Car garage sold me a right off car? help?

Question

I bought a skodia fabia from a skoda garage 4 years ago. I have changed address and sent away my v5 doc for update. Dvla send back a form saying I need a veh check as its a right off. Further digging and the car was in a smash 3 months before they sold it too me. Nothing was said and i have been driving it not knowing. Where do i stand?

Answer 1

there are different category's for repairing vehicles, they are:

A.  Burnt out.   The vehicle is crushed

B  Written off.  The vehicle can be used for spares only.

C.  Constructive loss.   this is were the cost of repairs exceed the value of the vehicle This can in theory be repaired but must be re MOT'ed after repairs.

There is a 4th category, but this relates to repairs under the value of the car. So this does not apply in this situation.

So if your vehicle came under cat. C then it would be legal to repair, re MOT and sell.

A HPI check would have brought up any major accident reports relating to this vehicle.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

As "one life" implies, I'd be interested in why you've been able to tax it for the past 4 years without a quibble.  There's clearly a c**k-up at DVLA.  Having said that, yes the garage were bound to tell you about the damage, the "trade" are required to advise you of any significant factors about the car, unlike a private seller.  Did you do an hpi check at the time?

Answer 3

You stand in your solicitors office and tell him about it as soon as possible,don,t delay.Meanwhile give all the details to the DVLA.

Answer 4

If the garage is still in business you can go back, contact Trading Standards and they will deal with it for you, the Police will not be interested as its a civil matter, it is not illegal to use this car on the road as long as you have a current logbook and MOT certificate. The car just needs a VOSA inspection to prove it is the correct vehicle. Go here for advice: http://www.vosa.gov.uk/

You should also ask VOSA (by phone) why are they messing you about now as they have let you run for four years and said nothing???

Regarding the law, if the garage sold the car knowing it was a " Cat C" insurance loss they had a duty of care to let you know and you can still prosecute on the grounds that this has only just been disclosed to you.

*Contrary to other comments here the garage DID have a duty to disclose the history of the car as they offered it for sale as a retail vehicle, the law stands that THEY are the experts and not you and as I stated previously they have a duty of care to you. In a court of law they would held liable as when they buy in a vehicle they ALWAYS without exception do an HPI check to see if there is any debt on the vehicle or previous damage and they would have been fully aware of the vehicles history, if they bought the vehicle in and it was not on the HPI index at that time (which is possible) under law they as the retailer are still liable, the rule of Caveat Emptor does not apply as the buyer goes to the retailer and trusts his word because he is by law supposed to be a responsible retailer, as I said go to trading standards and they will explain.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/consu...

Answer 5

As per your previous answer, it's been a Category 'C' write off, it should have been up to you to check the history with an HPI check or similar.

Any decent garage would have disclosed this, but they weren't legally obliged to do so.

Answer 6

Contact the Police and the garage where you bought it and go from there, what they have done is not legal.

Answer 7

four yrs and you didnt see any thing wrong with car but now... sorry time as way pass,, might could have said something a few days or a month after but four years later.....you stand beside your car you been driving four years