Misleading advertisement

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Misleading advertisement

I recently bought a car from a franchised dealer. The car was advertised as 2 owners (I have a copy of the Auto Trader advert), which influenced my decision to buy and which I believe affects the value. I paid a good price, £9995, which included a 12 month warranty.

Having received my V5C it turns out that there have been 5 previous owners. The garage has said sorry, but say they showed me the "History" so I should have known. For me the "History" meant service and repair record. It never entered my head that the number of owners would be wrong.

I feel stitched up. What can I do, if anything?

Asked on 29 May 2013 by Phil of Haynes

Answered by Honest John

If it was advertised as "2 previous owners" then you have the evidence that it was misleadingly advertised and the small claims track of the county court now allows claims up to £10k, so you can reject the car.

Tags: buying legal and consumer advice

Dear Honest John,

Please help me choose my next car. I would like it to have:

Similar questions

Dealer didn't tell us our new car had been in an accident - what do we do?

My parents bought my brother a 2005 Peugoet 107 in September 2016. The car developed a fault (horn sounding with no one pressing it) and was sent to the local mechanic to get it sorted. When he was fixing...

My car is not as described - any recourse?

When purchasing a brand new Audi A3 from the showroom, I sent an e-mail to the salesman asking him if the spec on the display model was as described on the Audi Website. When I came to update the Sat Nav...

Problems with my brand new i40 - what can I do?

I took delivery of a new Hyundai i40 Tourer Premium SE on 5th April 2014. All seemed OK except the gear change pretty rough. This did not improve with use. On 24th June I did my first long journey, a round...