Small claims court, anyone used it?

[iCraig]

Hi,

Has anyone recently had the misfortune to have to use or go through the small claims court to get money back that you're owed?

As I have just recently made a claim against a company.

To cut a long story short, I put a deposit of a £100 on a car described buy the dealer as a 1 owner car. After agreeing to buy it I did the usual checks and did a HPI, it came back as having outstanding finance and showed as having 2 owners. so I called the dealer who gave me some cock and bull story.

I mulled it over and contacted HPI who confimed it has had 2 owners but the finance marker is to be deleted. Called dealer who is now refusing to give me my money back despite him breaching the sales of goods act. And then to top it off threatens me saying he will charge me £150 for cancelling a contract that I've cancelled...

To say the least I am not a happy bunny.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

So have you now talked to trading standards?
Because that is your next step.
You need to be seen by the judge (who will be residing over case) to be making every reasonable effort to have the issue resolved prior to going to court.
This is best done by mediation via Trading Standards.
And even if go through all that and still end up in court, just becuase you win, sadly does not mean the trader will payout.

 

[wotan]

Be careful, the garage are saying one previous owner, which may well be correct.
Your investigations via HPI say two owners, the second owner may well be the garage whome you were about to purchase the car off, in wich case
both the garage and HPI are correct.

Wotan

 

[iCraig]

Be careful, the garage are saying one previous owner, which may well be correct.
Your investigations via HPI say two owners, the second owner may well be the garage whome you were about to purchase the car off, in wich case
both the garage and HPI are correct.

Wotan

Its actually coming up as 3 owners on HPI, the 3rd one is blank so this is indeed the garage. However the garage has now updated its adverts to show 2 owners.

I no longer trust the dealer to go ahead with the sale.

And to the other above poster, I have indeed contacted trading standards (well consumer direct) who advised me to get legal advice.

 

[1john]

How did you pay for the deposit?

 

[foxhole]

I used SCC several times , had success every time but maybe just lucky.
Last time a van driver hit me on a roundabout and tried to claim against me, I would have been happy to leave it as damage was minor but he insisted so I counter claimed and won £500 including expenses.

 

[joinerjohn]

I bought a car some years ago, from a garage/dealer about half a mile away from where I lived. As it was fairly cheap I didn't bother with any HPI etc checks. A few weeks later there was a knock at the door and on answering it, found a chap from a motor repossession company. Apparently the car had outstanding finance on it. I explained that I had bought it in good faith from a dealer and gave him directions to the dealers.
The car was taken from me at the time so all I had was a receipt from the company the chap represented.

A few hours later the same chap brought the car back saying he had checked with the dealer and it seemed the dealer was highly suspicious , so he had taken some vehicle reg numbers whilst he was there and had been threatened by the dealer.
He'd then phoned his boss and was told to return the car to me and the finance company would write to me. Next day when I returned home from work, the dealer had called at the house and brought my money back (for the car I still now had.
The finance company wrote to me asking for photocopies of the receipt for the car, which I sent off to them. They wrote back a few weeks later saying for a one off payment of £100, I could keep the car.

So in the end the car only cost me £100 instead of the £950

PS, the dealer stopped trading a few months after that (non the wiser that I still had the vehicle)

 

[iCraig]

How did you pay for the deposit?

Visa Debit card.

 

[crank39]

Garages or dealers are classed as Keepers not owners hence they should not show up on the log book, stands to reason really as although they do own the car they are actually just keeping it till sold

 

[RigidRaider]

Yes, I used the Small Claims court some years ago and it was simple and effective. Didn't get all my lolly back (costs were taken) but at least I made the barsteward pay up.

 

[iCraig]

Garages or dealers are classed as Keepers not owners hence they should not show up on the log book, stands to reason really as although they do own the car they are actually just keeping it till sold

Its definitely had 2 owners, HPI report says 2 plus current keeper. The current keeper is blank which is the garage. I've called HPI and confirmed this.

I am absolutely livid about this as you can imagine, the fact the dealer infact has now changed his advert to show 2 keepers shows that he know he was in the wrong too I reckon. Will wait now to go before the judge since I submitted my claim online last night.

 

[Manxie]

Would definately say you have a case with the garage, prime exapmle as why the small claims court is used. The case would be reviewed via arbitration courts and you as the plaintiff documents the case in writing. The defendant (garage) would have to do then reply with their argument. This is where usually the case gets resolved because they can't be doing with the hassle. Fact of law though is that the garage misold you the car by not telling you the the full truth. Only mitigation from their part is that if they genuinly didn't know that there had been another previous owner? Take them to small claims and if you win they'd have to pay costs as well. Life story I know.....

 

[electronicsuk]

How did you pay for the deposit?

Visa Debit card.

It may be far easier for you to attempt to issue a chargeback on the transaction, there's plenty of information on the internet if it's something that you decide to pursue. However, if the dealer were to later take you to court (which it sounds as if they potentially could, for breach of contract), I imagine your actions may not be looked upon too kindly by the judge.