Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back?

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Tue 24 Oct 2017 14:55
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - Alexander Tutt

Hey everyone I've just joined to seek out some advice from people on what to do.

I purchased a Toyota mr2 mk2 1991 rev 1 from a private seller over two months ago now.

At the time of purchase I had a look around and basic stuff. To my untrained eye it seemed to be sound. Unfortunately in my stupidity I didn't look well enough before I signed all the paperwork and played 1750 for it. Ive had to have the exhaust repaired costing 200 pounds. As well as dodgy lights fixed. Both front brakes turned out to be binding quite badly. However when I bought it they seemed fine. And I wasn't informed of any of the problems. Anyway I drew a line under it and took it to a specialist who informed me that the car is 'rotten' the sills have been botched together out of bubble wrap cardboard and had a fibreglass sill cover stuck on. As well as that, bushes are all on their way out, rust everywhere to the point where things have just fallen off! The list goes on. Heart breaking to be honest! And to top that off, between me and the specialist we had a dive into the online MOT history available and discovered that it had been clocked at some point in 2012. It was advertised as 107000 miles and was actually on 226000 miles in 2011 then suddenly dropped the next year... No mention about any other mileage at all!

I've since been trying to contact the guy who, prior to this, text me back straight away pretty much before. Now he is not answering his phone or replying to texts. I have his address so I could always drive there if needs be but I'm not sure if that's even a good idea?

I just want to know where i stand, what rights I have and what I can do.

Thanks in advance! Pretty heavy introduction!

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Tue 24 Oct 2017 18:14
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - ExA35Owner

If it's a private sale you have next to no legal rights. You need to exercise due diligence before handing over any money - MoT history, HPI, thorough examination of the vehicle.

But it's worth checking back through your paper trail in case the vendor was in fact a trader masquerading as a private seller. Then you'd have more of the law on your side.

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Tue 24 Oct 2017 18:38
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - macski

It depends how he advertised it, if he deliberately mislead you in the advertising or you directly asked him if the brakes were OK for example and he said yes knowing they are not then you could be entitled to your money back.

Same with mileage, if he knew the mileage was wrong for example he owned the car at the time the mileage change then you might have a case against the seller, but it might be the case that the speedo clock got changed.

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Tue 24 Oct 2017 18:46
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - macski

Hey everyone I've just joined to seek out some advice from people on what to do.

I purchased a Toyota mr2 mk2 1991 rev 1 from a private seller over two months ago now.

the car is 'rotten' the sills have been botched together out of bubble wrap cardboard and had a fibreglass sill cover stuck on. As well as that, bushes are all on their way out, rust everywhere to the point where things have just fallen off!

You might have a comeback here or/and the MOT station.

Why have you posted this twice?

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 20:35
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - JEREMYH

This is the challenge with old classic cars You just never know . I dont think there is much you can do. Owning classic cars can be a money pit but often once you have sorted the gremlins they dont let you down again. It maybe just a good idea to plough on with the ownership of this car

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Wed 25 Oct 2017 23:34
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - galileo

This is the challenge with old classic cars You just never know . I dont think there is much you can do. Owning classic cars can be a money pit but often once you have sorted the gremlins they dont let you down again. It maybe just a good idea to plough on with the ownership of this car

Not if it does have serious bodyshell corrosion; mechanical bits can be repaired or replaced but body rot is why there are so few 1950s/1960s/1970s cars around.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 05:34
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - JEREMYH

This is exactly what I mean ! It is a massive risk always. I have been stung before but these days stick to old Saabs as I know about them

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 12:57
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - focussed

For what it's worth, have a look at this advice from HJ, not an exactly similar case, but near enough.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/57463/is-it-ille...y-

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 15:00
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - Happy Blue!

These days, with online MoT history available at the drop of a finger, clocking cars must soon be history.

Thinking about buying a car? Check the MoT history. Mileage looks odd - ask the question! If not answered adequately, walk away.

Surely, any MoT tester seeing a car with a lower mileage than the year before would/could/should flag it up with someone?

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 16:54
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - RT

These days, with online MoT history available at the drop of a finger, clocking cars must soon be history.

Thinking about buying a car? Check the MoT history. Mileage looks odd - ask the question! If not answered adequately, walk away.

Surely, any MoT tester seeing a car with a lower mileage than the year before would/could/should flag it up with someone?

It's not that straight-forward - some cars have odometers which can be switched between km and miles although I can't think of a reason that's used - the UK has no requirement to record changes of instrument cluster, whether under warranty or swapped from a scrap yard for an older car.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 17:15
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - Electric Leaper

Many years ago (before MOT history was available online) I was interested in a Toyota Auris that was advertised with 40k on the clock. However, when I turned up to view the car, the speedo only showed 7k on the clock. The trader showed me the Toyota dealer invoice that the speedo was changed at 33k miles. I even called the Toyota dealer to verify and they confirmed they carried out the speedo change. However, I went against buying it as I'm pretty sure this would scared off buyers when the time came to change and hence affect the resale value. I also didn't appreciate the trader not mentioning the speedo change in the ad (although understandable as it would have put a lot of people off).

Obviously in this case a genuine reason for the discrepancy in mileage that would be scary reading if the MOT history was checked.

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Thu 26 Oct 2017 17:35
Toyota MR2 mk2 - Clocked/rotten car...am I entitled to money back? - SLO76
Bulk of Mot mileage discrepancies come from fat fingered testers putting in the wrong figure or from kilometres being on the display instead of miles. Clocking is much less common but it's still an issue. Faked service histories are widespread however.
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