Bought undeclared Cat N car is there anything I can do?

SquirrelMadness · 6 Nov 2019 at 21:44

Bought yesterday from private seller. Just did an HPI check and shows as Cat N. Used bank transfer to pay, added car reg to transfer notes. Seller refuses to refund says they didn't know it was Cat N. Doesn't saw Cat-anything on the log book. Car is sitting uninsured on the grass (or still on his insurance).

Any solutions to getting money back?

Thanks.

Dis86 · 6 Nov 2019 at 21:45

That's sadly why you do the checks before you buy.

Ahleckz · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:17

Private sale, sold as seen. Why wouldn't you do the HPI check before buying? Costs a fiver. Chalk it up to experience, and when you sell it on hope someone else doesn't do the check!

Rroff · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:28

Unless it was explicitly sold as not a Cat N, etc. I doubt you have any comeback here. It is worth doing the HPI check as often you get some protection against it being wrong then for the sake of a few quid.

Nasher · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:30

I suppose police could find out if he did an HPI check on it himself if they wanted. So "I didn't know" wouldn't work and it's fraud. But I doubt they would care that much.

SquirrelMadness · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:39

Is there any way I can find out when the car was purchased by him? The accident is noted as being on Dec 2018 and he said in a call he was the owner for over a year... but then came back in a text to say he bought it in Jan 2019. Is there any way I can find out his actual purchase date/transfer of ownership? I have the call recorded.

Armageus · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:46

Ahleckz said:
Private sale, sold as seen. Why wouldn't you do the HPI check before buying? Costs a fiver. Chalk it up to experience, and when you sell it on hope someone else doesn't do the check!

£9.99 for an actual "hpicheck" which is the only check worth bothering with.

Kenai · 6 Nov 2019 at 22:58

Regardless of whether they knew, unless the advert said 'not a write off' there isn't much you can do about it anyway. You'd need to prove he deliberately lied about it to get anywhere in small claims court and from what you've said here, I don't think you've got enough to prove that.

SquirrelMadness · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:01

Kenai said:
Regardless of whether they knew, unless the advert said 'not a write off' there isn't much you can do about it anyway. You'd need to prove he deliberately lied about it to get anywhere in small claims court and from what you've said here, I don't think you've got enough to prove that.

He stated in the recorded call that he didn't know it was Cat N. Accident happened Dec 2018. If I can prove he owned the car during it getting catted that is proof he is lying.

Dis86 · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:07

SquirrelMadness said:
He stated in the recorded call that he didn't know it was Cat N. Accident happened Dec 2018. If I can prove he owned the car during it getting catted that is proof he is lying.

The call after he sold it? What relevance does that have? The contract was already established and completed by that point.

Kenai · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:08

SquirrelMadness said:
He stated in the recorded call that he didn't know it was Cat N. Accident happened Dec 2018. If I can prove he owned the car during it getting catted that is proof he is lying.

This is all after the sale though isn't it? It's irrelevant if he didn't lie during the sale (and so mislead you deliberately) and as I understand it, as a private seller, he's only obliged to say something if asked - he doesn't have to volunteer the information.

This is the inherent risk with private sales (and partly why they're cheaper than buying from a dealer) - if you haven't checked and you don't ask, you're up **** creek unless he was daft enough to write something in an advert that's evidently a lie.

Captain · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:32

Next time you buy a car, don’t be stupid enough to do a HPI check after you’ve handed cash over?

What were you thinking?

Rroff · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:34

Clov!s said:
Next time you buy a car, don’t be stupid enough to do a HPI check after you’ve handed cash over?

What were you thinking?

I've forgotten to do it before to be fair - fortunately doing it after came back clear. I would have only blamed myself if it hadn't though.

Drumroll · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:37

Problem with private seller, as you must do the right questions. A whole different thing if it was a dealer.
The car document should show when he registered it? Also the original listing, any mention to no accident or general condition?

kindai · 6 Nov 2019 at 23:58

Link to ad?

Haze · 7 Nov 2019 at 06:03

10 out of 10 for doing the check afterwards, the special is strong in some people

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 06:07

kindai said:
Link to ad?

Ad down and blocked on FB and I wasn't even rude yet.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 06:10

MrPotato said:
Problem with private seller, as you must do the right questions. A whole different thing if it was a dealer.
The car document should show when he registered it? Also the original listing, any mention to no accident or general condition?

I went with my friend who's bought loads of cars and the first thing he said when he saw the log book was that it ain't registered as a Cat so I took that for it. Seller also agreed with this.

Also how would asking questions matter if it wasn't recorded? Someone can just say he explicitly stated it's not a Cat N and have whoever they were with back them up.

p1RATE · 7 Nov 2019 at 06:43

Is the car in good shape? Cat n isn't the end of the world if so, other than a bit of lost resale value.

Haze · 7 Nov 2019 at 08:00

SquirrelMadness said:
I went with my friend who's bought loads of cars and the first thing he said when he saw the log book was that it ain't registered as a Cat so I took that for it. Seller also agreed with this.

Also how would asking questions matter if it wasn't recorded? Someone can just say he explicitly stated it's not a Cat N and have whoever they were with back them up.

It won't help if it wasn't recorded, but yours was....

Bought undeclared Cat N car is there anything I can do?

Sgarrista