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.

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.

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.

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.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 10:46

Which website HPI check will show the date of last owner change cos the one I did didn't mention it? Also since the form was sent off on Tuesday I'm probably not down as the new owner yet.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 10:47

[TW]Fox said:
How much was this car?

2725 for a 59 VW Golf 1.4L with 74k miles.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 10:58

[TW]Fox said:
Move on with your life and enjoy the car. It's not expensive and it doesn't seem outrageous for a Mk6 Golf.

I'm thinking of confronting him and at least getting a partial refund down to 1850 as that is what the hpi evaluation shows. He lives 1 street down from me.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 11:19

I checked last keeper date... aquired March 2019.

So looks like he bought it as Cat N.

Sold date before him shows as 19th Dec which is the date of the write off... So if he genuinely didn't know it was Cat N maybe the company who sold it to him should be liable?

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 11:21

Kenai said:
Someone nicking a valve cap is probably enough to Cat N a 10 year old Golf

Nah the boot moves when 'locked and appears to be twisted as gap on left is twice bigger than gap on right.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 11:59

[TW]Fox said:
1850 quid for a Mk6 Golf is very cheap even if it has had minor damage in the past.

It's the 80bhp version. For some reason I thought it was 122bhp when I went to see it.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 12:38

tom_e said:
It was Cat N'd before the seller bought it, so his claim in the recorded call could well be complete truth. Good luck proving otherwise.

What if the company that sold it to him clarifies that is was listed on sale as Cat N?

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 12:43

By asking him?

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 16:51

PiKe said:
Can you tell where it has been repaired? I.e. what kind of accident it was in?

Cat N is typically just superficial damage isn't it?

Is there anyway I can find out what was damaged? If he bought it from salvage place it would be in their database right? I can't tell from looking at it. I mean there is damage... like the boot don't close which I found was a wobbly strike plate... but don't think this would cat n it unless someone tried to break in.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 17:17

Gibbo said:
Did you like literally buy this car without really seeing it in person or test driving it. I know its a cheap car but every car I've purchased from a £700 banger to a 150k super car I thoroughly checked over, HPI, checked all doors open, boot, checked everything works, drove it to make sure it drove as it should and performed.

This almost feels like you see advert, buy it over phone, handed cash over and then drove it home. should have just walked away at first sign of damage, be plenty more for sale.

Desperation cos my original car is pretty much scrap. I work 7 days a week and I did test drive it and knocked the price down a few hundred.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 17:17

The boot I can fix as I'm handy but the Cat N I can't clear

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 19:32

Amos91 said:
https://www.vcheck.uk/ is the best check to use. It scans salvage records for everything including non categorised write offs and ex-taxi searches etc. Plus you'll get to see pictures of the damage etc if it was fairly recent.

The amount of hpi clear cars that are totally destroyed in a previous life is pretty staggering. Have a look at their social media for some examples.

That site is wicked. So he tells me in a text he bought the car on Jan 31st 2019 and in a call that he didn't know it was in an accident.

Then I find these pics:

Sale date Jan 26th? So this was the state of the vehicle 5 days before he bought it? Looks like he knew it was Cat N, or even bought it as damaged to fix up?

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 19:39

He told me he did the damage to the mirror himself whilst parking... but the mirror is damaged in those pictures before he bought the car :eek:

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 19:52

Kenai said:
He regrets buying the car and is looking for any reason he can find to try and bully/harass the seller into giving him some money back.

He's exactly the type of buyer that has made webuyanycar so successful, nobody wants the potential of dealing with this sort of nonsense trying to sell a cheap old car.

No I believe I was conned as more and more evidence is pointing to him knowing the car was Cat N but didn't list it as such. The guy has connections in Luton, he could have bought it and had it repaired there for resale. I am thinking about making him swear on his religion that he's not lying (Muslim) because he seems pretty devout judging by his FaceBook.

SquirrelMadness · 7 Nov 2019 at 20:00

Kenai said:
You weren't conned, you just didn't bother checking anything until it was too late - ie the point at which you started regretting it and looking for a way out imo.

Nope. I dunno if I mentioned earlier but I did the HPI check after I found issues with the boot being misaligned and started to think it was crashed into. I was actually pretty excited to refresh the car and mod it a bit before this.