Budget Star Limited Used Car - Small Claims Court

[BankFodder]

Firstly please notice that you have posted your story in a block of text which is difficult to read especially for people on small screens such as telephones.

Please will you post your responses properly spaced and punctuated.

Thank you.

Who's the dealer?

Please can you tell us more about the car – make, model, mileage, price paid.

How far are you away from the dealer?

Did you pay by cash? Did you pay by bank transfer? How did you pay?

You say that you bought it at a distance. Does this mean that you bought it and paid for it before you even went to it?

[BankFodder]

I see there is some reference in your letter to the car being delivered to your business address. Was this a business purchase or have you bought this as a private owner?

Also I see that the letter which you sent in September purported to be a letter of claim. Why are you sending letters of claim would say that you're going to take legal action and then you don't follow through?

Well done on recording your calls. We have had people here for years who are well aware that they should always read our customer services guide and record their calls and yet they don't take it seriously until it bites them in the bum.

Have you had an independent assessment of all the defects? Do you have at least one quote for the work required to any of the defects which have not yet been addressed?

[BankFodder]

You aren't running out of time under the consumer rights act as long as you assert your right before the expiry of the six months.
In any event, regardless of the consumer rights act you would be well protected by the ordinary law of contract – and even under the consumer rights act, you are entitled that the car should be of satisfactory quality and remain that way for a reasonable period of time.

I'm afraid that the rights which are apparently conferred under the consumer rights act are rather overblown and don't have much meaning when a dealer doesn't want to honour those rights. And when the dealer is prepared to honour those rights then the protection of the consumer rights act is not necessary.

 

What do you want to do with the car? Do you want to get it repaired and keep it or do you want to get shot of it?

How much money have you spent on the car?

Maybe you can give us a bullet pointed itemisation of your expenses incurred so far

[BankFodder]

He has promised to reimburse you for certain repairs and he has reneged on this promise.

 

I understand that you have drawn his attention to all of the faults and he has refused to repair them or to pay for the repairs. He has only agreed to pay for some limited repairs.

Is this correct? Do you have evidence of this?

[BankFodder]

I hope you can see that I have had to introduce spacing into your post again. I don't think you are being very fair to us.

 

Quote

Dear XXX

Vehicle registration number XXX – letter of claim

You are fully aware of all the defects which exist state.

Since then I have given you an opportunity to carry out repairs – and in fact you have told me to carry out the repairs and you will reimburse me.

I have carried out some of the repairs and you have not reimburse me despite reminders.

I'm now confirming that you have been given an opportunity to repair the vehicle and clearly you have declined so I'm now rejecting the vehicle and I require a full refund plus the reimbursement of all the work carried out which amounts to improvements so that when you eventually sell the vehicle you will be to recover your money.

I require that you reimburse me £XXX which includes the cost of the vehicle, or repairs carried out so far, and other ancillary losses.

I also require that you make arrangements to collect the vehicle as soon as possible although please note that I shall payment before you collect the vehicle or at the same time but in a secure form.

 

If you do not comply with this then I shall begin proceedings in the County Court for the recovery of the sums plus interest and without any further notice.

Believe me

 

 

Have a look at the above letter. See if you agree with it and you are prepared to sign off and send it.

I suggest that you send it by email and also by post – recorded delivery.

Stop using WhatsApp et cetera. This business needs to be taken seriously now but certainly you should print off all messages you have and make sure they are stored securely.

If you're prepared to send the letter above, then realise that we are not bluffing. You must issue the claim on day 15.

Start reading on this forum about the steps involve taking a small claim in the County Court. Register with the County Court money claim website this and start preparing your claim and post any drafts here so that we can check. You can save your work as you go.

Please confirm that you are happy to take this next step

[BankFodder]

If he doesn't have them already – then yes make sure he is fully informed.

Indicate in your letter of claim what information you are including for his benefit

It worries me when you use the word "template".

I think we would like to see the final letter before you post it off.

[BankFodder]

If I understand your question correctly, you need to have the entire value of your claim calculated and stated when you make your claim. You won't be able to add things later on.

Not quite true – you could amend the claim but it will cost you as much as £275 to amend the claim and you probably won't get that back.

Best to get it right the first time even if it means that there is a delay.

If you are considering having any repairs done then you must inform the person you are suing in advance and give them an opportunity to comment. You should provide that person with an assessment of the work needs doing and a couple of estimates and you choose the cheapest estimate

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that you are a difficult ground. Certainly any steps you take should be properly informed notified to the dealer in advance together with projected costs in order to give the dealer an opportunity to respond.

Are you sending your notifications by any kind of recorded delivery? Special delivery would be best. You don't want to be in a position where the dealer says that he hadn't received any of your communications.

It's not unreasonable to want to dispose of the car. However I think you would certainly have to notify him in advance that this is what you are doing and when you are made an offer on it, you should let him know what the offer is and once again give him an opportunity to object.

You would have to take all these precautions in order to make sure that you are squeaky clean and that a court agreed that the dealer had been given every possible chance and had been fully informed from the outset.

I have to say that a dealer who behaves in this way worries me to the extent that even if you get a judgement in your favour – as you surely will, enforcement could be an entirely different matter.
I'm afraid that dealers who behave in this way are past masters at avoiding enforcement so that you end up with a judgement which effectively is meaningless and of course you will have incurred court costs et cetera.

However I really don't see any other way to go. I hope you won't be buying a vehicle in these kind of distant circumstances again.

I think you're gonna have to make your own judgements as to whether or not you should sell the vehicle. It certainly not unreasonable. Where is it now? And is it working at all? Is it driveable?

 

Certainly this has gone on quite long enough and you need to take action for the entire value of the car plus any repairs. Whether or not you want to sell the car is a complete the separate matter – and of course if you did then certainly you would reduce your claim by the amount of money that you receive for the vehicle less any expenses incurred selling it – and of course you would claim for the improvements.

However as I've already suggested, you are entering into rather complicated territory.

If you stop driving it then it would be reasonable to claim for storage charges at, say, £10 or £15 per day. Once again you have to notify the dealer in advance that this is what you are doing and frankly I think I would start calculating the storage charges from the very moment that you stopped driving the car. The dealer can always challenge them in court if he wants.

Sorry that this is not a definitive answer. I suppose I'm playing safe by simply explaining the principles and the convocations but you will have to make your own decision

 

[BankFodder]

You have to give 14 days notice – not 7

[BankFodder]

Bare should be bear - but yes, it's fine

[BankFodder]

Please monitor this thread for a fuller reply later on

[BankFodder]

It might be an idea if you went through the letter that he has sent you and isolate each point and then comment on each point.

This would be best done in a tabulated format.

Have a two column Microsoft Word table with the point you have identified on the left, and your comments on the right. And maybe 1/3 column with a link to any evidence – SMS et cetera that you might have in support.

He says that he didn't agree to the repair. What do you want to say about that?

In terms of delivery charge, if you are entitled to a refund then I would say you are also entitled to the delivery charge. Although it was your choice, it is all part and parcel of the same contract and if the main contract fails then the ancillary contracts must fail as well.

 

[BankFodder]

I understand your concern at getting paid if you get a judgement.
However you have no guarantee that you will get paid even if you simply accept the refund. If you return the car to him without the money then he has the car and your money. It seems unlikely to me that he will give you the money before you return the vehicle – but of course you could propose that and see what the reaction is.

If you sue him for the cost of the vehicle plus your ancillary losses I expect that you would get judgement for the lot but as I mentioned at the outset in this post, enforcement can be a problem.
It is always a problem – especially when one is dealing with used-car dealers. I don't know why but they often seem to be particularly slippery.

Your tabulated commentaries extreme helpful.
The threats he made are extremely unpleasant and I would certainly be bringing those before the court plus the other comments made which clearly amount to an acknowledgement that he had been informed of the possible work and that he was prepared to pay it.

It certainly absolutely normal that you should be able to claim for the refund of the vehicle and he should not benefit by the improvements to it and he should pay for that as well. Particularly as he was aware of them in advance.

Could you just please itemise your losses here in a tabulated form. Include the cost of the vehicle, any work, fares or petrol et cetera going to fetch it, insurance – anything else. List it all and give us a total

[BankFodder]

Nice to know that he made at least one customer happy