Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

[lilacclaire]

Hi, I purchased a 2nd hand car from a dealership and 6 weeks later the engine basically blew up - non repairable.
Garage would not do anything refund/exchange etc.
Upshot is that I have lodged a small claim, car was only £1000, but should last longer than 6 weeks.
Also car had previously been a cat c and this was not disclosed to me.
Papers were served some time ago with hearing date in Feb 13.
I was hoping to have heard from the garage as I do not relish the thought of going to court.

I have listed several points of law under the consumer credit act, main ones being that goods should last a reasonable amount of time and also not being told car was cat c is a malicious omission.

Do you think there's any chance of sucess here.

[bluebottle]

Re: Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

Although I am not familiar with Scottish Law, I have been in the position of being sold a Cat C write-off by a dealer without being told it was a write-off. To the best of my knowledge and belief, if a Cat C vehicle is purchased at a salvage auction and is repairable, the person carrying out the repairs has to have the vehicle inspected by VOSA and it has to pass an MOT test before it can be used on a road. Have you spoken to Trading Standards? It might be a good idea to get some pointers from them.

[lilacclaire]

Re: Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I did speak to Trading Standards but they told me first of all the dealership did not need to disclose this information, when I pointed out this was incorrect I was told that I should have had an HPI check done on the vehicle before purchase, I would certainly have done this if it had been a private sale, but didn't think I had to when buying from a main dealership. Certainly legislation states that this should have been disclosed to me.

[bluebottle]

Re: Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I did speak to Trading Standards but they told me first of all the dealership did not need to disclose this information, when I pointed out this was incorrect I was told that I should have had an HPI check done on the vehicle before purchase, I would certainly have done this if it had been a private sale, but didn't think I had to when buying from a main dealership. Certainly legislation states that this should have been disclosed to me.

It sounds like you were dealing with a TSO who needs to be retrained. Was the main dealership a franchise of a manufacturer? Sometimes, having a word in their ear about their dealer's behaviour can "persuade" the dealer to play ball, but there is no guarantee. Have you checked the MOT status of the vehicle? This can be revealing.

[lilacclaire]

Re: Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

I thought that myself! I forgot about checking the MOT history, i'll go do it now..

[lilacclaire]

Re: Taking car dealership to small claims in Scotland

I realise i've posted this in completely the wrong place, sorry was my first post.
I am going to copy and past my original post and put in what I think is the correct place!!