Hi,
My sister recently bought a W Reg 2000 car from a garage (not a franchised dealer, but a privately owned one).
She has had the car for a couple of weeks now, but this morning she got a letter through saying that the previous owners cheque had bounced in payment for the tax disc and that we must send the tax disc back with immediate effect.
Meaning that she has to pull out for 12 months tax when 10 months was supposed to be included.
How does she stand legally? are the garage legally obliged to pay for this? as the car was sold with 10 months tax and in effect she hasnt got that now, also the car was effectively sold without any tax and that is illegal is it not?
Any ideas as to what her rights are?
Thanks
Keith
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The garage is legally obliged to pay in the sense that they have entered into a contract with you, stating (or at least indicating by the presence of the tax disc) that the car was sold with ten months' tax.
There is no criminal law obligation on them to pay, however.
What it boils down to is - can you show on the balacne of probabilities that the garage specifically intended to include the tax disc or keep it for themselves and claim back the duty, as is often the case. If so, then in theory, you could sue. The garage may pay the correct amount without any prolem, to keep a customer happy, but then again, they may not.
(Claiming back tax keeps the screen price low, and also means the garage doesn't have to pay for the car's tax for perhaps three months while the car's on the forecourt).
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Dealer/garage is NOT legally obliged to sell the car with tax. I bought a used car in May from a dealer -they gave me the V5 when I paid my deposit so I could buy a tax disc to display when I collected the car, and Post Office kept the V5 for forwarding to Swansea for recording change of owner. If you bought from a garage and the tax was included as part of the deal, then I would suggest that they are liable - but meantime you must either keep the car off the highway, or else buy the new disc and ask for reimbursement from the dealer. (any legal experts out there?)
Sorry to hear of this experience, must be a bit of a worry.
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We used to have the disc out of the car and on the way back to Swansea before the p/ex came to a halt on the forecourt. I've never seen a dealer leave the disc on the car to sell on, for the reason mentioned above. Very odd.
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I have to say it's unusual for a dealer to leave a cer taxed. They usually send the disk back for a reimbursement by the end of the month.
Having said that, I know that dealers may keep a vehicle taxed if they get it in at the beginning of the month, so that they can use it for their own purposes, curtesy car, take on holiday etc. It is possible that if she bought the car before the dealer got around to sending it back or within the same month that the dealer got it in, then they may have left it on to close the deal.
I am not a legal expert but I would argue thus, unless I stand corrected by someone like PU or DavidHM
When she bought the car she will have been given a receipt. On this receipt it will state whether or not the remaining VED was part of the sale or not. If it was explicitely part of the sale she has a rock solid case under, I think, the Sale of Goods act, basically stating that the goods that she buys must be fit for purpose and thus the VED must be valid - there's no point buying VED on a vehicle if it's worth diddly squat now is there?
Even if it is not part of the sale, she can quite rightly claim that all within the vehicle is included in the sale, ie the dealer exhibits the vehicle with all accessories, then cannot remove any eg stereo etc without first making the buyer aware that said items are not included in the sale.
If the dealer is sensible I would expect him to suffer the loss. We're talking around £150 loss of value here. He will have probably made £1000 or so on the car anyway. FWIW I would in that situation.
As an aside, it may be worth agreeing the remaining value of the VED prior to doing the deal. EG cost of car with 10 months VED £3000 - write on Bill of Sale Car £2850 - VED £150.
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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There is a good chance that by now the car is logged as not being taxed - pass an ANPR at your peril.
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Hi PU
2 questions
1) Am I right in what I said in my last post and..
2) What is an ANPR??
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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ANPR Automatic Number Plate recognition.
String of cameras springing up round the country. Photos your number plate, no road tax on file, Fixed penalty notice thro the door.
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In cases of dishonoured cheques, the licence becomes void from the time it was issued (Section 19A Vehicles Excise and Registration Act 1994 as amended). It is an offence punishable with a 1000 pound fine or 5 times the rate of duty if a person fails to deliver up to Sec of State a licence obtained by a rubber cheque when served with a Notice to do so. (Section 35A)
So as far as DVLA are concerned then there is 2 months on non Licence use to account for. Plus SORN waits in the wings whilst this is sorted.
As to Sale of Goods Act being invoked because of no Tax I would argue that it has no relevance as the motor is OK. It will, in my opinion, centre on what was said when the vehicle was bought.
If part of the sale included the Tax then there is a breach of contract. Depending on the strength of the evidence - just verbal or backed up with document- then there may be a a case for putting the seller to a Small Claims Court if he fails to cough up.
Whatever happens the immediate thing is to get a Licence or as Pug says you probably will be pulled. Trip to Local Licensing Office with sale docs to explain the missing 2 months.
DVD
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Goes back to what I said - tax it now or keep it off the highway and declare SORN until this is sorted out.
Good luck.
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The back tax has to be paid for otherwise an FPN will be issued for driving round with in valid tax disc. As said before go down to your local licensing office to sort it out. The DVLA don't care about your argument with the dealer that is a separate issue nothing to do with them, but you will have to convince them you were driving round in good faith. I suspect that the bounced cheque has nothing to do with the dealer but the previous owner that PXed it pulling a fast one. In which case that is the garage's problem.
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I assume the dealer's name is not on the V5.
In which case, who on earth would buy 12 months road tax for a car they are about to trade in? Presumably this person either traded the car in, then realised they had wasted £165 and cancelled the cheque (which is defrauding the DVLA) or bought the road tax, cancelled the cheque and then traded the car in (which is defrauding both DVLA and the dealer).
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As I've said here before, I was once taken to court for failure to display, in vaguely similar circumstances to these.
After hassle with the dealer for a couple of months over whether he had agreed to include the tax, I eventually bought my tax disc and backdated to date of purchase of the car, oblivious to the fact that it had been seen parked untaxed in the meantime.
When the knock came on the door I showed them the tax disc (which covered the date in question) but still got done (albeit mildly) for failure to display...
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Hi,
It is correct that it was the previous owner who paid for the disc.
The garage\'s name was not on the V5
She got the tax disc this morning (and she hasnt driven the car since she was notified up until the time we got the new disc)
We spoke to trading standards just to confirm our position and they agreed that 10 months of the cost of the 12 months should be refunded by the garage. So I will give them a ring today/tommorow to gauge their response.
Thanks all
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