Dodgy Car Dealership [Archive] - SV650.org

View Full Version : Dodgy Car Dealership

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 07:44 PM

Hello,

For those of you in the North East I'd recommend staying well clear of a car dealership in Holywell called Holywell Car Supermarket. It was called Village Car Supermarket before I complained to them and The Holywell Car Sales this time last year.

Basically this is all before I knew that they were dodgy, but I bought a car from them which was described both in the Ad and by what I presume is the owner of the business as a good runner with no problems. I was also assured that if anything were to go wrong I could take it back to them to get it fixed.

For extra peace of mind I bought the 3 month warranty cover (£70).

Within the first few days I found a numerous problems with the car so I took it back as I was told when I bought it and was told to simply buy the parts off ebay and get a local garage to fit them. Basically they didn't want anything to do with it and my optional 3 month warranty wasn't worth anything.

I kept going back trying to get the problems sorted but they weren't having any of it so I emailed them saying that I was returning the car for a refund, which I cam legally allowed to do. They ignored that email and the various emails I sent after that one. Coincidentally they also changed their name just after I sent the first email so I called them using the contact details on the new website and the guy who sold me the car answered saying that he no longer worked their. So why is his landline and mobile number on the new website then?

Anyway I got a friend to call them up the next day, the same guy answered and arranged a view / test drive of one of the cars up for sale. So everything he told me 12 hours ago was bull and just an attempt at getting me to give up chasing a refund.

I emailed again and sent a signed, recorded delivery letter which was delivered and signed for but still no response.

I have taken this further with the relevant people but aren't getting anywhere fast to say the least.

Having looked around on line they have done this before and even threatened a past customer with "the heavies" when they went back in person to return the car as they weren't getting any replies.

This has really ****ed me off as I have just spent loads of money getting my driving lessons and test done within 2 months so that I had transport for work during the winter and now this has happened. I had no reason the doubt this company as everything seemed legit.

I am now stuck with a car I can't use whilst this is ongoing, I'm paying for excessively high insurance due to me just passing my test, again on a car I can't use and I have just had to re-tax my ZX9 so that I can actually get to work on time which is the very last thing I wanted to do.

Long story short, this company is more than willing to mislead you into buying crap along with warranty that not only do they not honor but can't as they don't do servicing or repairs and if you do start to complain or get your money back they simply ignore you and change their name again. How they are still trading I don't know. I guess changing their name probably helps in that matter.

Anyway just thought I let you guys know and hopefully stop anyone else from being ripped off and if anyone has any tips or people to contact on how I can get my money back would be very much appreciated.

/rant

DJ123

12-12-13, 07:51 PM

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-rejecting-a-second-hand-car-bought-from-a-dealer

This letter covers it all.
You give them a time frame of 14 days. if they fail to reimburse you, you go to the small claims court to get your money back.

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 07:58 PM

Thanks, I've already sent them a letter very close to the one you linked but had no reply. Spoke to CA and they said it doesn't need to be 14 days but must be a reasonable amount of time which I gave them.

Just waiting on a reply back from someone but looks like small claims is the only option now.

andrewsmith

12-12-13, 08:00 PM

Do as Daddyjob says then Trading Standards also mate.
They do pay particular to dodgy dealers up here

pookie

12-12-13, 08:13 PM

I have contacted trading standards before and they were very helpful and would assist in providing documentation and the process with small claims.
Did you pay using a credit card? if so contact them as well and they help recover the money. Who is the warranty underwritten with? did you have a separate policy? If so call them up and activate your claim for the work.

Stick with it.

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 08:22 PM

andrewsmith

12-12-13, 08:25 PM

http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/trading-standards.shtml?p_subjectCategory=305

DJ123

12-12-13, 08:31 PM

The warranty was with them unfortunately. Only paid 2/3 on my card. Paid the rest cash which I got from selling my other bike.

Does anyone have a direct contact number or email for TS? On their website it just keeps linking to Citizens Advice who so far haven't really helped much.

Even though you only paid 2/3 on your CC you are still covered. Your CC will cover you on the whole purchase, even if you only pay a deposit. It covers up to a maximum value of £30,000.

Jackie_Black

12-12-13, 08:52 PM

Is it the dealers round the corner from the fat ox?

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 08:59 PM

Thank you. I have emailed them so hopefully will get a reply in the next few days.

Edit. Got an automated reply saying they don't offer advice etc to members of the public.

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 09:00 PM

Is it the dealers round the corner from the fat ox?

Not sure. They used to be called Village Car Supermarket. They are now trading as Holywell Car Supermarket.

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 09:01 PM

Even though you only paid 2/3 on your CC you are still covered. Your CC will cover you on the whole purchase, even if you only pay a deposit. It covers up to a maximum value of £30,000.

I paid 2/3 with my debit card. Not sure if I would still be covered in this case.

DJ123

12-12-13, 09:03 PM

I paid 2/3 with my debit card. Not sure if I would still be covered in this case.

Apologies, when you said card I thought Credit Card.

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 09:04 PM

Apologies, when you said card I thought Credit Card.

Sorry. Should have said.

Biker Biggles

12-12-13, 10:21 PM

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 10:43 PM

Are you a member of the AA or RAC or a trade union?If so they can help you with a legal claim.By the sound of it the dealer may well be trading fraudulently as well,so there could be a criminal case.Citizens advice bureau can help.

In what way do mean a member?

I have spoken to the CAB but they wouldn't do anything apart from pass my info on to TS. Even then I had to say I would go to the papers for them to actually do anything.

Just seems like no one cares at the moment to be honest.

the_lone_wolf

12-12-13, 10:59 PM

Sorry. Should have said.

It's not as beefy as the protection offered for credit card users but you can still issue a chargeback if your debit card is provided by visa(inc electron)/matsercard or amex...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback

Good luck...

Dunn-y

12-12-13, 11:19 PM

Thanks everyone!

Sid Squid

13-12-13, 12:31 AM

When you go to the small claims court, address the claim against the firm's director, that way if he changes the company name again, the action is still valid with no arguments over whether the company exists as an entity to be claimed upon.

EssexDave

13-12-13, 07:34 AM

Generally speaking, a company is a separate legal entity and so you can struggle to recover money if the company you purchased from no longer exists (as is suggested by the change of name).

However, you may be in luck as there are several routes you can go down - I will say now, that you should not rely on this as any kind of legal advice, it's merely to give you a general idea of the law in this area.

contract law - whether you signed something or not you have a contract for the purchase of a car for x amount of money. If he's influenced you by making misrepresentations then it may be possible to claim damages (to get the car fixed) or to rescind the contract.

Another option is piercing the corporate veil (getting through the limited liability of a company) because of the fraudulent activity. Although be wary, these two options are probably harder to prove than a misrepresentation.

To give you a brief lesson on what you're going to have to show here:

A misrepresentation is a false statement of fact or law which has induced you to enter a contract. There are three types, innocent, negligent and fraudulent.

If you can prove there was a false statement, then you have to prove that you relied on that false statement when buying the car (e.g. without it you wouldn't have bought it)

Fraudulent misrepresentation is the very hardest to prove: You have to show that the dealer knew that the car was not in a good position, and blatantly lied to you - you may feel this is the case, but in fact it really is hard to prove. I'd really suggest avoiding fraudulent misrepresentation.

Fraudulent misrep includes statements made by the seller if they know it to be false, without belief in it's truth or if they were reckless as to whether it was true or not. Sounds pretty easy but the burden of proof is on you, so without a letter or something showing the above, it's really hard to prove.

Negligent misrepresentation comes from the Misrepresentation Act 1967 - section s.2(1)

A negligent misrepresentation is a statement made without reasonable grounds for belief in its truth. The burden of proof here is on the person making the representation (e.g. the seller) to show that they did have reasonable grounds. - This is much better, they now have to prove that their statement was reasonable.

An innocent misrepresentation is where they can show that the statement was based on a reasonable belief, but was still false.

For negligent misrepresentation you can rescind the contract (return both parties to the position they were in previously - your money back and hand the car back) You MAY also get damages although not guaranteed.

For innocent misrepresentation - you can rescind the contract as above OR claim damages (you cannot get both - damages would be to fix the car)

The important things here though are principles of contract law that may prevent you from rescinding:

3rd party rights - e.g. if you sell the car on
affirmation - if you do something to demonstrate you want to keep the car as it is, it blocks you from going back on the contract
lapse of time - this is a bit vague, but generally, the sooner you can get on with it the better
Or if restitution is impossible (mostly for the case of perishable goods - but again if you sell/lose the car it may be the case)

Your best bet is probably the small claims court, but the above gives you an idea of the law behind what's happened and a very general overview of how the courts see these sort of situations.

Sorry for the long post.

Spank86

13-12-13, 08:07 AM

Specialone

13-12-13, 08:10 AM

For the record, all motor traders must offer a 3 month warranty free of charge, you don't pay extra for it.

andrewsmith

13-12-13, 09:45 AM

Dunny If he's like this have fun! NSFW unless your brave

http://youtu.be/iBw-aEixWuo

davepreston

14-12-13, 02:35 PM

send the heavies round lmfao, return the car with a selection of orgers escorting you in, 20 odd hairy **** bikers genrally get the point across without actually saying or doing anything :)