, did they do a UK history check or use some other tools only available to them? I would have thought that the likes of Cartel would have access to UK insurance records.

Atlantic Dawn

Would there be comeback from Cartell? I'd have thought the dodgy history would have transferred to the NIRL plate?

Mintoe

No comeback with a private sale

Henry Ford III

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Would there be comeback from Cartell? I'd have thought the dodgy history would have transferred to the NIRL plate?

There really should be but isn't.

HPI is different. I can't understand why everyone won't automatically use it.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Your solicitor may think it's fruitless pursuing the seller but a solicitors letter can't do any harm. It may freak out the seller and he may agree some remedy.

9935452

blancysteve wrote: »

Hi All,

I was struggling to sell my 335i and in trying to get it sold took a px against a 13 Mini Cooper SD. I was contacted with the offer though Donedeal.

The mini was sold to me as a Northern Ireland registered car which was vrtd in the south before I agreed to buy it.

I was told that the car was his ex wife's which he took back when they split, he claimed they had owned it 12 months and the only damage to it was a dent on the bonnet which was fixed by them.

I went to trade the car in against a newer BMW. BMW did a cartel report in Ireland and N.I as I did and no damage was reported, however the garage had suspicions over repairs to the lights and ran the chassis number. It has transpired that the car was originally out of the UK, it was declared a CAT C in 2013 and only put back on the road in 2015. There mechanics looked at the car feels that it is roadworthy and in good condition but are unwilling to take the car in due to the cat rating in the UK. The sales man has suggested that I take legal action against the seller who they feel was fully aware of its prior history.

The seller will not now take my calls. I do have his address and contact details. My Solicitor feels that it will cost more to go after him that what I may get back.

I am annoyed that I was lied to and want to go after this seller for fraudulently selling a written off car.

Has anyone on here experienced anything similar and could they share their experience?

As bazz says you would have to prove that the seller knew about the cars history. i think it would be nearly impossible to prove
Was it all phone calls you had with him or was there emails from him specifically stating there was no damage to the car.

Regardless he could claim he knew nothing of the history of the car.
Or He could say that he did tell you that the car was written off, it would be your word versus his if it was all done over the phone.

Do you know how many owners the car had , was it him or his wife who imported it into NI . If they were the 2nd NI owners they might have done a cartell search on the car and come up with nothing and it could be possible that he didnt know the car was a write off.

I think your solicitor is right , it would probably cost more to go after him than you would get back. The fact he is in NI makes it more difficult in my eyes as its a different country.
The fact your solicitor doesnt seem keen to chase the seller says to me its not worth doing. Regardless of the outcome the solicitor gets paid.