Hi

Apologies if this is a double post my pc crashed while submitting the 1st one!

In June 2010 my partner and I purchased a 2nd hand car from a dealer in Havant for just under £5,000, we had a number of issues with the vehicle in the 1st couple of months and the final straw was when the cam belt failed exactly 3 months (less than 3,000 miles) after the purchase date. The result of this failure has meant that the vehicle requires a replacement engine at a cost of approx £2,000 plus labour and for us this was beyond economical repair. Our local mechanic has also informed us on diagnosing the failed cam belt that he believes that the vehicle has already had a reconditioned engine fitted something that was not disclosed to us at the time of purchase. At this point in my partners name (as it was her car) we issued the dealer with 14 days notice of intention to file a claim in the small claims court for compensation under the sale of goods act as the vehicle was not fit for purpose and for rescission of the contract, to which he did not respond so she subsequently filed the claim with the court. He responded through his solicitors that he intended to fully defend the claim, although a couple of days later we received a letter from his solicitor saying that they had investigated the instructions and that there was a major defect in the proceedings issued as my partner as she had no legal cause of action against their client and that the claim should have been issued in my name. As even though she paid all except the deposit I had signed the sale documentation and therefore the contract was with me any claim should be made by m. They requested that she should issue a notice of discontinuance within a week to halt proceedings or they would propose to deal with this issue in their clients defence and have been instructed to immediately apply for Summary Judgment pursuant with rule 24 of the civil procedure rules to strike out our claim and ask the court to order us to pay all of their legal costs incurred. This was quite a strongly worded letter and in a panic she did as they requested. I now intend to file the claim in my name but do you think we have a very strong case as we have already spent approx £200 on issuing the 1st claim and face the same cost again for issuing the 2nd claim, with the possible chance of incurring their costs if we lose I am a little concerned. I am sorry for the length of this post but this whole situation has been most distressing. Any assistance/advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.