Small Claims - Questions
Discussion
Hello. I have recently had some body work done on my car to quite a poor standard and I am now going down the MCOL route to hopefully claim back the costs of putting it right. The car was dropped off in March , went back and forth twice due to the poor standard. Eventually I took the car back in July still not finished as the individual decided to shut down his garage. Luckily the business wasn’t Ltd Company so I will be filing against the individual. We agreed a partial refund so I could get the car finished elsewhere but he’s now gone AWOL and isn’t responding to messages , phone calls etc since the middle of September.
I have been going by the rule book so far. 3 chances to rectify the work. Ample time to make good with the agreed refund. The letter before action went off 10 days ago with the deadline set for 12th October, which I believe will come and go without a response. All communication has been done through messenger, WhatsApp so it isn’t difficult to follow the situation. All transactions were paid via bank transfer to his business account.
I will be claiming for the following :
Repair bodywork (re-do both rear quarters and sills, front bumper). Subject to 3 written estimates from Bodyshop’s.
Cost of 4 months insurance and tax.
Train tickets to travel to and from the garage (55 mile away).
How does this sound so far ?
Can anybody give me a rough timeline of what to expect once the claim goes in ? And how long before I need to present evidence to support my claim ?
What law or legislation is appropriate to refer to in my situation ? As mentioned , the garage is now closed so would the sales of good act still be applicable ? He is in breach of contract also due to not attempting a part of the job which I still paid for.
I can file this from next Wednesday but due to holiday it will be the week after, which by that point I will have the estimates for repair costs. But I want to make sure I have everything organised and don’t have to chase anything down.
Thanks for reading.
Monty.
I have been going by the rule book so far. 3 chances to rectify the work. Ample time to make good with the agreed refund. The letter before action went off 10 days ago with the deadline set for 12th October, which I believe will come and go without a response. All communication has been done through messenger, WhatsApp so it isn’t difficult to follow the situation. All transactions were paid via bank transfer to his business account.
I will be claiming for the following :
Repair bodywork (re-do both rear quarters and sills, front bumper). Subject to 3 written estimates from Bodyshop’s.
Cost of 4 months insurance and tax.
Train tickets to travel to and from the garage (55 mile away).
How does this sound so far ?
Can anybody give me a rough timeline of what to expect once the claim goes in ? And how long before I need to present evidence to support my claim ?
What law or legislation is appropriate to refer to in my situation ? As mentioned , the garage is now closed so would the sales of good act still be applicable ? He is in breach of contract also due to not attempting a part of the job which I still paid for.
I can file this from next Wednesday but due to holiday it will be the week after, which by that point I will have the estimates for repair costs. But I want to make sure I have everything organised and don’t have to chase anything down.
Thanks for reading.
Monty.
Edited by Monty22 on Monday 3rd October 16:41
Edited by Monty22 on Wednesday 5th October 13:36
I wonder whether it's a bad idea to add in items which might be arguable?
Tax and insurance for instance. You'd have paid that anyway.
Travel, you'd have paid a lot of, if they'd done a fair job or put it right first time.
I tend to think you want a totally clear case where no add-ons can be quibbled about?
I'm not expert, interested to see what others think.
My only experience of small claims is a dodgy car I was sold by a sole trader.
I won the case but never got a bean, due to the trader disappearing.
To be fair I didn't chase it ever so hard, I was working long hours abroad and it wasn't an option to take time out to chase a few day's wages.
When I did have time to chase it, the trail was very cold but I got the impression some scary people were also looking for the trader.
Tax and insurance for instance. You'd have paid that anyway.
Travel, you'd have paid a lot of, if they'd done a fair job or put it right first time.
I tend to think you want a totally clear case where no add-ons can be quibbled about?
I'm not expert, interested to see what others think.
My only experience of small claims is a dodgy car I was sold by a sole trader.
I won the case but never got a bean, due to the trader disappearing.
To be fair I didn't chase it ever so hard, I was working long hours abroad and it wasn't an option to take time out to chase a few day's wages.
When I did have time to chase it, the trail was very cold but I got the impression some scary people were also looking for the trader.
Monty22 said:
The last conversation we had he told me he was going back to working on the books at another bodyshop rather than for himself, so he will have an income coming in. However he did have some unfinished cars outside his unit so I'm probably not the only person who he owes money.
And out goings…The point is that it is sometimes not worth it and put it down to experience.
By virtue of the fact that he didn’t set up the business as a company suggests to me your decision to use was based on the cost, as opposed to the quality of the work.
He may defend saying there was nothing wrong with the work he did.
Your word against his
ConnectionError said:
And out goings…
The point is that it is sometimes not worth it and put it down to experience.
By virtue of the fact that he didn’t set up the business as a company suggests to me your decision to use was based on the cost, as opposed to the quality of the work.
He may defend saying there was nothing wrong with the work he did.
Your word against his
It was a company but set up as a sole trader rather than limited. The point is that it is sometimes not worth it and put it down to experience.
By virtue of the fact that he didn’t set up the business as a company suggests to me your decision to use was based on the cost, as opposed to the quality of the work.
He may defend saying there was nothing wrong with the work he did.
Your word against his
Cost wasn't cheap either, £2600 for both sides, front bumper, side skirts and rear spoiler (3 door hatchback).
Luckily communication was mostly done via messenger and he openly admits the quality of work was subpar and promised to fix it or refund.
Loads of people on here pipe up saying take then to the small claim court which is actually Money Claim Online, this was my experience -
I had a sole trader builder who do some work on the house which he bodged, he promised time and time again to come and fix things but never turned up, I had another builder come in and fix the bodge total cost £570. I decided to use MCOL to claim the money back raised the claim, it came to £630.00 including Court fee, builder never contacted the court and the judgment went in my favour.
Court issued in total 3 warrants no answer at builders premises, I then used a tracing service to see if he had moved he had, it cost £35.35 to find his new address, After advice on here I applied to transfer the warrant to the High Court (£66 court fee).
In total they visited his new address 10 times he refused on several occasions to answer the door his car parked outside was on finance he did telephoned the officers and offered to pay £45 per month, I reluctantly accepted this but stated to the High Court officer’s he would not honour the payments, he didn't even make one, a few weeks later I had a letter from High Court officer’s stating
"As you are aware numerous attendances have now been made without success. There has been no response whatsoever to any recent attendances In the absence of a response, unless you or your client have any further information to assist, we will have no alternative but to return the Writ as abortive.
They sent me a bill for £90 total amount now owed £851.59 and a complete waste of time 8 months wasted.
If it was a company the High Court officer can force entry, if its an individual they cant.
gobuddygo said:
...
They sent me a bill for £90 total amount now owed £851.59 and a complete waste of time 8 months wasted.
A salutary warning to others. Too many posters on here have watched some nonsense on daytime television and thereafter assumed that "escalate to High Court" is a guaranteed win. They sent me a bill for £90 total amount now owed £851.59 and a complete waste of time 8 months wasted.
MustangGT said:
A company is either a private limited company (Ltd) or a public limited company (plc).
A sole trader is not a company, it is a single person carrying on a business.
Ok it was a sole trader, apologies I missed NOT out thanks A sole trader is not a company, it is a single person carrying on a business.
Edited by gobuddygo on Wednesday 5th October 23:24
Edited by gobuddygo on Wednesday 5th October 23:25
Its been a while but my MCOL was against a dealer who sold me a defective car then within 1 month of sale had a go at fixing but then locked my car in a compound and demanded £650 to give it back to me. I paid as I needed the car intending to go straight to MCOL then found it it wasnt fixed at all which strengthened my case.
I claimed for the repair, the MCOL costs, fuel for the drop off and pick up as it was a long way from home . I even added on the cost of sending the letter before action. You can also claim interest which I did.
They had a solicitor telling me the claim would fail and they would counter sue for costs , time wasted etc. I just told them to bring it on as scare tactics dont work on me.
The week before the court date solicitor emails me - where do you want the cheque sent to.
I claimed for the repair, the MCOL costs, fuel for the drop off and pick up as it was a long way from home . I even added on the cost of sending the letter before action. You can also claim interest which I did.
They had a solicitor telling me the claim would fail and they would counter sue for costs , time wasted etc. I just told them to bring it on as scare tactics dont work on me.
The week before the court date solicitor emails me - where do you want the cheque sent to.
gobuddygo said:
...They sent me a bill for £90 total amount now owed £851.59 and a complete waste of time 8 months wasted.
If it was a company the High Court officer can force entry, if its an individual they cant.
I would like to picture this guy hiding behind the sofa while the High court Officers bang on the window and his neighbours all come out to see what's going on and it really ruined his day.If it was a company the High Court officer can force entry, if its an individual they cant.
In reality he was probably sat watching TV with his middle finger raised toward the window not giving 2 sh...
Edited by Wackywoo105 on Thursday 6th October 12:04
Dodsy said:
Its been a while but my MCOL was against a dealer who sold me a defective car then within 1 month of sale had a go at fixing but then locked my car in a compound and demanded £650 to give it back to me. I paid as I needed the car intending to go straight to MCOL then found it it wasnt fixed at all which strengthened my case.
I claimed for the repair, the MCOL costs, fuel for the drop off and pick up as it was a long way from home . I even added on the cost of sending the letter before action. You can also claim interest which I did.
They had a solicitor telling me the claim would fail and they would counter sue for costs , time wasted etc. I just told them to bring it on as scare tactics dont work on me.
The week before the court date solicitor emails me - where do you want the cheque sent to.
Sounds like you did well there. I wonder if it went to a hearing whether certain costs of the claim would have been dismissed on the basis of what other people have mentioned in this thread. I claimed for the repair, the MCOL costs, fuel for the drop off and pick up as it was a long way from home . I even added on the cost of sending the letter before action. You can also claim interest which I did.
They had a solicitor telling me the claim would fail and they would counter sue for costs , time wasted etc. I just told them to bring it on as scare tactics dont work on me.
The week before the court date solicitor emails me - where do you want the cheque sent to.
My experience with MCOL wasn't great either
First time the other side didn't turn up so the Court rescheduled
Second time they turned up with a Solicitor and got off on a technicality - everyone assured me the SCC was more on "common sense" that strictly the letter of the law - they were wrong
Also the costs aren't just the initial fee there is at least one further fee to pay
Waste of time. effort and money - better to use a baseball bat
First time the other side didn't turn up so the Court rescheduled
Second time they turned up with a Solicitor and got off on a technicality - everyone assured me the SCC was more on "common sense" that strictly the letter of the law - they were wrong
Also the costs aren't just the initial fee there is at least one further fee to pay
Waste of time. effort and money - better to use a baseball bat
MCOL is good, provided you do your research and bring your evidence. My first case, I was defending, I lost on a technicality, I did not have a letter from a supplier confirming a point in the installation instructions.
The second case, I brought. The value being claimed was around £1100. Robust defence from the defendant until 1 week before the case hearing date. They then folded and provided me with approx. £2000 value replacement equipment in settlement. I guess they did not want the publicity.
The second case, I brought. The value being claimed was around £1100. Robust defence from the defendant until 1 week before the case hearing date. They then folded and provided me with approx. £2000 value replacement equipment in settlement. I guess they did not want the publicity.
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