Hankins Car Sales/lawgistics - 2010 Vauxhall Zafira 7 seater - court claim issued - not fit for purpose.

[DiscoCow]

Been trying on phone for last 3 days to get hold of the court to pay my fees.  Emailed them and they say it will take 29 working days to reply to my email.  Website says not to just turn up without an appointment... what a system!  

[dx100uk]

courts are closed at the w/end.

 

and mondays are always busy for northants bulk court

 

 

[DiscoCow]

I meant Thursday, Friday, and today but I will keep trying I guess.  Hopefully don't have to resort to turning up unannounced as its about an hour away

[FruitSalad1010]

Just to be sure, the directions normally provide a number to call in order to make payment.

Are you definitely calling that number and not one which is listed elsewhere on the internet which may be for enquiries rather than payments?

Alternatively you could pay by cheque and send it in the post.

 

[DiscoCow]

Apparently I tell them my number over email and someone then calls me at a random time to take paymebr over the phone.  Waiting for someone to call me at any point now. 

 

2023 apparently!  Where are the online payment options?? 

[DiscoCow]

Should i send a copy of my witness statement to the defendant?  The document i got from the court says i need to 'serve and file' by the date.   I have already sent to the court but have just received the defendants statement so im not sure if i should forward mine to them? 

 

edit: nevermind, I have realised that 'Served' means to send to the defendant so i have done this

Edited April 28, 2023 by DiscoCow

[DiscoCow]

got my hearing date coming up shortly and was going through things ahead of time.  

Not sure what to expect as far as process is concerned though.   At the last hearing I barely spoke and the judge basically asked to confirm details and then told us to get an independent report and then we left

At this final hearing am I going to be standing up to make a statement and counter arguments etc or will it be another situation where I am mainly responding to questions from the judge?  

Should i prepare an opening statement of sorts?  Should i expect the judge to have read my witness statement and attachments in depth?

Its supposed to be up to 1.5hrs long but I am not sure what will take that length of time

 

Also it states on Citizens Advice "If you lose you might have to pay some of the defendant’s costs - like travel and lost wages"

Is this a realistic thing that might happen? 

Edited June 4, 2023 by DiscoCow

[dx100uk]

44 minutes ago, DiscoCow said:

Also it states on Citizens Advice "If you lose you might have to pay some of the defendant’s costs - like travel and lost wages"

typically the very worst would be about £100 mark, they as you can, can claim time off work, thats £90 at MAX. and small costs like postage etc

 

46 minutes ago, DiscoCow said:

Should i expect the judge to have read my witness statement and attachments in depth?

god yes i would be shocked if not!!

speak when/if spoke too or if you disagree with something the opposition say but be polite!!

[DiscoCow]

thank you.  So you dont think i would need to stand up and present my case again?  Its just a case of clarifying/answering questions as needed and requesting time to speak to rebuff the points raised by defendants? 

[DiscoCow]

Case dismissed

Apparently driving off the forecourt and driving for 3 months is sufficient to prove that the vehicle was of satisfactory quality and time of sale and negate the CRA subsection 14

Oh well. Life goes on

[dx100uk]

urm..judge lottery IMHO.

or they play golf with their friends.

 

[DiscoCow]

yeah i felt that it may have been a different decision with a different person.   He laboured so hard that 116k miles was an extremely high mileage for a car so the bar for satisfactory quality was going to be much lower.  116k isnt that much for a used car in the grand scheme of things. High yes but not horrifically high

 

In hindsight I am just annoyed that the process is such that you dont get a chance to rebuff what the judge is saying past your 1 allocated moment, just have to sit there in the summing up and accept it

[FruitSalad1010]

Thank you for your coming back to report the outcome, I'm sorry to hear it wasn't what you wanted.

I understand it may be difficult to read after the fact but I think the real issue was the diagnosis report.

I recall when I first read it thinking that it reads as a stitch up of the owner and made very little of the fact that if coolant did leak it must have done so due to a problem inherent with the engine, particularly as the coolant system was assessed as intact.

I recall you saying the judge suggested that the independent report should be carried out by the AA or the RAC.

It later turns out the report was carried out by a company called Automotive Consulting Engineers Ltd which, unless I have misunderstood, are not associated with either the AA or the RAC and may have been appointed by the Defendant. A check of their reviews on trust pilot shows a string of negative experiences all of which have been made by car owners and not by garages.

If they were appointed by the Defendant then regrettably I think this was an error and for anyone reading in the future it is important that an expert witness is not left to the other side to organise.

I'm not suggesting this is what happened, but it is easy to imagine that a garage has lots of useful contacts they can call upon when they require a diagnosis report and who it might favour as a result.

[DiscoCow]

Yeah you are right and the judge wasn't very happy with the report either. 

Unfortunately AA cancelled their appointment and said they couldn't do the report and recommended this other company 

But it's fairly obvious that the garage have directed them to a certain conclusion so I should have just done one myself as well.  Unfortunately I didn't know about this until the day final evidence had to be submitted 

[DiscoCow]

help with some advice

Have tried to arrange collection of the vehicle as scrap but the dealer has said they will not release the vehicle back to me until i pay £700+vat for storage at £20 a week..or sign the car over to them and call it final

During their initial response to the mcol claim they said they reserve the right to claim storage fees.  They havent up to this point mentioned anything about it, i havent accepted any terms relating to it.  

During the court hearing, the legal representative asked at the end if they could claim costs and the judge said he wasnt going to award costs. 

Where do i stand on this? 

I feel that a contract hasnt been formed as i havent been given any details of terms and I havent accepted them.  Although is the previous comment about them reserving the right to claim fees valid for my acceptance as i carried on with the claim? 

I feel like i am being blackmailed here to sign the car over to them for nothing

[dx100uk]

remind them of the judges ruling...no costs allowed?

 

dx

 

[DiscoCow]

would this count as costs?  Or would this be a seperate fee they can claim i owe? 

[dx100uk]

as you 'lost' its a sep fee .

though i'd be pretty firm on them needing to prove you agreed to such storage fees....