Sold a written off car from a car dealer

paska

Two years ago we were looking for a car and we found one perfect for my wife.

The sales pitch from the dealer was that he sold the car original as new to a woman who didn't drive it too much and then he bought it back from her years later for his daughter.

It was supposed to be lying idle for a year because his daughter changed plans and was moving away from Ireland and would never use the car.

Unfortunately, the car under our control was in an accident and the insurance company has said the car was previously written off.

Obloviesy the dealer is not the kind of dealer who is being honest. God knows how many people have got the same story from him with other written-off cars. The mileage was very low which leads me to question if that was actually accurate as well.

The airbag did not deploy on impact.

This is only the beginning of this issue as we need a new car and other circumstances to consider.

The dealer is established in Dublin but it's not the Main dealer like ford. Nissan etc

Any thoughts or questions?
I need to escalate this

Atlantic Dawn

Run a history check on it to establish when it was written off, it should give an idea of how bad the damage was in which case the dealer would have known a about it. It may also give more details of the mileage. How old was the car? Is the dealer part of SIMI, they may be worth contacting, they may or may not help.

You need to establish whether the car was written off from a safety point of view and then put back on the road when it shouldn't have been or if the repairs were non structural. When you know more facts I'd be thinking of going the solicitor route if dealer is not for resolving.

mgbgt1978

SIMI........:D:D:D
A Motor Industry Lobby Group, who will do absolutely nothing for the unfortunate OP.

Not really a go at yourself Atlantic, more just a heads up to the OP not to bother wasting their time with that organisation.

paska

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Run a history check on it to establish when it was written off, it should give an idea of how bad the damage was in which case the dealer would have known a about it. It may also give more details of the mileage. How old was the car? Is the dealer part of SIMI, they may be worth contacting, they may or may not help.

You need to establish whether the car was written off from a safety point of view and then put back on the road when it shouldn't have been or if the repairs were non structural. When you know more facts I'd be thinking of going the solicitor route if dealer is not for resolving.

Thanks, I will look into your suggestions

Toyotafanboi

If only there was a cheap, easy way to prevent this (and check the validity of the mileage)... but anyway.

Bare in mind for the sake of balance that airbags don't always deploy in every kind of accident, so just because they didn't deploy doesn't mean they weren't working.

I'm usually not a fan of victim blaming or the likes but you really leave yourself wide open as prey for dishonest car dealers not doing basic checks or asking basic questions pre purchase.

How any ever, what can you do now? Pursue it at pains... for what gain?

If you insurance is paying out for the damage and there is no questions as to 1st or 3rd party injurys as a direct result of the car being a previous write off, i'd probably just chalk it up to experience and move on. It could have been written off over car hire costs or anything, "write off" ≠ unsafe.

Doesn't make the whole thing ok, but it's important to weight up costs and gains at this point.

wonski

Who was at fault?

The other party should pay for damages to your car.

Is it that you were at fault were things become a little bit more difficult for insurance company?

Wildly Boaring

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

If only there was a cheap, easy way to prevent this (and check the validity of the mileage)... but anyway.

Bare in mind for the sake of balance that airbags don't always deploy in every kind of accident, so just because they didn't deploy doesn't mean they weren't working.

I'm usually not a fan of victim blaming or the likes but you really leave yourself wide open as prey for dishonest car dealers not doing basic checks or asking basic questions pre purchase.

How any ever, what can you do now? Pursue it at pains... for what gain?

If you insurance is paying out for the damage and there is no questions as to 1st or 3rd party injurys as a direct result of the car being a previous write off, i'd probably just chalk it up to experience and move on. It could have been written off over car hire costs or anything, "write off" ≠ unsafe.

Doesn't make the whole thing ok, but it's important to weight up costs and gains at this point.

I found myself nodfing to this post.

Then I thought....what a ridiculous situation.

The OP buys off a car dealer (someone who sells cars professionally) and we go straight to blaming the OP for not getting a Cartell or whatever report.

Balls to that. The dealer should do the report. The dealer should be well aware of an official write off.

It isn't "buyer beware" when buying off a dealer.

Toyotafanboi

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I found myself nodfing to this post.

Then I thought....what a ridiculous situation.

The OP buys off a car dealer (someone who sells cars professionally) and we go straight to blaming the OP for not getting a Cartell or whatever report.

Balls to that. The dealer should do the report. The dealer should be well aware of an official write off.

It isn't "buyer beware" when buying off a dealer.

I totally agree.

Try and get that satisfaction though.

If nobody is dead and OP isn't out of pocket, best thing to do is let it go IMO.

Dont do your due dilligence, you risk getting burned, sounds like OP got burned.

Doesn't make dodgy dealers ok but if people didn't allow themselves be such easy prey, there'd be no market for these dealers.

Op could have spared themself all this for about €20. It's not the year 1999 anymore. It's common knowledge.

paska

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I totally agree.

Try and get that satisfaction though.

If nobody is dead and OP isn't out of pocket, best thing to do is let it go IMO.

Dont do your due dilligence, you risk getting burned, sounds like OP got burned.

Doesn't make dodgy dealers ok but if people didn't allow themselves be such easy prey, there'd be no market for these dealers.

Op could have spared themself all this for about €20. It's not the year 1999 anymore. It's common knowledge.

To be honest I buy from a dealer because I want a clean car. I could have bought all my cars from private sellers since 1990 but never did because I was looking for a professional honest seller. If you are suggesting anyone buying a car from any supplier needs to get it third party checked incase the seller is being economical with the truth? No point in looking for the security of buying from a reputable dealer! Is everyone who buys a car from Nissan (for example) and doesn't do an independent check leaving themselves open?

_Kaiser_

paska wrote: »

To be honest I buy from a dealer because I want a clean car. I could have bought all my cars from private sellers since 1990 but never did because I was looking for a professional honest seller. If you are suggesting anyone buying a car from any supplier needs to get it third party checked incase the seller is being economical with the truth? No point in looking for the security of buying from a reputable dealer! Is everyone who buys a car from Nissan (for example) and doesn't do an independent check leaving themselves open?

Always do a check, even if buying from a dealer but especially an independent/smaller one IMO

€25 or thereabouts will get you the info you need. Well worth it... and I always buy from dealers too.

Toyotafanboi

paska wrote: »

If you are suggesting anyone buying a car from any supplier needs to get it third party checked incase the seller is being economical with the truth? No point in looking for the security of buying from a reputable dealer!

That's axactly what i'm suggesting. It so so cheap and so thorough there's pretty much no reason not to check. The dealer you bought from clearly wasn't reputable.

paska wrote: »

Is everyone who buys a car from Nissan (for example) and doesn't do an independent check leaving themselves open?

To an extent, they are, yes. That being said, main dealers generally have something to lose so are considerably less likely to be involved in this type of rubbish. Any independent dealer, large or small, you are wide open for this IMO.

User1998

OP, the CCPC will still investigate cases until 3 years after the purchase so there is still time. If you want to investigate further you should call Citzens Information and they will guide you in the right direction and will probably point you towards CCPC and the Small Claims Court. They should be able to advise you weather you have a case or not.

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/cars/crashed-cars/

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/

markpb

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I found myself nodfing to this post.

Then I thought....what a ridiculous situation.

The OP buys off a car dealer (someone who sells cars professionally) and we go straight to blaming the OP for not getting a Cartell or whatever report.

Balls to that. The dealer should do the report. The dealer should be well aware of an official write off.

It isn't "buyer beware" when buying off a dealer.

If you’re spending a lot of money, you should always get independent advice. If you’re buying a house, you get a solicitor to verify that the seller and agent are taking the truth. If you’re booking a holiday, you have IATA and travel insurance and you might even look at TripAdvisor. Why should spending thousands of euro on a car be any different?

paska

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

That's axactly what i'm suggesting. It so so cheap and so thorough there's pretty much no reason not to check. The dealer you bought from clearly wasn't reputable.



To an extent, they are, yes. That being said, main dealers generally have something to lose so are considerably less likely to be involved in this type of rubbish. Any independent dealer, large or small, you are wide open for this IMO.

OK thanks for your response. Not wanted I wanted to hear but we are learning every day.

Hellrazer

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

The OP buys off a car dealer (someone who sells cars professionally) and we go straight to blaming the OP for not getting a Cartell or whatever report.

Balls to that. The dealer should do the report. The dealer should be well aware of an official write off.

It isn't "buyer beware" when buying off a dealer.

I have to laugh at this bit - you`d want to see the crap that I get into my workshop from some of these so called "professional" dealers-write offs -usually category C or D - beyond economical repair that have been repaired. And also UK imports with dubious service histories etc.
I usually see them when something goes wrong and the "dealer " they bought the car off tells them they have "insert number of years" manufacturer warranty - so they wont even stand over a warranty they've given the customer but passes it on to someone else. Most of the time they aren't even covered.

The OP has already said they didn't buy from a franchised dealer so it was probably a "pop-up" professional dealer - probably changed names a million times in the last few years but run by the same people.

Its fair to say if it was a franchised dealer this more than likely wouldn't have happened and even at that Toyotafanboi ,Kaiser and markpb are 100% correct - always,always do a car check.

Youre probably safe enough with a franchised dealer but are 100% not safe with the "professional" who isn't franchised...there are few and far between genuine non franchised dealers out there.

In my experience most of them are out to make a quick few quid at the expense of the customer.

paska

Hellrazer wrote: »

I have to laugh at this bit - you`d want to see the crap that I get into my workshop from some of these so called "professional" dealers-write offs -usually category C or D - beyond economical repair that have been repaired. And also UK imports with dubious service histories etc.
I usually see them when something goes wrong and the "dealer " they bought the car off tells them they have "insert number of years" manufacturer warranty - so they wont even stand over a warranty they've given the customer but passes it on to someone else. Most of the time they aren't even covered.

The OP has already said they didn't buy from a franchised dealer so it was probably a "pop-up" professional dealer - probably changed names a million times in the last few years but run by the same people.

Its fair to say if it was a franchised dealer this more than likely wouldn't have happened and even at that Toyotafanboi ,Kaiser and markpb are 100% correct - always,always do a car check.

Youre probably safe enough with a franchised dealer but are 100% not safe with the "professional" who isn't franchised...there are few and far between genuine non franchised dealers out there.

In my experience most of them are out to make a quick few quid at the expense of the customer.

The lad is still trading in the same place. I am a little busy at work at the moment but I will deal with this cowboy when I get a few days to sort it.