I bought an ex-police car at auction that had undisclosed faults - what are my rights?
I bought an ex-police car from Brightwells auctioneers. It was a BMW i3. I bought it online for £8870. No defects were disclosed. I noted when looking at the collection that where there were defects they were disclosed. Upon collection and having driven it home it was clear something was wrong as the heater did not work. BMW inspected it and said the heat exchanger was broken and needed replacement at a cost of around £2000. They said the defect would have been obvious to the police engineers upon annual servicing and also when the car was driven. What are my rights?
Asked on 3 March 2026 by Garry Procter
Answered by
Craig Cheetham
As you bought the car at auction, you have purchased it on auction terms and conditions, which will rarely give you any cause for comeback. The only circumstance where this would be different is if the vehicle was sold warranted and with an engineer's report. An auction house is not obliged to disclose defects as they are simply an intermediary, assigned to sell the car on behalf of a client.
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