Update on my car

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:18 pm

I meant corrosion, sorry about that. If it does fall into that scenario,what responsibility does the previous mot'er have David?

Tourist, you might as well try & get a refund, probably wont in all honesty.

How bad are the mot faults? a bit of welding might not cost as much as you think, unless its extensive in which case you might have a case against the previous mot'er.

If you dont get anywhere with the seller, then try e-bay as this is the place you purchased it from. Again not sure what sort of result you may get on that.

Worst comes to the worst, just park it up & when funds allow get the work done, better to spend a bit more money on the old gal than scrap her after having cost that much already, only my view of course.

Let us know a bit more detail of the mot fail sheet & how much you've been quoted for the work. There might be some kindly members prepared to help out on some of the jobs for beer money when funds allow.

Dont give up yet, chin up fella...

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:28 pm

Thanks for your support

it means a lot, times are bad ...

The reason for taking action via eBay is because he keeps batting me away so to speak.

I've tried phoning several times, each time he's made a different excuse to not pay me even the slightest bit of money back.

"Oh, I'll have a word with my local mechanic and see what he says about the repairs"

One week later still no reply, so I phone back:

"Oh sorry he's been away all week (how odd that he should be away now, of all times ... ) so I'll see him when he's back"

I don't expect anything from him, so I have taken up a case against him on eBay, claiming that the car description was not accurate - it was FAR from accurate.

I can't sell my ZX, I owe my dad £500+ and the BX isn't exactly road worthy ... it drives, but not like any BX should ...

Sorry for above, I'm very stressed. My BX experience has been sour, but hopefully things will pick up or I'll run into a bit of luck ... you never know

Regarding the mot, I will post more details if the refund plan falls through, which it probably will.

Right now I need to chill out, I'm very stressed out, I will be back next week with some news on the subject.

Thanks again

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:55 pm

MULLEY wrote:,what responsibility does the previous mot'er have David?

I don't believe it's a case of a responsibility to do anything, more a case that VOSA will investigate that tester to ensure they are doing their job properly.

Certainly no-one is going to be repairing the car for free. After all, worse case scenario is that the car has received a test certificate when it shouldn't have. The repair work would have to have been paid for if it had failed, so no-one is really responsible.

The fact that the car has been sold after the MOT pass does muddy the waters somewhat, but as far as VOSA are concerned, that's really none of their business.

Tourist.. Can you get any photos of the affected area? Would be interesting to see just how bad it is.

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:05 pm

Good luck but if the seller didn't actually conduct the MOT himself or owned/worked at the garage that did I suspect you might be out of luck as he could just say he took it for an MOT and it passed, nowt to do with him if the tester had an off day or whatever.
If you paid by Paypal then you won't get a refund full stop. they will freeze the money in his account for a few weeks but they will not find in your favour because Paypal do not refund on vehicles.
I'd keep chasing him but try and do it all by e-mail or letter so you can keep a record of his responses.
It's quite possible the small claims court could be an option as if he decides not to turn up (entirely possible) then as long as you are armed with evidence etc they will find in your favour if he doesn't show up.

Tourist · Post by **Tourist** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:10 pm

DavidRutherford wrote:Tourist.. Can you get any photos of the affected area? Would be interesting to see just how bad it is.

I will next week. Cavmad, I paid with cash on collection (stupidly) so PayPal is not an issue. I would definitely like to avoid any kind of court.

I will be back in a bit, until then, well, have a nice time on the forums.

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:13 pm

cavmad wrote:It's quite possible the small claims court could be an option as if he decides not to turn up (entirely possible) then as long as you are armed with evidence etc they will find in your favour if he doesn't show up.

True, but if the seller does show up then Tourist will definitely lose, and also have the court costs and out-of-pocket expenses of the seller to pay for. That's a big risk.

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:18 pm

Aye, fair point. I was only thinking if he'd promised the buyer (Tourist) he'd take action and then didn't despite repated requests this might be seen as an admission of guilt or deliberately fobbing Tourist of by being evasive.

Tourist: without some form of legal action I have to say I cannot see how you are going to get anywhere I'm afraid as the seller does sound like he doesn't give a flying one.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:54 pm

Did we ever find out who the seller is, he's supposed to be one of "us"

demag · Post by **demag** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:24 pm

Call me cynical and I know its water under the bridge now but the seller doesn't have a 100% feedback so in my book is a non starter straightaway.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:30 am

Good idea of David's to take some piccies of the troublesome areas & post them up, that way the guy's on here can give some advice on what needs doing & how much a competent garage would charge to fix.

Your car isnt dead in the water yet, so hang onto it until you get some more info & piccies posted....

Shame that the seller doesnt give two monkey's, would have been fair enough if it sold for just a few quid, but that was top money, clearly doesnt have a conscience.

A hard moral to be learnt unfortunately, read the feedback & always test drive the car thoroughly & take someone along who knows a bit about cars...& if you cant achieve the last 2 points, just dont buy the car even if it looks great, as unfortunately the worst case scenario is whats happened to you.

Hopefully we can motivate you to keep the car & get her fixed over time, & perhaps on the easier jobs you can get the spanners out & learn a few basic things as well. Consider this car as a project & it wont seem quite as bad...infact i'm looking forward to seeing your car at the national this year

There you go, thats positiveness for you....

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:36 am

Didn't know it was one of the BXC members who sold it?

Post by **Tim Leech** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:41 am

As mulley says James, dont despair, keep hold of it until you can afford to get it fixed and see if you can befriend a local BXer to give you a hand. See if the threat of ebay action against him does any good.

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:41 am

Personally I think you'ev got naff all chance of getting any money back, and by pursuing the hole thing you're only adding to the stress you already have, especially when, as likely...you lose out again.

I would make more efforts to sell this ZX (as right now I'd have thought a 1.9D smallish car would be snapped up straight away, unless it's seriously ropey!)

Then pay off a chunk of your debt.

The car still has 11months on it and I very much doubt it's a death trap of any sort if it's just rust. The only one I've heard of that was, was a red valver Doc got a while back where the subframe mounts were berely connected to the car! Corrosion of that severity is rare at the moment thankfully.
Keep using it and keep an eye out for issues. People on here will help you where they can, its a friendly forum.
You're not a million miles from me so worst case drive it down and I'll see what I can spot on it.

Geoffrey Gould · Post by **Geoffrey Gould** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:42 pm

Hello I don't wish to rain on any ones parade but unless things have changed then the fact that it has (had) 11 months MOT is cancelled out by the failure, be careful, perhaps it would be worth checking on. A fine is the last thing you want at the moment.
Cheers.
Geoff.

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:38 pm

Geoffrey Gould wrote:Hello I don't wish to rain on any ones parade but unless things have changed then the fact that it has (had) 11 months MOT is cancelled out by the failure

That's not actually true, and hasn't ever been so. After all, it's not actually a "fail", just a refusal to issue a new certificate. We had this discussion on another forum a while back, and came to the conclusion that the only time an MOT certificate is deemed void is when the car has been issued with a newer certificate. You can present a car for MOT as many times as you like, but until it's issued with a new certificate, the old one is still valid.

Granted, it would be very wise to sort out the problems that meant the new certificate hasn't been issued, as you could indeed be guilty of other motoring offences (such as construction and use offences) but you could not be convicted of driving without a valid MOT certificate.