Please Help, Somebody, I have just been done out of £750.00, by buying a second hand car, please read below!!
Answers:
If it was a private purchase then you could try taking the car back and demanding your money returned. Take a couple of big ugly lads to go with you.
If it was a dealer then you should get a 3 month warranty by law. Take it back to the dealer and make them return your money.
If you paid for the car via a bank, such as a cheque then you can get the bank to get onto them to reclaim you money. Banks are very powerful.
Failing all of the above try contacting the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). They have lots of use full information on how deal with any situation.
Good luck.
Next time pay a mechanic to come out with you to look the car over before you buy (Should cost around £30).
Have you spoken to people that sold it to you? Maybe you should negotiate them taking it back?
crikey !! they must have seen you coming ! next time try to take a mechanic with you,
Did you not get the car checked by anyone before you bought it??
I'm sorry for you, this is obviously a bad thing to happen to you, but its very foolish to buy a car without getting it checked by a mechanic first. I'm not sure you have any comeback on this, did you pay by cheque? can you cancel it?
Good luck
The only other thing I can suggest you do is contact a solicitor and your local plod, just in case.
Good Luck.
Unfortunately you don't have a legal leg to stand on. You bought the car as seen. Buying a secondhand car is a minefield at the best of times but in the under £1000 price range your really in the jungle. The only thing you can do is ask your mechanic friend how much it will cost to fix and if its more than your prepared to pay then the car is scrap. It sounds like a terrible "I told you so" kind of thing but you really need to have someone with you who knows about cars when buying one. I know cos I've been caught out myself.
you need to contact VOSA with details
Although it is perfectly legal to use the spare wheel on a retest as the spare is not part of the test.
Did it come with a Emissions print out with the mot as you should get one with the test cert, and the mot station has to keep a copy, If the engine is finished as you say it would be interesting to look at emissions print out..
BUT the mot is only applicable for testable items at the time of test excepting corrosion which is accountable for up to 3 months from date of test..
You need to seek proffesional help on this
good luck
Did you get a receipt saying 'sold as seen'? If you did then I'm afraid you don't stand a chance. Most people do this, even people who aren't traders, as it's a known thing to cover your 'behind' should anything happen. If this person is not a trader then they will not be covered by trading standards in the same way as a registered trader. VOSA I can't see would do anything but it's worth a try. Did no-one test drive it for you? Have you tried asking Citizens advice, or even the POlice, they may be able to give you some good advice although it isn't a Police matter you will find them helpful.
There is apparently a 14 day cooling off period for any purchase but it sounds like they knew the problems when they sold it to you so you probably wont get far with that. I hate stories like this as these sort of scumbags always get away with it. Try approaching them to discuss it even if only by phone and if they wont budge then remember REVENGE IS SWEET!! Good luck, I hope you sort it out.
PS my darling hubby has just reminded me, insurance is a wonderful thing!
i once bought a sierra at night my first car also at night and a mechanic checked it for me it was red wwhen i got up the next morning my wife looking at the car from the bedroom window said tony its two different colours thecar was sienna red and the doors boot and bonnet was cardinal red i jumped out of that bed and nearly cried.
but buying private you can easily be taken for a ride i sympiphise with you but pu tit down to experiance.there is a lot of scam merchants just waiting to pass their **** on to you and i good luck anyway on your test
hey,im a qualified mechanic,the only thing im gonna say is,it was sold for the reason that there must have been warning signs for the previous owner that his engine was bout to go,thats probably why he sold it,ive seen it a million times,alot of people(without heart)sell there car when its showing signs of going down hill.There aint much you can do but fix and sell,try and get most of your money back or try speaking to previous owner but im guessing he is gonna say,"it was fine when you drove it away" honestly-buy japanese next time!
If you have a warrenty on the car it can be fixed by the dealer, if you bought it privately with a gaurentee they will re-imburse you. If you bought it as seen which I expect you did at that price I'm afraid your stuck with it. Don't worry about the bearings for the time being, thats a small fault that can be sorted later. If water is getting into the manafold (exhaust), you should try putting some block seal in the engine. Not rad-weld or any of this stuff, BLOCK SEAL. If water is pouring in (by which you pour it in and it pours out the back of the car), then someone has not put the engine together properly, but I'd be surprised if it would start at all ever like this. On a car that age mileage is of no importance, a last resort for the destitute useless car buyer just their for dealers to see off, so ignore that, tyre is the same, a spare is not a statutory requirement, you may have to supply one yourself but a part-worn tyre is only around a tenner.
If it only steamed out the exhaust then the block seal will temporarily fix this for about 6-12 months, enough time for you to sell it on to someone else (they didn't care about stitching you up), and people that buy a brand new car lose more than you paid driving out the garage!! As long as you have the MOT valid, and a fully working car you could then sell it and get most of your money back, then try an auction, use a little common sense and study the cars carefully, you may get something even better for less. Good luck with the Escort for now though
also the seller stated it had low mileage at 19.414, I thought it had gone round the clock but no it is 194.14 mileage, also i got
is this a typing error or what.
did they say the bearings had been dun they can go at any time. did you drive the car at all. at the end of the day if it was a private sale and sold as seen then your fucked sorry 4 days is to long to go back and argue
i did warn you that it could be 119.414 when you first posted about buying this car. soory but it looks like you are stuck with it. the wheel bearings are not to bad to get fixed as for the engine you can pick up a secondhand one for £200. another £150 to fit it. thats a p reg car for £1200 ish or scrap it and lose 750
If it was a private sale then you are stuffed. You bought the vehicle "Sold as seen" with all its faults. So it would have been up to you to inspect the car before handing over the cash.
As for the MOT you should have made sure it had one FIRST before you handed over any cash as a car without a current MOT is practacly worthless, also you say that the tyre failed the MOT could you not see the bald tyre when you bought it?
Did you even inspect the car or take somone with you who knows about cars? This may be an expensive lesson for you.
DONT BUY OLD FORDS
If you bought the car from a dealer take it back and ask them to reapir it or give you your money back as the car was not in a fit state to be driven.
Sorry mate, private purchases of car are "sight as seen" - meaning that it is up to YOU as the purchaser to do any checks etc required, it's not up to the seller to point out any faults or problems.
Did you not get the previous owner to take you for a spin in it, or at least run the engine for a while til it was warm before you parted with that cash?
Sad to say that it looks like you've learnt a very painful lesson the hard way here. I doubt you'll get your money back, unless the seller is a genuinely nice person who feels bad for ripping you off.
Why on earth are you spending that level of cash on a P-reg escort, anyway? I just sold a T-plate 2.0 Mondeo for less than that, and told the buyer that it was a wreck with cyclinder head problems, valve problems and enough miles to have been to the moon and back!
Head gasket is a fairly straight-forward job, as are wheel bearings. I think your best course of action would be to get it repaired - or if you are as unscrupulous as the previous seller, flog it on to someone else..
Unfortunately when buying a second hand car privately you don't have a leg to stand on basically as its sold as seen.You just have to sell it on and cut your loses,its sad that the person who sold it to you conned you.
thats very 'unethical' for a private seller to sell you a lemon like that, but sadly it's your fault for not checking it. didnt you not go for a test drive? you could have also ran a HPI check on it which for 30 off quid would have prevented disaster :(
have you tired getting in touch with the seller, although it's a pretty sure bet the old 'sold as seen' or 'worked fine when you bought it' delboy slogans will come out
there is nothing on earth you can do if you bought it private ! sorry to here that and also older fords are renouned for head gaskets to go!! but you cant do nothing bar scrap it i suppose!!
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