Our member sold a car to someone purporting to be purchasing it on behalf of another car dealer.
The invoice was made out to the named individual, with the name and address of another car-dealer business printed directly beneath.
The sum was paid and the buyer drove off on trade plates.
A few weeks later, the named person wrote from a different address to reject the car, stating it was not working. He demanded a refund under the Consumer Rights Act.
We refused to deal with him except to say that any communication needed to be on the letterhead of the company that had purportedly purchased the car.
Shortly thereafter, our member received a call from an Environmental Health Officer some 200 miles away. The buyer had been caught illegally fly-tipping in the car. When the vehicle became stuck in mud, he “did a runner”.
The council seized the car. The buyer then approached the council for its return, claiming he had bought it from our member.
We replied to the council, but one of their questions was, “What due diligence did you take in ensuring that the car-dealer company purporting to buy the car was legitimate?”
A fair question, and so we would advise that if selling to another car dealer, you ask for evidence that the dealer actually exists and that the person standing before you is authorised to buy on their behalf.
On a separate note, we now await the individual’s claim that the car was not fit for the purpose of escaping a fly-tipping offence!
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