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My Ford Focus ST has been revealed as stolen/recovered - what can I do?
I bought an '05 Ford Focus ST-2 in May this year from a Ford dealer for £9000 with only 36,000 miles on the clock. It came HPI clear, with a full service history, and three owners. It's a really looked-after car. I decided this month that it's not really for me (I think I've outgrown the hot hatch stage of my life) and I would put it up for sale. I had a buyer contact me today to arrange a viewing. He seemed really interested and I gave him the reg to carry out a data check etc. He got back to me to say it was listed as stolen/recovered.
I did my own check and sure enough it's coming up as stolen/recovered. I have now found out that HPI do not check for stolen/recovered so that would not have shown up in the dealer's search, and I am stuck with a car that people only want to pay 70 per cent of book price for? The dealers are saying they were unaware and that it shouldn't affect the resale price. Where do I stand and what can I do?
I did my own check and sure enough it's coming up as stolen/recovered. I have now found out that HPI do not check for stolen/recovered so that would not have shown up in the dealer's search, and I am stuck with a car that people only want to pay 70 per cent of book price for? The dealers are saying they were unaware and that it shouldn't affect the resale price. Where do I stand and what can I do?
Asked on 17 August 2010 by Matthew23
Answered by
Honest John
You paid full retail for the car, so you are entitled to the difference from the Ford garage that did not show "due diligence" in checking the car's past and instead used a very cursory HPI check to convince you the car had been fully checked. The moral is, of course, to do your own full HPI check. Never rely on someone else's. It also makes sense to redo the finance check on the day you actually pay for the car to cover yourself against a "logbook loan" on the car between the first HPI check and date of payment.
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