Dealer refusing to Show me V5 Under data protcetion Act?

[lotuselan7]

Hi
Trying to buy a car remotely and have requested copy of V5 so I can contact previous owner.
He is refusing to provide under "Data protection Act".

Is he right or is he having me over?

[Kiltox]

Go elsewhere TBH.

You'd know the previous registered keeper's details if you bought the car anyway. Never been refused viewing of a V5.

[MarsellusWallace]

lotuselan7 said:

Hi
Trying to buy a car remotely and have requested copy of V5 so I can contact previous owner.
He is refusing to provide under "Data protection Act".

Is he right or is he having me over?

Id walk away from this one if I were you.

[jimbobsimmonds]

Even if he is within his rights; walk away...

[RemainAllHoof]

An undisclosed percentage of people in business state they cannot do something under the Data Protection Act because they don't actually know much about the Data Protection Act.

[Dog Star]

I'd walk away - he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Data Protection Act: the last refuge of the stupid and obstructive.

[edo]

jimbobsimmonds said:

Even if he is within his rights; walk away...

+1

[mrmr96]

It appears there's a reason why he doens't want you contacting the previous owner until you've paid up for the car.

Stinks worse than a smelly thing that's been left out in the sun.

[confused_buyer]

I can kind of see where he is coming from. Sometimes prospective purchasers contact the last owner to find out about the car and they get *very* pi**ed off at being contacted and give the dealer what for and threaten various data protection acts etc. It has happened to me.

Don't confuse the general public with people on this board who will probably wax lyrical about their previous pride and joy to a prospective buyer quite happily. Most never want to hear about their old car again (usually because they traded it knowing it needed something done!).

Of course, the last owner's name is on the new V5 anyway....but many don't realise that.

[Mustardo]

Perhaps trying to hide something? Walk away, oh and tell him he's done himself out of a deal - that will make him feel better...

[BarnatosGhost]

Doesn't the DPA only apply to the safe electronic storage of data?

[Turtlez]

Just don't buy a car "remotely".

Walk away.

[B16JUS]

But would you email a copy of yours to someone you dont know if selling your car ?

i doubt there is a problem showing you face to face but email ?

I wouldnt either

[Dracoro]

BarnatosGhost said:

Doesn't the DPA only apply to the safe electronic storage of data?

Nope, it covers manual storage of data too.

There are some exceptions (for "some" unstructured/unfiled data).

[anonymous-user]

edo said:

+1

+2

[Emeye]

I wanted to know the VIN of a BMW 1 series as the dealer couldn't confirm whether the car was a facelift or not and it was borderline - to be fair I could be someone dodgy wanting the info for cloning etc - and he refused for those reasons - in the end he lost business, but I could see his side of the argument, even though the VIN number is printed on the dashboard of many cars.....

[rob.e]

Look for another car.

I've never had this before - either the salesman is an idiot or he's trying to hide something. I would never buy a used car without having held a valid v5 in my hand and inspected properly.

Walk away.

[SlimRick]

Previous owner - ABC Taxis?

[Dracoro]

The DPA protects data referring to PEOPLE, not cars.

They may want to "blank out" the owner of the car but simply giving away the VIN number does not contravene the DPA.

I can understand why they might not want to divulge that info for security reasons (cloning etc.), however this has nothing to do with the DPA.

The public may not understand the DPA (clearly!) but businesses are duty bound to know if far better than they do now. Many are using the DPA as an excuse for not fulfilling their obligations or to pass the buck.

[markmullen]

confused_buyer said:

I can kind of see where he is coming from. Sometimes prospective purchasers contact the last owner to find out about the car and they get *very* pi**ed off at being contacted and give the dealer what for and threaten various data protection acts etc. It has happened to me.

In my experience people who want to speak to the previous owner do so in order to ask how much the dealer paid them for the car so that when negotiating with the dealer they can demand it for 50p more than the dealer paid for it as "that's a fair profit".