Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
Hi, my mum bought a used car from a dealer 2 days ago. On the way home we noticed an extremely strong smell of petrol, and upon taking it to the local garage found it had a dangerous fuel leak, as well as two broken sensors controlling fuel emissions. After getting advice frm trading standards, we rang up the dealer only to be ask 'how do i know you havent bent the exhaust' and have the phone slammed down. Without knowing, the garage fixed the fuel leak. Just wondering, would the fact it has been fixed affect my mum's rights? especially if the garage is willing to write an explanation of the faults and there are still broken sensors.. and possibly other things as we've just discovered the car was a category C write off. Any help appreciated.
It will have no effect on your statutory rights at all. Don't phone any more, only correspond in writing (unless you can record the phone call), and make the letter traceable via either recorded delivery or by getting a posting slip from the post office.
It doesn't matter if he know if you did it or not (in fact it doesn't matter if you did do it), during the first six months it is up to him to prove that there was no fault with the car and not yours to prove there wasn't.
Did you get charged at all for the report or the repair? If so, you must claim that from him as well.
In your first letter you should point out the problems and give him a chance to repair. If he refuses, then send another letter giving him 7 days or you will take it to another garage to be fixed and the bill will be sent to him.
Mention the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (amended).
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Thanks very much for the reply. The full report is getting done sometime this week, and my mum is planning on writing the letter then when she knows if there are any further faults.
The only thing is, she's a bit wary about asking him for the repairs as he clearly does very botched jobs. After looking up the car's MOT history we've found it has in fact failed an MOT in mid-november for a 'major exhaust leak'.. only to then pass its MOT on the 1st december (for it to be faulty again in a month). This would seem to suggest his repair job was very shoddy. Is it reasonable to ask for refund of the repair bill from another garage, without asking him to do the jobs himself? Or if the inspection unearths even more faults, to completely reject the car? Thanks.
No, he should be given the first oportunity to repair, replace or refund. You can take it to another garage if the repairs are not satisfactory or he refuses to do them.
Getting the repair done by him does not stop you rejecting the car at a later date.
How many miles are you away from the seller?
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oh okay thanks for the advice!
we're about 19 miles away, but getting the car up to him would be difficult because at the moment it is dangerous to drive, as the sensors controlling carbon monoxide emmissions etc are still broken. I suppose he would have to collect?
You mean the oxygen sensors either side of the cat I assume. That doesn't make the car dangerous. Did the testing garage do an emission reading?
I would write the first letter and see what comes back from that and then take it from there.
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Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
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I have no idea, know nothing about cars but oh, from what the garage they said it was in a dangerous condition to drive. I'm not sure about the emission reading, but thanks, I think we will take your advice and write the letter then see what happens
As you want to use the car, only give him 10 days in which to respond.
The danger would be in the exhaust gas entering the car but that is dangerous lambda sensors broken or not.
How did you find out about the cat C right off?
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Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
_________________________ ________________ _________________________ ___________________
Another thing, there are a number of things in his contract such as 'i, the buyer was given the opportunity to have the vehicle inspected and am responsible for any faults that would have been uncovered by this'
can this affect the basic statutory rights?
(we couldn't of uncovered the fuel leak as the car was sold to us with no petrol in it.. possibly to hide it)
we found out the car was a cat c write off after checking it. stupidly, this was after we'd actually bought it. It turns out most of this mans cars are cat c and d write offs and research online shows many people have had shoddy repairs
I'd follow conniffs advice here. But bear in mind that insurance write offs are based on economics of the insurance company, book values and the geographic area of the repairers.
From an engineering perspective, if the fuel leak is fixed correctly they have complied however as the two lambda sensors are not working does not necessarilly mean there is anything significantly wrong with the car.
I believe the best way forward is to get the inspection done and post the results then lets see what comes out of the woodwork. I'm quite sure Conniff will guide you through the legalities of it all.
I think you will find that he can't duck his responsibilities with clauses like that. Not the exact words, but it says something like 'faults that a person could have resonably be expected to notice'.
I will dig into all the regulations for you tomorrow so you have the exact wording qwerty.
Even if you had signed a paper saying sold as seen it is meaningless in the eyes of the regulations and not allowed.
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Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
_________________________ ________________ _________________________ ___________________
we found out the car was a cat c write off after checking it. stupidly, this was after we'd actually bought it.
What were these checks?
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Dubious website businesses Conterfeit alcohol and cigarettes Illegal sales of alcohol, tobacco, knives & fireworks to children Cowboy builders or tradesmen Car clockers Counterfeiters Aggressive selling
Never phone or accept phonecalls from debt collection companies.
If you don't believe you can win, there is no point in getting out of bed.
_________________________ ________________ _________________________ ___________________
a HPI check.. but we're aware he is allowed to sell cat c and d cars without having to tell us.
The engineer has just rung up with the report.. as well as the broken sensors and the (fixed) fuel leak, he's told us the air con doesn't work, there is some kind of crack in the fuel tank causing a terrible smell of petrol that would give you a headache within 5 mins of being in the car, and the spare tyre doesn't fit.
After hearing all this my mum's adament she wants to reject the car
Dangerous faulty used car
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Originally Posted by qwerty12
