Spares and repairs false advertising?
Discussion
Hello maybe you can help? Saw a car advertised and it looked perfect. No issues, recently had all the big jobs done. 2 days before I bought had a full MOT, Service etc.
Viewed the vehicle, appeared great for the age. Test drove for under 5 minutes as owner was closing up. Felt fine.
As paying he said he had to add "due to the age this is a no warranty vehicle sold as spares and repairs" I was a little backed into a situation and naive of me to accept. This was never mentioned at any other time, not in the advert or the 20 mins previous to the payment or even the phone conversation.
A day later went to drive the car, all fine. Went to 50 mph and engine light came on. Asked the dealer he said it's nothing. Took to my local garage, massive oil leak and turbo has gone. Dealer refusing to entertain any conversation.
Do I have any rights? Thank you
He's since deleted the advert but I've managed to get a copy, he taxed the vehicle for me while with him, he knew my use of the vehicle. I'm devastated
Viewed the vehicle, appeared great for the age. Test drove for under 5 minutes as owner was closing up. Felt fine.
As paying he said he had to add "due to the age this is a no warranty vehicle sold as spares and repairs" I was a little backed into a situation and naive of me to accept. This was never mentioned at any other time, not in the advert or the 20 mins previous to the payment or even the phone conversation.
A day later went to drive the car, all fine. Went to 50 mph and engine light came on. Asked the dealer he said it's nothing. Took to my local garage, massive oil leak and turbo has gone. Dealer refusing to entertain any conversation.
Do I have any rights? Thank you
He's since deleted the advert but I've managed to get a copy, he taxed the vehicle for me while with him, he knew my use of the vehicle. I'm devastated
andburg said:
If he let you drive it away then he’s on the hook.
For the car to be spares/repairs it really has to be trailered or transported away.
Edit: it’s not about warranty, you can’t sign away consumer rights
Yes he let us drive it away. And was very forceful in getting the tax sorted asap. Really made me lose trust in buying a vehicle again especially as this is a dealer. Always believed they would be the "good guys"For the car to be spares/repairs it really has to be trailered or transported away.
Edit: it’s not about warranty, you can’t sign away consumer rights
Aimz415 said:
Yes he let us drive it away. And was very forceful in getting the tax sorted asap. Really made me lose trust in buying a vehicle again especially as this is a dealer. Always believed they would be the "good guys"
I hate to be that guy but the minute he said spares or repairs you should've walked away, you can't afford to lose £2700 so you should've acted as such.Get an estimate from your garage on the cost of repairs & go from there.
I've bought 'back door trade ins' in the past.
Before the latest CRA law.
So you have to understand you're getting a cheap car, sold as seen.
From the right dealer, you can be getting a car which he knows is good, it's just not his 'market' to have on his forecourt, he may have known the car and owner for many years. You're getting the car at a low price, about what the dealer expects to get at auction.
These days, the only way a 'trader' can sell a car without being responsible for it being 'of suitable quality' etc etc is to sell it as 'spares or repairs'.
That seems to be accepted as a 'code' for 'you're buying this without the usual rights'.
IMHO, that's fine, among well informed 'consenting adults'.
I think the 'you must trailer it away' thing is often wrong, that is for a car which is 'not roadworthy'. A car can be a clunker liability and still be 'roadworthy'.
So, IMHO, and I am an amateur, if the car was advertised as 'spears and reapers' then you have no rights.
But if the car was advertised as 'good runner' or with no faults declared, and the 's'n'r' was only sprung on the buyer verbally at the last moment, that is, IMHO, dodgy.
In the world of 'classics', the phrase 'requires a light re-commissioning' is similarly code for 'you are buying an artefact or collection of artefacts which may once have been the majority of a self-propelled conveyance'.
The vendor, whether trader or civilian, must not misdescribe the goods. So if the original advert says 'car' not 'car project' then the buyer may have some rights. Most honest traders are pretty clear about putting key words like 'sold as seen' 'trade sale' 'no warranty' 'repair project' into the original advert. Trading Standards see those who don't as easy pickings.
Citizens' Advice is your portal to Trading Standards.
If you paid by credit card, they may be jointly on the hook and may be inclined to be useful.
Before the latest CRA law.
So you have to understand you're getting a cheap car, sold as seen.
From the right dealer, you can be getting a car which he knows is good, it's just not his 'market' to have on his forecourt, he may have known the car and owner for many years. You're getting the car at a low price, about what the dealer expects to get at auction.
These days, the only way a 'trader' can sell a car without being responsible for it being 'of suitable quality' etc etc is to sell it as 'spares or repairs'.
That seems to be accepted as a 'code' for 'you're buying this without the usual rights'.
IMHO, that's fine, among well informed 'consenting adults'.
I think the 'you must trailer it away' thing is often wrong, that is for a car which is 'not roadworthy'. A car can be a clunker liability and still be 'roadworthy'.
So, IMHO, and I am an amateur, if the car was advertised as 'spears and reapers' then you have no rights.
But if the car was advertised as 'good runner' or with no faults declared, and the 's'n'r' was only sprung on the buyer verbally at the last moment, that is, IMHO, dodgy.
In the world of 'classics', the phrase 'requires a light re-commissioning' is similarly code for 'you are buying an artefact or collection of artefacts which may once have been the majority of a self-propelled conveyance'.
The vendor, whether trader or civilian, must not misdescribe the goods. So if the original advert says 'car' not 'car project' then the buyer may have some rights. Most honest traders are pretty clear about putting key words like 'sold as seen' 'trade sale' 'no warranty' 'repair project' into the original advert. Trading Standards see those who don't as easy pickings.
Citizens' Advice is your portal to Trading Standards.
If you paid by credit card, they may be jointly on the hook and may be inclined to be useful.
ZX10R NIN said:
Aimz415 said:
Yes he let us drive it away. And was very forceful in getting the tax sorted asap. Really made me lose trust in buying a vehicle again especially as this is a dealer. Always believed they would be the "good guys"
I hate to be that guy but the minute he said spares or repairs you should've walked away, you can't afford to lose £2700 so you should've acted as such.Get an estimate from your garage on the cost of repairs & go from there.
Fady said:
No. As indicated above - the law is still on his side. Not everyone is as clever as you but needs to take steps to get his money back.
I'm not saying the law isn't on his side but it's not a quick process & I'm guessing the OP needs a working car, he will still need an estimate for the repairs so he can prove the cost of making the car fit for purpose.He then has a choice to have the car off the road for a fair bit or take it as a lesson learned,repair the car & move on.
The issue is that you do have rights under the Consumer Rights Act but enforcing those rights when the seller won't cooperate is a different matter and the seller knows that.
If the seller won't cooperate then you need to go through the court process and commence legal proceedings through Money Claim Online (MCOL) but be aware it won't be a fast process and you may have to take further action to enforce a judgement.
If the seller won't cooperate then you need to go through the court process and commence legal proceedings through Money Claim Online (MCOL) but be aware it won't be a fast process and you may have to take further action to enforce a judgement.
Oh dear, looks like he knew exactly what he was doing and when to spring the S&R thing on you, at the point you'd already mentally committed to buying it. Easy for people to say you shouldn't have gone through with it, but at that stage you are already mentally driving off up the road in your new car, and difficult to do an about turn.
Don't suppose you paid for any of it, even a deposit, on a credit card? If you did, talk to your credit card provider, they might be some use, although having signed a 'spares or repairs' invoice they may struggle to do anything.
Otherwise, all you have is CRA, which is going to be a difficult fight with a dealer like that - probably sells similar cars and plays the same games on a regular basis. Citizens Advice might be helpful. Good luck.
Don't suppose you paid for any of it, even a deposit, on a credit card? If you did, talk to your credit card provider, they might be some use, although having signed a 'spares or repairs' invoice they may struggle to do anything.
Otherwise, all you have is CRA, which is going to be a difficult fight with a dealer like that - probably sells similar cars and plays the same games on a regular basis. Citizens Advice might be helpful. Good luck.
At the end of the day £250 will get you a balanced recon turbo and it's not a big job to change it.
When he said spares or repair he was changing it from a straight sale to a gamble, but that's in the past now. Better get a turbo and get it fitted asap and argue the piece with him after, it would be better that someone honest does the fitting anyway, and hopefully you'll get some recompense down the line.
When he said spares or repair he was changing it from a straight sale to a gamble, but that's in the past now. Better get a turbo and get it fitted asap and argue the piece with him after, it would be better that someone honest does the fitting anyway, and hopefully you'll get some recompense down the line.
Edited by Decky_Q on Tuesday 12th March 08:46
Mate, you shouldn’t have bought the car especially if the chap told you that it was “spare repair” at the last minute. You should have taken a break to consider the implications.
That’s that out of the way and by the sounds of it he’s not going to play ball. You can sue him or put it down to experience, mistake or whatever and get it fixed and move on.
That’s that out of the way and by the sounds of it he’s not going to play ball. You can sue him or put it down to experience, mistake or whatever and get it fixed and move on.
Why would a seller possibly MOT and service (at their expense) a spares or repair' vehicle' if they claim it was always advertised as thus? Seller sounds like a lying toad, spotted the blown turbo in the 'service' and has tried to stick the sale out.
I would expect a MCOL claim to be supported in favour of the OP if this was evidenced?
I would expect a MCOL claim to be supported in favour of the OP if this was evidenced?
Do you still have a copy of the advert for the car? Simply verbally saying spares or repair at the point of sale is not sufficient to take away your consumer rights. And then telling you to just ignore an engine light is not a good sign either!
The link further up has everything you need, section 75 road traffic act states that a dealer selling spares or repair must make it clear in the sale process that the car is not roadworthy and make every effort to prevent you from driving the car away, the fact that he let you take it on a test drive is one example of him not doing that which he is obligated to do.
You do have a legal recourse, and given by the sounds of it he has washed his hands of it and is now responding aggressively you have two courses of action I think:
1. Cost up the repair, make good the car, learn a valuable lesson in life and leave an appropriate Google Review of the dealer in question
2. Follow up with your legal route, but be prepared for the dealer to aggressively push back against anything you send them. There has been advice given on this thread as to whom and how to go a legal route
Good luck with whatever decision you take. And it sounds like a horrible situation to have landed in. But I have dealt with good dealers in the past, they aren't all scum. Have faith!
The link further up has everything you need, section 75 road traffic act states that a dealer selling spares or repair must make it clear in the sale process that the car is not roadworthy and make every effort to prevent you from driving the car away, the fact that he let you take it on a test drive is one example of him not doing that which he is obligated to do.
You do have a legal recourse, and given by the sounds of it he has washed his hands of it and is now responding aggressively you have two courses of action I think:
1. Cost up the repair, make good the car, learn a valuable lesson in life and leave an appropriate Google Review of the dealer in question
2. Follow up with your legal route, but be prepared for the dealer to aggressively push back against anything you send them. There has been advice given on this thread as to whom and how to go a legal route
Good luck with whatever decision you take. And it sounds like a horrible situation to have landed in. But I have dealt with good dealers in the past, they aren't all scum. Have faith!
Edited by coldel on Tuesday 12th March 11:53
The dealer has mis-sold the car and from what I can see broken the law. Whether you can be bothered to pursue this is another matter.
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/spares-or-repair-do...
You took a test drive, for a start.
Edit: beaten to it on various counts
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/spares-or-repair-do...
You took a test drive, for a start.
Edit: beaten to it on various counts
TimmyMallett said:
Why would a seller possibly MOT and service (at their expense) a spares or repair' vehicle' if they claim it was always advertised as thus? Seller sounds like a lying toad, spotted the blown turbo in the 'service' and has tried to stick the sale out.
I would expect a MCOL claim to be supported in favour of the OP if this was evidenced?
If they wont come to the table, do money claim online. If they dont respond and/or lose, they will get a CCJ.I would expect a MCOL claim to be supported in favour of the OP if this was evidenced?
They might of course be that hooky they dont care, but dealer with premises has more to lose.
Hello, few things to answer. As a single female it's great that in hindsight I shouldn't have continued on with purchasing the vehicle. Those questioning why I proceeded you need to understand I told him outright why I was viewing the car. The auto trader description was perfect, again as I was viewing the car it was perfect, while we went in the office it was perfect. The car was in my budget after the other was written off. It was at the final second he added on " due to the age of the vehicle this car is being sold without a warranty therefore sold as spares and repairs". I trusted someone who really shouldn't have been trusted.
Those saying I should have it repaired and get on with it. I've been quoted between £1500 to £1700 for the work required to make it suitable. I just don't have that money.
I have done citizen advice so I really hope it will go somewhere
Those saying I should have it repaired and get on with it. I've been quoted between £1500 to £1700 for the work required to make it suitable. I just don't have that money.
I have done citizen advice so I really hope it will go somewhere
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