Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner.

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Thu 6 May 2021 08:37
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Barney Waspe

Morning All,

I was looking for some advice, please don't judge, I didn't really know what I was doing and I probably screwed this up royally..

Anyway, I purchase a car off Facebook Marketplace for £3,500, from a lovely couple who had inherited the car off their recently deceased father.

I decided to buy and transferred the money to them. She then went off to her computer to check it had gone through. When she returned she had the V5C in her hand. She then told me that she'd forgotten to send it off, but had filled in the new keeper portion with her details. Not really sure what to do we decided that she would send it off and once she received it, re-send it off with my details on.

I drove the car away and then realised I have no way of taxing the car.

This was when it got more confusing.. That night I went to the shops and on returning the car wouldn't start. I assumed it was a flat battery because it had been on the womans drive for a while before being sold. I left it and walked home. The next day I drove there with my girlfriend and we managed to jumpstart it. I drove it about 20 miles and it drove perfectly. 3 hours later I drove it another 20 miles home. Halfway home on the M5 the power cut out and I had to stop it on the hard shoulder. The AA towed it back to my house for £99 as I hadn't got round to setting up my membership, On inspection by a mechanic it was found that the Cam belt was knackered and he reckons it's going to cost between £1000-£1500 to fix..

My question is what do I do? I've paid for a car that I am not the official owner of, I have no way of paying the £30 road tax on. It's just sitting outside my house.

Will the fact that I'm not the legal owner help my case against them for selling me a crock of s***.. Do I have any recourse.. I know banks have a chargeback scheme where they can try and get the money refunded..

Help!!!!

Moved to Legal

Edited by _ORB_ on 06/05/2021 at 08:55

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Thu 6 May 2021 08:54
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - _

Sadly it is buyer beware in these cases.

Very little chance of getting anything done.

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Thu 6 May 2021 09:39
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - bathtub tom

Was it SORNed before you bpught it, if so were you driving it around untaxed? If it's still sitting on the road untaxed, then either you or the seller could be in line for a penalty. Can you move it off road some where? If so I'd do so as soon as possible.

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Thu 6 May 2021 14:08
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Cris_on_the_gas

Firstly the V5C has nothing to do with legal ownership.

Secondly did you get a receipt for the money paid for the car ?

Edited by Cris_on_the_gas on 06/05/2021 at 14:10

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Thu 6 May 2021 17:44
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Barney Waspe

Nope no receipt.. Does that matter as there's clear funds going between us and text messages back and forth about the issue..She's now come back to me and offered £500 towards the repairs..

If I was to sell it in the state it is how much do you think I'd get?? It's done 100,000 miles, never had any issues apart from this..

RO12 ETY is the number plate. Not sure if it's been sorted I can check.

Cheers,

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Thu 6 May 2021 18:17
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - FP

"... never had any issues apart from this.."

If you check the MOT history you'll see that is not true.

Edited by FP on 06/05/2021 at 18:17

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Thu 6 May 2021 20:22
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - 72 dudes

Crikey, where to start?

As FP says, the MOT history would have scared me.

First done in 2012 when it was almost new?? Nah dodgy.

4 MOTs done in 2013, why??

Big fail recently when nearly all the dash warning lights were on? Granted it has not been used for 2 years so weak battery could cause some of this.

You paid £3500 for a shed of a car on Facebook, and now it's going to cost £1500 to put right?

Cut your losses, send it to auction and start again.

You don't know what else is going to go wrong with it even if you do get it fixed. It's a 9 (or possibly 12) year old diesel with over 100k up.

I don't think you have any legal recourse with the seller so you may as well accept the £500 if it's still on the table.

Edited by 72 dudes on 06/05/2021 at 20:24

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Fri 7 May 2021 09:26
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Andrew-T

As FP says, the MOT history would have scared me.

First done in 2012 when it was almost new?? Nah dodgy.

I wonder if the car is an import - allegedly registered in March 2012 but MoT'd in April at 3500 miles. Why, if it is a month old? Had it been substantially repaired and needed a full test afterwards ?

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Fri 7 May 2021 14:51
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Bromptonaut

I wonder if the car is an import - allegedly registered in March 2012 but MoT'd in April at 3500 miles. Why, if it is a month old? Had it been substantially repaired and needed a full test afterwards ?

Wouldn't an import be allocated an age appropriate registration.

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Fri 7 May 2021 11:04
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - Cris_on_the_gas

I'd take the £500, get the car fixed up and decide if you want to keep it or flog it ASAP to cut your losses.

Regarding V5C, it's shown as taxed until April 2022 so most likely previous owner has not updated details to DVSA.

I would invest £25 in a form V62 to get a V5C issued in your name. As you have evidence as above that you have purchased car shouldn't be an issue. You will then have to tax car straight away as soon as keeper details updated on V5C tax is not valid. Refund cheque will be issued to current keeper.

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Fri 7 May 2021 17:19
Volkswagen Passat - Newly purchased car and not the legal owner. - jp2021

A popular taxi - some local hackney carriage offices do have odd requirements regarding MOT tests. Did you HPI it?

Now when you get the new V5C it no longer shows the previous keeper's name and address making enquiries more difficult.

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