What can i do.....private sale.

[petethemanc]

I bought a bmw from a private seller on the autotrader. When i first went yo view it i did the usual checkes for dints scratches, obvious things like water in the oil. And took the car for a test drive. Now there was a service history up until 3 years ago, and the woman assured me that the car had a service recently (because i checked the oil and it was clean i assumed she was right) i asked if there were any problems with the car that she knew of, she replied there wasnt. I did a hpi check and this came back clear....only thing was a private palte change which i knew of. Now, after a few days of having the car, i noticed there was a slight rocking to the engine, my brother was a mechanic so i took it to him to check it out. The oil light had also come on which made me wonder seeing as though i had been told it had been serviced. He suggested taking it to a bmw specialist which i did. The car has been booked in for tomorrow as he says the car is missfiring but he needs to see exactly why. Also the car is 3745 miles overdue its service inspection II. Which obviously means the woman was lying and not in any way confused. I got her to sign a bill of sale that i got from the hpi check site. And on there it says she states there is no work needed to be done to the car. Now if she had told me these things needed doing then i would still have bought the car but insisted on a reduced fee to cover the repairs needed. Do i have any recourse for this at all? i have her address and she works in a well know high street bank so i know she wouldnt want me turning up there dissputing this. I have tried calling on the phone and texting but to no avail.

[crem]

I don't think you have much chance on any comeback with a private seller unless you have evidence that they intentionally lied to you in some regard.

 

I wouldn't necessarily assume the car hasn't been serviced recently but maybe whoever did the service may not have had a Tech2 computer to "tell" the car computer that it had been serviced (or they put the codes in wrong) so the onboard computer is still demanding a new service.

[Conniff]

Unfortunately crem has given you all you are likely to learn. The only bit in law for a comeback with a private seller is misdescription or dangerous. That's not just it hasn't had a service (which it might have) but something substantial so that basically the car you are buying isn't the one that was advertised.