Been scammed!

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
12,649
Anyway, I've had a think and decided to cut my losses and move on.

  • Could I pursue this and get my money back? Yes...
  • Am I going to? Probably not...
  • Why? because of the hassle, stress and time and effort, it will take. Also, if the guy is happy to sell a car to someone knowing it is unroadworthy, I can only imagine what else he is capable of, considering he knows my home address. I don't need that sort of aggro, and I believe I can put some of the issues right myself and keep the vehicle or sell it on and get my money back.
This is a ******* cop out.

Ignore all the crap on here. This guys is pulling a known and very dangerous scam and he is doing something illegal which is easily identifiable and you are in the unique situation where you actually have proof AND a legitimate witness.

Don't be a pansy, someone else's kids might not be so lucky.

Report him to the police citing your evidence. Use that crime reference number to liaise with your bank. You will get your money back once the police have finished any investigation, and hopefully this **** get what he deserves.
 
Soldato
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Midlands
This is a ******* cop out.

Yep :(

@OP, you do realise, there’s a very good chance that if you get a solicitor to send him a very strongly worded letter before action, stating you will take him to court unless he gives you your money back, there’s a good chance he probably will cave in and do just that?

It’ll at least give him something to think about - letters before action do have a tendency to keep people awake at night..

He’ll be faced with the prospect of having to explain himself to a judge, and he’s almost certainly going to lose, because he’s obviously set out to defraud you on purpose.

You can even do it yourself, there are plenty of templates online for this sort of thing.

You don’t even have to go all the way, but it’s at least worth a try...
 

hux

hux

Soldato
Joined
9 Dec 2009
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2,754
Location
Dogbin
Had this happen years back with my first car.
Had a smack, only to find the whole front end would move with the steering.
Dvla discovered this, and requested they investigate the car themselves.

Turns out it was so dangerous, they took him to court for me.

Perhaps you could go down this route?
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2014
Posts
5,780
Location
Midlands
Turns out it was so dangerous, they took him to court for me.

Perhaps you could go down this route?

This is good advice, and is why the OP should at least get some professional advice, because there may be some quick wins just a phone call away, for minimal hassle.

Aside from small claims courts, if the OP is telling the whole truth, I'm sure the DVLA and the Police will be interested to know all about the seller and his activities.
 
Soldato
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Does it have a valid MOT? Presumably it does, but how, if it is about to disintegrate?

Its a good question, I’m assuming the OP checked it’s reg number in the government’s MOT checker website, as that will list any failures or advisories, and if it is wrecked underneath, that should have been found.

If it is wrecked underneath, and it does have a valid MOT, then it sounds even more fishy.
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
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Posts
12,649
You can get anything MOT'd if you know the right people. Fella I know will do it for £75 without even seeing the car.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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32,917
Location
Northern England
This is a ******* cop out.

Ignore all the crap on here. This guys is pulling a known and very dangerous scam and he is doing something illegal which is easily identifiable and you are in the unique situation where you actually have proof AND a legitimate witness.

Don't be a pansy, someone else's kids might not be so lucky.

Report him to the police citing your evidence. Use that crime reference number to liaise with your bank. You will get your money back once the police have finished any investigation, and hopefully this **** get what he deserves.

Totally agree with sensible head NVP. Guys like this deserve an utter starting.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
39,677
Location
Surrey
You can get anything MOT'd if you know the right people. Fella I know will do it for £75 without even seeing the car.

Indeed. However this could help the OP. If the chap who sold it got it MOT'd by "the right people" he could perhaps take it to another MOT station and get it checked. Maybe if they confirm there is no way it should have passed, he could contact the DVLA and see what they say. Fortunately the issues is seemingly rust/rot so there is no way they could just say that it must have happened since the test either.
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
12,649
Indeed. However this could help the OP. If the chap who sold it got it MOT'd by "the right people" he could perhaps take it to another MOT station and get it checked. Maybe if they confirm there is no way it should have passed, he could contact the DVLA and see what they say. Fortunately the issues is seemingly rust/rot so there is no way they could just say that it must have happened since the test either.
No need. This is a police matter.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
Had this happen years back with my first car.
Had a smack, only to find the whole front end would move with the steering.
Dvla discovered this, and requested they investigate the car themselves.

Turns out it was so dangerous, they took him to court for me.

Perhaps you could go down this route?
The dvla?

Since when do they look at cars?
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
15,972
First of all you need to gather evidence that the car is not as described or has an un-roadworthy status. Without that you have nothing.

You need to get an assessment of the car done by a local garage and get a report to prove that there is some major issue with the car. You have some details from the "previous" owner who says he has a quote for £4k to fix it but you will need to get your own assessment done, you can't rely on someone elses "evidence"

Without some actual proof of the issues mentioned - you don't have an sort of case to claim anything back. You need to prove it's "spares and repairs" with your own report/evidence, not some previous owners receipt with a hand written note saying "spares and repairs"

Another crazy story of people paying money for an item they haven't ever seen and then moaning about being scammed.....utterly ridiculous.
 
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