Car purchase thats been in an accident

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:19

Long story as short as possible :-

Seeing a girl who is useless with cars, who 2 years ago purchased a second hand 2009 Pug 308 from picador.

After the MOT 1 year later, the garage call her (independent) says its been in an accident and the front half of the car has been welded back on (I am not sure of exact details).

Since then the front side of the car paint has bubbled off to reveal a blue colour underneath (poor paint job).

Would she have any rights for recompense here? she's bloody useless and is going to show me the letters that have been going back and forth with them last saying to bring it in.

I am going to take it in for her this week after she has shown me the correspondence that has been going back and forth, but legally, any advice on how I can angle this would be appreciated.

I think bottom line is, I want to ensure that the car is safe and would also like the car completely resprayed properly.

vanandjuanunited · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:20

You want it resprayed properly

I would want a refund

Theophany · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:22

So wait, was the car sold without being declared that it was a former insurance write off? I'm fairly sure that's illegal and given the extent of the damage based on your post I can't imagine how a little 308 couldn't be a write off in that kind of shunt.

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:25

Theophany said:
So wait, was the car sold without being declared that it was a former insurance write off? I'm fairly sure that's illegal and given the extent of the damage based on your post I can't imagine how a little 308 couldn't be a write off in that kind of shunt.

I am not entirely sure, I think the more likely that the car has been badly damaged (maybe insurance right off but not declared), repaired poorly, traded in at picador - they have either failed to notice or not said anything - sold on.... noticed now.

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:28

I have just checked - nothing on HPI check - garage said that the car had been in a major accident and had the whole front, driver's door and river's sill replaced; but by the quality of the work not by a tradesman.

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:28

vanandjuanunited said:
You want it resprayed properly

I would want a refund

Well I am starting to think that she has no rights lol as bad as it sounds.. so meeting them half way?

[TW]Fox · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:29

Theophany said:
So wait, was the car sold without being declared that it was a former insurance write off?

Nowhere does the OP state that so we've no idea if that's the case. The facts as presented are that the car has been previously involved in an accident which has subsequently been repaired. There is no law against selling a car which was once damaged and then repaired - infact you'd be amazed at how high a percentage of cars on the road have at any point previously had repair work done. People damage cars and subsequently have them repaired all the time.

It seems the paint job wasn't great but frankly given the accident was at least 2 years ago as she has had the car that long herself I'm not really sure what, if anything, can be done.

If the car was previously written off, everything changes, but the OP has not stated this so it would be wrong to conclude this at this time.

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:30

[TW]Fox;26019209 said:
Nowhere does the OP state that so we've no idea if that's the case. The facts as presented are that the car has been previously involved in an accident which has subsequently been repaired. There is no law against selling a car which was once damaged and then repaired - infact you'd be amazed at how high a percentage of cars on the road have at any point previously had repair work done. People damage cars and subsequently have them repaired all the time.

It seems the paint job wasn't great but frankly given the accident was at least 2 years ago as she has had the car that long herself I'm not really sure what, if anything, can be done.

If the car was previously written off, everything changes, but the OP has not stated this so it would be wrong to conclude this at this time.

This exactly - HPI clear, so I am assuming fox its not worth my trouble having it out with them?

This is why women should not be allowed to buy cars.. unless brand new.

[TW]Fox · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:30

holymonk said:
the car has been badly damaged (maybe insurance right off but not declared)

You don't get undeclared insurance write-offs, if the car is written off by an insurer, it will be flagged as such and show up on an HPI.

Sounds like the previous owner pranged it and then had it fixed. If that's what has happened it's difficult to see what your friend can do about it. The garage who sold her the car likely didn't know anyway and it was so long ago now that i can't see what she would expect from them?

holymonk · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:32

So best case scenario, get the car resprayed and flog it on to the next poor sod.

Theophany · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:33

[TW]Fox;26019209 said:
Nowhere does the OP state that so we've no idea if that's the case. The facts as presented are that the car has been previously involved in an accident which has subsequently been repaired. There is no law against selling a car which was once damaged and then repaired - infact you'd be amazed at how high a percentage of cars on the road have at any point previously had repair work done. People damage cars and subsequently have them repaired all the time.

It seems the paint job wasn't great but frankly given the accident was at least 2 years ago as she has had the car that long herself I'm not really sure what, if anything, can be done.

If the car was previously written off, everything changes, but the OP has not stated this so it would be wrong to conclude this at this time.

And how would the OP know if it wasn't declared.

If you read more than the first line, you'd read how I justified my thinking. The front half of the car being welded back on suggests some pretty darn severe damage.

Derek W · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:34

holymonk said:
This is why women should not be allowed to buy cars.. unless brand new.

What a statement!

[TW]Fox · 17 Mar 2014 at 18:50

Theophany said:
And how would the OP know if it wasn't declared.

If you read more than the first line, you'd read how I justified my thinking. The front half of the car being welded back on suggests some pretty darn severe damage.

I suspect some exaggeration from the people who have told the OP this, personally.

Energize · 17 Mar 2014 at 20:31

"Front half of the car welded on", if that were genuinely the case it would have been totaled rather than be working fine for years after the accident.

rodenal · 17 Mar 2014 at 22:46

You need to know and see the full extent of the repairs tbh.

You would be amazed at the absolute mess of a front end that can be put right. It will always be noticable from under the car but...in theory at least still safe to drive. I've seen what looked like some terrible damage repaired outside of insurance (keep in mind that any sort of moderate impact makes a modern car look like its hit a brick wall) By the same token a minor accident repaired by an idiot ( particularly if there is even minor chassis damage) can make a previous bump look ten times worse.

Long and short of it she has been driving it for an significant amount of time and noticed nothing. Its fairly unlikely to be a death trap despite the poor paint. I would ask for the damage / repair to be shown to me

Janesy B · 17 Mar 2014 at 22:53

No doubt the car was sold at half it's market value and your GF is deeply shocked that there's something wrong with it.

I'd get the car up on ramps and look. I'd only be really worried if there was poor quality welding on the chassis legs. Everything else bolts on really.

Haggisman · 18 Mar 2014 at 08:57

holymonk said:
Long story as short as possible :-

Seeing a girl who is useless with cars, who 2 years ago purchased a second hand 2009 Pug 308 from picador.

After the MOT 1 year later, the garage call her (independent) says its been in an accident and the front half of the car has been welded back on (I am not sure of exact details).

Why wait a year after finding this out before thinking of doing something about it?

[TW]Fox;26019209 said:
There is no law against selling a car which was once damaged and then repaired

Even if not repaired to a safe standard?

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/75

rodenal said:
Long and short of it she has been driving it for an significant amount of time and noticed nothing. Its fairly unlikely to be a death trap despite the poor paint. I would ask for the damage / repair to be shown to me

Just because it drives fine, doesn't mean that it wouldn't disintegrate in the case of a crash...

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2014 at 09:11

Your link relates to the sale of unroadworthy vehicles. How is this relevant on a car that has passed at least 2 perhaps 3 mot tests since the repair? What makes you think it's not roadworthy?

Haggisman · 18 Mar 2014 at 09:19

Because the MOT test isn't a test of whether a car is fully roadworthy.

If there's some dodgy welding which has been filled/painted over, how is the tester supposed to identify that?

Third Opinion · 18 Mar 2014 at 09:30

Take it to an accident repairer and get them to look at the damage and repair that has been done.

I had a Mazda that was hit in a car park and the person who did it left no details. It just buckled the rear arch a bit. The car was not worth loads so we had a body repairer who was a friend do a lash up on it with filler and paint. Looked ok from the outside but from underneath you could the arch was bent.

Next MOT which it passed the tester said to me 'It looks in lovely condition but it has had a HEAVY smash in the rear quarter thats been bodged'. Bit of an exaggeration as I knew it was just a crumpled arch not the heavy rear quarter smash.