I bought a second hand Fiat Abarth for £7,500 from a reputable dealer three months ago. The sales person assured me that the car had a full service history, spare key and manual and that they would send it to me by registered delivery over the next couple of days.

I chased it may times over 7 weeks, I was finally told that they had misplaced the documents, and that they had contacted the owner of the company they had purchased the vehicle from asking him to provide the information to be shared with me. I told them that if they didn’t provide me with the service history the car wouldn’t be as valuable and I would want to return it. They arranged for a spare key to be cut.

I have chased several times this year and was told yesterday that they cannot provide the service history. I suggested they refund me some of the value. The sales manager offered me £850, he said that the book price has gone down significantly since I bought the vehicle, and that if I returned the car they would sell it at auction for £5,000.

A friend said the book price hasn’t gone down and he thinks I should accept a minimum of £1,500. What is your advice?