[Broadpaws]

hometune, I wanted to ask you something....

could you advise?

On 7 / 6 /16
You replied with the following...

The rest of your post is absolute nonsense. A member of the public buying a car cannot be sold a car as a trade sale or similar in an attempt to avoid responsibilities under the legislation. Its been like this for years.

As someone who has used the new legislation very recently it is certain the OP is well covered as he/she is not a car dealer or a trader.

I wonder if you might be able to advise? My father brought a car from a dealer, part ex his and the car went wrong within 3 days, we took it straight to our left cal garage who ran a diagnostic tests to tell us it needed £900 worth of work all to do with the dpf filter. We contacted the trader who initially agreed hecwouod return car and refund monies, only for two days later to claim he acted hastily and would not do that. As a goodwill gesture, his terms, he said we could take it to his garage so they could inspect.
We did not want it repaired but our money back, and assumed under CPA 2015 that this was our right as was within just 4 days.(I thought we had 30)

He now says that it was a trade sale, dad did signed a receipt which said this, but he is not a car trader just a handyman!

We have now started small claims and today he has defended his claim reiterating that dad is a trader so that’s it.

I’m sure even though he has signed the receipt that is still wrong? Then I saw your post!!

Your experience would be gratefully received.

[Hometune]

Hi, since that post I too am awaiting my day in court with a trader in not dissimilar circumstances. So you are aware of the CRA 2015 and as the car is from a trader you are covered by it.
You have the right to reject the car within 30 days with no cost to yourself so the trader's terms are meaningless i.e.4 days. You must put it in writing so an email is acceptable for ease and speed - always keep copies and note any conversations with time and dates if you can (use your mobile phone bill to prove your calls and the phone menu for calls received/missed). Once rejected the seller has 14 days to refund you in full.
If the car is not driveable then the trader must recover it. You do NOT pay for a trailer or breakdown to take it back, its not your problem.
One big part of the CRA 2015 that many overlook are terms of contract such as invoices. For the contract to be enforceable it must be fair. For example, if the contract says a deposit is non refundable if you don't go ahead and buy the car, then that is deemed as unfair and the defence will be thrown out immediately. Or if the contract or invoice says something like 'we reserve the right to charge you £150 if you do xxxxxxxxxx' that too is unfair and the case would be thrown out.
Stating the car has been sold as a 'trade sale' is an attempt to avoid the restrictions of the CRA 2015 and as your father is not a car trader or a car dealer then unless the seller can prove otherwise, this should be thrown out as an unfair term. Under contract law, the terms have to be reasonable and clearly in this case they are not. The seller will need to prove your dad deals and sells or repairs cars for profit as a commercial business which is not going to happen.

I think you will find that the case will go ahead but the trader will not turn up (seems to be the usual case) so judgement will be awarded in your favour.

One final point, you must always give the seller the first opportunity to repair the car so taking it to your garage is not recommended. In this case it was a diagnostic check so it is not going to alter anything unless they did a forced regeneration which would change the situation or if the garage had removed and cleaned the DPF then the seller has a get-out clause which might be difficult to disprove in court.

Good luck.

[Broadpaws]

Thank you so much for taking your time for such a comphrensive reply.
may I ask... why your day in court has not happened yet ?? :)

[Broadpaws]

Hi thank you so very much for your detailed reply.
may I also ask why you still haven’t had your day in court ?

[Hometune]

My current claim is from December 2018. The selling garage refused to answer emails or calls and then passed the complaint to a company called Legal Solutions 4 U. They claim to be experts in motor trade disputes and will, for a nice big fee, represent a garage/trader/dealer. They are absolutely hopeless and quite clearly have no idea in dealing with my claim against the seller. When I did a search with the Law Society I could not find a solicitor registered with them. On a website called Legal Beagles they are described simply as a debt recovery agency. They had insisted in unsigned letters that I send all documentation to them which you should never comply with as they are not regulated.
My case is at Huddersfield and with cut backs, there have been delays in the court system. It took 18 months to get my claim against a driveway contractor to court so October is quite fast this time.

[Broadpaws]

Oh best of luck I will let you know how things pan out here too. Thank you again.

[DronFee1]

Great write,thanks for sharing