Been scammed by a van dealership
Discussion
Good afternoon.. I'm just after some advice on my situation.. I'm a local dogwalker and desperately needed a new van so I borrowed some money and bought a van from a dealership in Halifax I part exchanged mine for and paid nearly £9000 .. it turns out that I've been scammed into buying a van that is a cat s .. it was In the small print on the advert!! But he didn't once tell me verbally that it was instead he lied about the log book which he had but said he didn't and on delivery said he would fill a v62 out (I didn't have a clue what that was ) I only found out when I got a letter from the dvla saying it was a cat s .. I asked the guy for pictures of the van before it was put back on the road to which he sent me the ones when it was almost fixed .. so I paid for the full extent of damages online to which showed me why it was a write off .. the van broke down the second day i had it and is still getting fault lights on so I asked them for a refund and they said no even though it was less than 30 days that I purchased it! So now I'm stuck with a van with problems and a cat s insurance right off.. i asked the bank to intervene but the money had been sent and they classed it as a civil dispute .. all the vehicles they are selling are all class s recorded and they are probably getting away with it over and over .. I'm just after some advice on what I do next 😢
I’m sorry to hear of your experience, but buying a categorised repaired vehicle sounds more like inexperience (or lack of due diligence) on your part rather than a ‘scam’ as you claim.
If you had asked the dealer if the vehicle was a repaired write off and they said no to your face then you have a claim against them, but if it was in the advert and anyone can get a salvage check on any vehicle instantly for only a few quid then you have to shoulder some responsibility.
Remember too that a categorised vehicle only signifies that it was written off by the insurer for economic reasons, and thousands of other vehicles may get repaired by insurers and leave no marker on the vehicle. What matters is the standard of the repair, and you should check any prospective purchase for evidence of repair regardless of whether the vehicle has a salvage marker on it.
You are having issues now are they related to crash repairs or something mechanical and likely unrelated? As far as I am aware, if you bought it from a ‘real’ trader then you have some protection but you may need to allow them one attempt at repairing the fault before pushing hard for a return and refund.
If you had asked the dealer if the vehicle was a repaired write off and they said no to your face then you have a claim against them, but if it was in the advert and anyone can get a salvage check on any vehicle instantly for only a few quid then you have to shoulder some responsibility.
Remember too that a categorised vehicle only signifies that it was written off by the insurer for economic reasons, and thousands of other vehicles may get repaired by insurers and leave no marker on the vehicle. What matters is the standard of the repair, and you should check any prospective purchase for evidence of repair regardless of whether the vehicle has a salvage marker on it.
You are having issues now are they related to crash repairs or something mechanical and likely unrelated? As far as I am aware, if you bought it from a ‘real’ trader then you have some protection but you may need to allow them one attempt at repairing the fault before pushing hard for a return and refund.
It did say it in the very small print .. that's my fault I agree but he lied about not having the log book but then tripped himself by saying it was taxed in their name .. thing is he knows exactly how to word his advert and refers to a v62 which no one unless they are business knows what this is ... surely he should have verbally told me that I was buying a cat s then now im stuck with a van which I don't know if uts safe as he never sent the garage name or the actual pictures .. I had to pay to get them myselfn. Also the retail value is just over 8 k in which I'm presuming it's fraud that he charged me nearly 11 knowing exactly what he was doing by not telling me
Hgd said:
It did say it in the very small print .. that's my fault I agree but he lied about not having the log book but then tripped himself by saying it was taxed in their name .. thing is he knows exactly how to word his advert and refers to a v62 which no one unless they are business knows what this is ... surely he should have verbally told me that I was buying a cat s then now im stuck with a van which I don't know if uts safe as he never sent the garage name or the actual pictures .. I had to pay to get them myselfn. Also the retail value is just over 8 k in which I'm presuming it's fraud that he charged me nearly 11 knowing exactly what he was doing by not telling me
If the retail value was just over £8k why did you pay £11k or do you mean that’s over what people charge for a Cat S?It’s also worth noting a dealer has to be given a chance to fix the faults so you just need to email them and ask how they would like to handle the repair and ask for a temporary loan vehicle (they are lot obliged to do this) and an estimated repair duration.
"Also the retail value is just over 8 k in which I'm presuming it's fraud that he charged me nearly 11 knowing exactly what he was doing by not telling me"
This isn't a scam. A dealership can charge what they want and a buyer can choose to pay that. The fact it WAS advertised as a cat S (I don't believe there is a law to say that the cat S bit needs to be in massive writing!) is down to you I'm afraid.
This isn't a scam. A dealership can charge what they want and a buyer can choose to pay that. The fact it WAS advertised as a cat S (I don't believe there is a law to say that the cat S bit needs to be in massive writing!) is down to you I'm afraid.
Would a business-to-business sale have the same protection as a consumer? If its a consumer sale it would be that the van has a warranty on it by law, so the dealership needs to repair it. You can reject it then if the repairs can't be made or if it keeps happening, but you have to give them the chance to repair.
davek_964 said:
It was advertised as Cat S.
The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
It's not a scam but it's sharp practice if they intend to bury its Cat status in small print. Do they advertise on AT -the Cat status is always prominently displayed in those ads?The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
Would be good to upload an image of the advert.
This is a commercial vehicle sold on a business to business basis, so yes they can refuse to take it back, its was accurately described and the messing about with the v5 has no bearing now.
I would go back and explain that while they arent obliged to take the van back, would they look at it as a goodwill gesture as its christmas and it happened so soon after purchase, see if they can rectify the fault. Clearly they repaired it so know it well and are best positioned to find and fix the fault at the lowest cost.
The price paid was the price agreed, sometimes you get a bargain sometimes you dont, you were happy to pay that for it originally so try to forget it now, the negotiation time has passed.
I would go back and explain that while they arent obliged to take the van back, would they look at it as a goodwill gesture as its christmas and it happened so soon after purchase, see if they can rectify the fault. Clearly they repaired it so know it well and are best positioned to find and fix the fault at the lowest cost.
The price paid was the price agreed, sometimes you get a bargain sometimes you dont, you were happy to pay that for it originally so try to forget it now, the negotiation time has passed.
fflump said:
davek_964 said:
It was advertised as Cat S.
The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
It's not a scam but it's sharp practice if they intend to bury its Cat status in small print. Do they advertise on AT -the Cat status is always prominently displayed in those ads?The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
Would be good to upload an image of the advert.
Assuming it's true, this is 100% on the buyer.
Reading the ad properly or doing their own HPI would have shown it.
Some traders are unscrupulous. Some buyers are ridiculous.
In this case, I favour the latter
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 18th December 11:00
davek_964 said:
fflump said:
davek_964 said:
It was advertised as Cat S.
The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
It's not a scam but it's sharp practice if they intend to bury its Cat status in small print. Do they advertise on AT -the Cat status is always prominently displayed in those ads?The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
Would be good to upload an image of the advert.
Assuming it's true, this is 100% on the buyer.
Reading the ad properly or doing their own HPI would have shown it.
Some traders are unscrupulous. Some buyers are ridiculous.
In this case, I favour the latter
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 18th December 11:00
Red9zero said:
davek_964 said:
fflump said:
davek_964 said:
It was advertised as Cat S.
The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
It's not a scam but it's sharp practice if they intend to bury its Cat status in small print. Do they advertise on AT -the Cat status is always prominently displayed in those ads?The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
Would be good to upload an image of the advert.
Assuming it's true, this is 100% on the buyer.
Reading the ad properly or doing their own HPI would have shown it.
Some traders are unscrupulous. Some buyers are ridiculous.
In this case, I favour the latter
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 18th December 11:00
Zero sympathy from me
davek_964 said:
Red9zero said:
davek_964 said:
fflump said:
davek_964 said:
It was advertised as Cat S.
The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
It's not a scam but it's sharp practice if they intend to bury its Cat status in small print. Do they advertise on AT -the Cat status is always prominently displayed in those ads?The fact that you didn't read the advert properly and discovered it was Cat S after you'd bought it is not a scam.
Would be good to upload an image of the advert.
Assuming it's true, this is 100% on the buyer.
Reading the ad properly or doing their own HPI would have shown it.
Some traders are unscrupulous. Some buyers are ridiculous.
In this case, I favour the latter
Edited by davek_964 on Wednesday 18th December 11:00
Zero sympathy from me
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