Hi. Got myself into a bit of a situation. Any advice/comments greatly appreciated.

In February of this year I purchased a 60 plate Ford Fiesta with 23,000 miles on the clock. The seller (who initially started out as a private seller on Ebay) was very open about the fact that the vehicle had been involved in an accident and that the car had been written off as a Cat C and explained that the car had been fully repaired by himself. The ad said "The vehicle is Category C repaired. The damage was to the front driver side corner, very minor. All repairs have been carried out to very high standard"

I paid an initial deposit and arranged to travel the 300 miles a few days later to view the car. When I arrived, the seller was actually trade and took me to his garage wher the car was and where the repairs had been carried out. The car all looked ok and I checked the vehicle over the best I could according to my ability. The seller explained again that the damage was only minor and that there had been no chassis damage and that the airbags had not been deployed. I even questioned him again about this and he was adamant that damage was only minor. The car drove fantastically well on the test drive so I agreed to buy the car. In total, because of its status as a Cat C I paid £7,100.

Three weeks ago less than four months after buying the car the engine cut out and would not restart. I had it towed to Ford who advised me the next day that the cambelt had actually snapped causing damage to the engine. It has currently done 31,000 miles. They also advised me that the car showed signs of being in a collision (intersting as I had not mentioned this). I went to the garage and they showed me a bent chassis leg, a broken engine mount bracket that had had the bolt simply welded back on and a damaged inner supprt panel. There was dented air con pipes and leaking coolant hoses. The guys at the garage said that this car had obviously been involved in quite a heavy front end impact. They also said that the cambelt had probably snapped due to the mis-alignment of the belt on the fuel and cam pulleys casued by a shift to the engine (probably upon collision) Ford have quoted £5,400 for a replacement engine and fuel pump to be fitted and just over £2,000 for bodywork repairs (although I admit I thinksome of this is unneccassary). A second hand engine would obviously be cheaper and acceptable to me.

I contacted the seller to inform him of the problem and not surprisingly he has said that the vehicle wa sold to me with no mechanical or electrical warranty and that now because of the broken engine he could not take the car back as it is worth nothing to him.

I have sent him a letter quoting the sale of goods act and am now awaiting his reply.

I have ready many articles around this subject but was wondering if anyone could give me any specific advice relative to my situation. I have asked in the letter for a full refund or payment of the money to get it fixed as I would not trust him to do the job himself properly as a repair, also he is over 300 miles away. But, if he does offer to repair it, do I have to accept thart offer?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Edited by sarjo on 12/06/2012 at 22:35