Issue with car trader

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R129mine

Active Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
676
Location
Buckinghamshire
Car
R129 SL500 from 96
Warning, non Mercedes issue so not sure if it is allowed in this forum or whether it should be moved to Off Topic forum

Hi

Last year I bought a 10 year old car for about £12k for my wife in the West of the Country. After viewing the car I asked the trader to sort out a few issues and one of which was moisture in the headlight.

One week later when I picked the car up the headlamp was partially melted. They admitted that they damaged the headlamp trying to get rid of the moisture by putting a cover over it and put full beam on for 10 minutes. They promised to sort out a replacement but I stupidly did not have them put it in writing (It does say on the purchase agreement they would need to sort out the headlight moisture) BTW all they had to do and which is what I did on the passenger side was put one of those silica gel bags in the headlamp and problem sorted.

This is when the hassle started, I phoned and phoned and texted with them to try and found out when they would source a replacement headlamp unit (the whole unit is sealed and needs replacing, a new one is £900 ex VAT). I must have called them a 50 times in the next 8 months (In June this year I found a 2nd hand headlamp unit for £500 on eBay in Germany, and fitted it so the car would pass its MOT.

I texted the trader on the Sunday I fitted the headlamp unit and they responded immediately with forward us the invoice and we will deal with it which gave me a bit of hope they would do the honourable thing and reimburse me. But i was very wrong.

I am over £500 out of pocket and now have the following choice

1) take them to small claims court, I have pretty good evidence but looking on the Citizen's Advice website it seems that even if you win, it can take up a lot of time, effort and they may still not pay.

Step one: Write a letter before action

2) chalk it up as one of life's experiences and forget about it (perhaps leave a very negative review on their website and autotrader link.

To say I am vexed is an understatement.

Anyone else had an experience like this? Any advice?

Cheers
 
Are they a fairly large place as in not traders working for home as you'll need to send a tracked letter to them. Letter before action followed by filling the forms online for CC. You've given them ample opportunities to remedy - really quick and easy to do.
 
Write to them giving them 14 days to make the payment otherwise you will take legal action. As above, ensure it is tracked and signed for.
 
yes they have a proper showroom, forecourt and shiny website and catchy name and mainly deal with more expensive cars (mine was one of the cheapest ones)

will write them a nice letter tracked and signed for.

Thanks
 
I went through a similar thing expect it was the transmission on mine. It took about six months to get my money back but after paying £60 for a small claims court action and plenty of calls to citzens advice plus putting dealines on everything i.e. the 14 days to respond then more to come to a settlement blah blah blah i got there in the end.

Just put everything in writing and follow telephone conversations with writen emails and letters " as discussed on 28/6/2018 ......." and you'll get there.

Even better that they said send us an invoice as it pretty much accepts they'll pay it. If they had no intention of paying it why request one.

"will write them a nice letter tracked and signed for" i'd send one in the post and one tracked and signed for then that's one in the letter box and one in there hand.
 
Get a judgement then use those High Court bailiff guys you see on the telly.

Personally I'd try and be there on the day to wind them up a bit as well.

In the real world, your problem might well be that you don't have sufficient proof that it was their responsibility to put the fault right. However, county court judges can be a soft touch if you present a sufficiently sad case for yourself as the little man being bullied by the big bad car dealer.
 
If you had a verbal agreement i'm not sure how you can enforce it unless he admits to the agreement or you have some sort of witness. You might have a leg to stand on if He probably got sticker shock the 500GBP light and I suspect that there's not that much margin on a 12k car. See if he'll split the costs with you.
 
I'm baffled as to why you allowed it to run so long.. I'd have called in "Trading Standards" as they are in breach of contract..

Me too. Just really busy at work and have not had the time and or energy to sort it out.


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If you had a verbal agreement i'm not sure how you can enforce it unless he admits to the agreement or you have some sort of witness. You might have a leg to stand on if He probably got sticker shock the 500GBP light and I suspect that there's not that much margin on a 12k car. See if he'll split the costs with you.

I have it written on the purchase agreement. I have some texts stored on my phone one of which says


Hi. I’m sorry but we clear voicemails every day you have not left a message. Last conversation we had you were going to try and source a headlight yourself then contact us to discuss a price agreement. Please call tomorrow when you’re free. Thanks



And me texting him


I have sourced a 2nd unit on eBay. Fitted it today. It works. Will call on Monday to discuss refund from you guys. Let’s get this done quickly so I am off your case

And their response

Can u email a copy of the invoice so we can quickly sort. Thanks


Pretty much a trail of some kind of written evidence.
(I know from a friend of mine who went through a custody battle with her partner that county court judges accept sms messages as evidence.

The problem is that they do not answer the phone so there is nothing to discuss. If only they had

I also saved them 50% by sourcing a used part so they did not have to pay them£1100 full price so am not going to reduce that by 50% again. Not after the way they led me along for such a long time.



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Then it sounds like you have a leg to stand on. Take it to small claims court the minute he gets the summons, he'll write you a cheque because nobody want to sit in a courthouse all day so that a judge tells him what he knows he has to do anyway.
 
I’m going to sound like a rollover idiot here....but is it really worth it????? I spent £12k on my CLK a few years back and it came with MB approved tier 1 warranty. Had myriad problems with discs and pads which ended up costing £490 to fix. I never bothered with warranty as nearest mb dealer was 12 miles away and it wasn’t worth the bother. If it’s going to cost £100 through small claims is it really worth the hassle? Maybe just chalk it up as one of those things......,
 
Depends if you have a spare £500 laying around you don’t need really lol

I didn’t with mine and wanted my money back out of principle. I almost want to pull in when I drive past the dealers and say thank you very much it drives lovely now after 4 months of fighting them. I won and they can suck it lol !
 
...1) take them to small claims court, I have pretty good evidence but looking on the Citizen's Advice website it seems that even if you win, it can take up a lot of time, effort and they may still not pay...

This is true, but the idea of 'taking someone to court' actually means that you hope they will cough-up and pay at some point along the process. And this is indeed what usually happens - most disputes do not actually result in judgment. So start by writing them a letter threatening court sction and if they don't respond proceed with filing court papers etc - they will likely resolve the issue before thaf.
 
As said make a claim via MCOL - Money Claim Online - Welcome

Very easy to do for a small fee which is added to your claim.

Might be worth a quick check on companies house first to check their filing history. If they are skint then you may be wasting your time.

I’d be tempted to add on some reasonable labour costs also.
 
As said make a claim via MCOL - Money Claim Online - Welcome

Very easy to do for a small fee which is added to your claim.

Might be worth a quick check on companies house first to check their filing history. If they are skint then you may be wasting your time.

I’d be tempted to add on some reasonable labour costs also.

In progress now. Will update on outcome


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Having a judgement in your favour via Small Claims doesn't guarantee you will get paid though.
 
Having a judgement in your favour via Small Claims doesn't guarantee you will get paid though.

Isn’t that what the bailiffs are for? Provided they have the cash and or assets to cover the amount in question.

Anyway they now have 8 days left to respond to small claims court.


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It can actually make them more resistant to paying up.

They resisted doing anything about the issue for over a year so they were never going to pay anyway.


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