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Discovered my car has a hidden accident history - what should I do?
A few weeks ago I bought a nearly new Volkswagen Golf from a private owner. I carried out a full check on the car before the purchase and everything came back fine. However, within a few days of ownership, the car started to give an "Airbag fault" during start-up. I took it to a garage and was told the car had been involved in an accident and it would cost £500 to fix the problem.
I feel I should be owed a full refund, but don’t know what to do. Can you help?
I feel I should be owed a full refund, but don’t know what to do. Can you help?
Asked on 9 October 2013 by Luiz
Answered by
Honest John
A private vendor is not legally bound to disclose faults as long as those faults do not make the car unroadworthy. In that case the only action you could take against him would be breach of contract. But you could take the route that the nature of these faults rendered the car unroadworthy and could use the small claims court to sue the owner. www.moneyclaim.gov.uk
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