private car buyers rights? accident damage?

[ade1882]

I bought a car for nearly 17000 from a private seller. I asked if it had any accident damage and he told me one of the headlights had been damaged and repaired. When I arived home I polished it and was concerned about the paint. I took it to my local franchised dealer who told me two doors have been sprayed and the rear quarter and the bonnet. The seller owned the car from new so should he have disclosed the damage which he clearly knew about? where do I stand?

Please help

Adrian

[Dupont666]

ade1882 said:

I bought a car for nearly 17000 from a private seller. I asked if it had any accident damage and he told me one of the headlights had been damaged and repaired. When I arived home I polished it and was concerned about the paint. I took it to my local franchised dealer who told me two doors have been sprayed and the rear quarter and the bonnet. The seller owned the car from new so should he have disclosed the damage which he clearly knew about? where do I stand?

Please help

Adrian

Did you HPI it?

[bazking69]

Another one...

Not a leg to stand on mate. Sold as seen. He's not obliged to disclose accident damage/repairs that aren't registered. It is your responsibility to satsify yourself before buying...

[ade1882]

yes I HPI checked it.

Another one. what does that mean?

[sday12]

ade1882 said:

Another one. what does that mean?

He means this question comes up most days.

[randlemarcus]

ade1882 said:

Another one. what does that mean?

Another private buyer who doesn't realise what caveat emptor means.

You could always ask the seller if he'll buy it back, but he is under absolutely no obligation, and will probably tell you to go forth and multiply

[sjc]

See above,nothing you can do. In any case, it's not as if you've bought a Cat C/D and not realised, it's just panel damage by the sounds of it. You could have bought from a franchise dealer and had the same, and plenty of brand new cars have paint before going out.Don't worry about it,just get on with enjoying your car.

Edited by sjc on Wednesday 21st April 17:16

[bazking69]

Another one refers to the ever increasing numbers of people posting on here who have spent alot of money on a car 'presuming' that everything is as it should and their new P&J couldn't possibly be hiding a history...

With all due respect, you should have looked closer before you bought the car. The seller isn't obliged to be honest. He's selling a car, not looking for his next best mate...

HPi clear proves little. It just means it hasn't been damaged badly enough to be an uneconomical repair. It doesn't mean it has never seen panels or paint.

Also, it can't be that bad if you didn't notice it before parting with 17k...

[911p]

The car could have been keyed? When my mums car got keyed, the whole half of that side of the the car had to get sprayed, as it had metallic paint (hard to blend in).

[5lab]

actually, the posts here are wrong

if you specifially ask about a problem, and someone specifically answers (ie 'has this been in an accident', 'no') and the problem is later found out it is fraud, and the seller can be taken to court as such

what they're not responsible for is not telling you if you don't ask.

[jamoor]

5lab said:

actually, the posts here are wrong

if you specifially ask about a problem, and someone specifically answers (ie 'has this been in an accident', 'no') and the problem is later found out it is fraud, and the seller can be taken to court as such

what they're not responsible for is not telling you if you don't ask.

At the end of the day, it's your word against his on the whole "fraud" aspect, if on a wet sunday afternoon someone says no, its not had any paint, I doubt that will hold up much in court.

[NiceCupOfTea]

5lab said:

actually, the posts here are wrong

if you specifially ask about a problem, and someone specifically answers (ie 'has this been in an accident', 'no') and the problem is later found out it is fraud, and the seller can be taken to court as such

what they're not responsible for is not telling you if you don't ask.

This is what I thought was the case. If you don't have it in writing, proving it will be another matter...

[sjc]

5lab said:

actually, the posts here are wrong

if you specifially ask about a problem, and someone specifically answers (ie 'has this been in an accident', 'no') and the problem is later found out it is fraud, and the seller can be taken to court as such

what they're not responsible for is not telling you if you don't ask.

However, would it not be that the buyer would need proof that he asked the question, or that the seller knew?

[ade1882]

thanks for the sympathetic rreplies. Not so much the ones that basicaly say i'm a fool. I'm feeling bad enough all my savings going on what could be a dud. All the panels look pretty straight as I checked this when I bought it. I am think I'm going to phone the guy and ask him what damage the paint covers up just for piece of mind. I would love it if he said someone keyed it.

I suppose there's not much else I can do.

[sjc]

ade1882 said:

thanks for the sympathetic rreplies. Not so much the ones that basicaly say i'm a fool. I'm feeling bad enough all my savings going on what could be a dud. All the panels look pretty straight as I checked this when I bought it. I am think I'm going to phone the guy and ask him what damage the paint covers up just for piece of mind. I would love it if he said someone keyed it.

I suppose there's not much else I can do.

You haven't bought a dud, you've bought a car that's had some paint.See my post earlier,just enjoy it.

[Engineer1]

A second hand car is only really a dud if it completely unusable, bent "chassis", fked engine, fked gearbox or a complete nail held together with spit and bailer twine, you have a car that MAY have had some work done in the form of a re-spray that the previous owner may or may not know about. For all you know the respray could have been done on the QT either to fix some dings or to hide damage done while repairing the car.

[Jasandjules]

AS has been said above, if you specifically ask and they don't tell you something then you have redress. However, I disagree about fraud as such, but under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 S1 I believe you would have a cause of action.

It would fall to whether or not the seller had the wings/doors repaired or whether the repairs were within his knowledge.

Would you have still bought it had you known?

[alfa daley]

Could you in theory get a seller to sign a statement saying it hasn't had any accident damage (if it's a one owner car). then if it later turns out it was almost a right off and he lied to you there's your comeback. Also any hesitation on his part might suggest something untoward. On the other hand the seller would probably think you're a tin foil hat wearer or trying some kind of scam on.

Edited by alfa daley on Wednesday 21st April 18:47

[ade1882]

the seller bought the car new so he definately knows the whole history of the car. I asked him of any accidents twice and re iterated that wanted to know the full history of the car on atleast one other occasion. the franchised dealer I took it to said that he only noticed it because he has a trained eye.( he was an estimator in the accident repair department). the car is probably fine. I wish I had never delved deeper now.

[GKP]

Keyed, car park dink, gatepost scrape etc will ll amean paint. Paint doesn't mean a crash. Most cars have been inside a bodyshop at some point.