Lotus Elan Central

by **TrueBlue** » Sat 15.12.2007, 19:35

Hi everyone

basically the garage agreed to give a re-fund but not until they got the car back at their premises to look it over which is hundreds of miles away..

Based on my previous experience with the garage i did not have any faith in them to honour their word and to be honest i found the stress was getting to me
anyway i then found from someone (here? or somewhere) that my home insurance covers my legal expenses if i buy duff goods...

so my insurance company have instructed a lawyer for me
and we are taking it to court(not small claims court) and will be claiming thousands more than the car cost in costs and loss of use and storage etc etc etc

Trading standards came and took a statement and the ministry of transport wrote the car off and it should never have passed its mot

the ministry of transport have taken action against the garage that MOT'd the car
however the inspector of the vehicle is off sick so trading standards cant yet take criminal proceedings until he is available as a witness in court..

fast track court summonses are currently being sent to the dealer
and it will be a few months for it to come to court in which time hopefully trading standards inspector will be back at work for them to take their action in a different court (which we can then use as extra evidence)

i havent been to worried about it as it is simply £5 per week interest which i am losing had the money been in the bank
however i have had to buy another elan off clemo so i will be claiming for this eg car hire etc as i cant go without a vewhicle

basically ive taken the less stressfull option
and by not complying, the dealer will end up paying dearly

my lawyer said that garages usually make an out of court settlement with them once they find out how much it will cost them when they lose
my lawyer is very confident that we have a very strong case as you all know...

i'll post again when this happens or when it has gone to court

i also have the option of taking criminal action with the police

by **TrueBlue** » Sat 15.12.2007, 20:05

other things have been playing their part too!!

you are all never going to beleive this but a palm reader once told me never to buy a red car cos she saw it blowing up on what looked like a dule carriageway..

ive always wanted an elan funnily enough my aunt and unle are call alan and lisa !!!!

anyway so when i went to buy my elan ive always wanted i purposefully went to look for a blue one from a garage which had been fully serviced etc and he said it had a full service history book!!!

isnt it a surprise that the car the service book was registered to was RED!!!
NO WATER, NO WARNING BULB!!!
and i was due to drive it the next day on the dual carriageway to the lotus garage!!!!
Clemo says it wouldnt have made it and would have seized!!

so anyway i'm really glad that LEC was here...probably saved my life

so now you all see why i have taken the action i have
i found it eeerie if not scary!! especially when my life was at risk!!!

as far as i am concerned it is attempted murder!!

True

by **RayD** » Sat 15.12.2007, 20:25

Thanks for the update Richard,

Ray

by **GeoffSmith** » Sat 15.12.2007, 21:13

I'm not convinced about the palm reader but I'm glad to hear the dealer is getting what is coming to him. It would have been all too easy for you to get your money back and let him sell it on again - but think how you would have felt if a newbie had come on here a few weeks later saying "I am very sad today. I have found out that my new Elan ..........".

by **Monty** » Sat 15.12.2007, 22:18

geoffsmith wrote:I'm not convinced about the palm reader but I'm glad to hear the dealer is getting what is coming to him. It would have been all too easy for you to get your money back and let him sell it on again - but think how you would have felt if a newbie had come on here a few weeks later saying "I am very sad today. I have found out that my new Elan ..........".

Sorry but i can`t agree, Trueblue has had 2 chances to bring back the vechile and a refund will be given after they`ve inspected it, which there are intitled to do. I can`t see what more the garage can do :roll:

So what you going to say when the judge turns round and says so why didn`t you take the vechile back when you was offered a refund :roll:

If your not carefull this could go on for a few more years yet

by **GeoffSmith** » Sat 15.12.2007, 22:40

Monty, the garage sold an un-roadworthy car that had a dodgy MoT to some poor unsuspecting person: I'm sure it's not the first time they've done it and I'm sure they would have tried to again if the car had been returned. Sometimes you've got to stand up for what is right and bugger the consequences. Hopefully this garage and MoT centre will not be allowed to continue trading.

by **Dico** » Sat 15.12.2007, 23:19

I'm completely convinced about palm readers.

by **Monty** » Sun 16.12.2007, 00:17

geoffsmith wrote:Monty, the garage sold an un-roadworthy car that had a dodgy MoT to some poor unsuspecting person: I'm sure it's not the first time they've done it and I'm sure they would have tried to again if the car had been returned. Sometimes you've got to stand up for what is right and bugger the consequences. Hopefully this garage and MoT centre will not be allowed to continue trading.

Don`t get me wrong i don`t like to see people getting ripped off and i do hope TrueBlue does get his money back. But IMHO this could of easly of been settled and i know of others who have said the same. There`s always 2 sides to a story.

Sounds like it was a seperate Garage that did the MOT, if so then this were it will get complicated as the garage that sold the car won`t be held responsible for there incompetence.

But can you imagine this guy being on the stand with comments like

you are all never going to beleive this but a palm reader once told me never to buy a red car cos she saw it blowing up on what looked like a dule carriageway

ive always wanted an Elan funnily enough my aunt and unle are call alan and lisa !!!!

lol

but it is very entertaining

BTW did you get the money for the mugs :wink:

by **TrueBlue** » Sun 16.12.2007, 08:11

monty i wont mention anything about the palm reader in court
and the reason i didnt take the car back is because after the way i was treated and sold a blatantly obviously duff car, i do not trust the garage to do what they say
this is what we be said in court
we cannot trust them or accept their word

also i didnt like the dealers forcefull attitude when he rand me and was threatening..he has made me afraid of going anywhere near him

i even offered the garage 500 quid off the value if they sent someone to check over the vehicle and refund me before they take it and the dealer said he 'couldnt spare the staff!!'

i do not trust them! is it surprising?

when i get my money back THEN and only then can they pick-up the car

by **abmunro** » Sun 16.12.2007, 10:52

My friends wife works for trading standards.

As a basic rule she says everthing " Has to be fit for purpose" It does not matter what it is.

I agree it's begining to be a bit like war and peace this now, but lets hope its resolved in Trueblues favour soon.

Lets also hope this is a lesson for other potential buyers.

Ask all your questions here and ask one of the more knowledgable owners if they wouldn't mind going with you to look at a car...

Could obviously save a lot of grief...

by **ailwyn** » Sun 16.12.2007, 13:57

I agree with Tony, blue sky thinkers should consider using the more humbled grey members to assist with their purchases! :lol:

TBs comments have been an endless source of entertainment though, I'll give him that :-D

by **TrueBlue** » Sun 16.12.2007, 17:18

ailwyn wrote:TBs comments have been an endless source of entertainment though, I'll give him that

well thanks

here is something entertaining for Peter Starstedt's teddy bear

i am currently parked back to back with a deep red MG
and all i can think about is drinking a nice cool snowball

LOL
wait for ir...
just off to shops to get some advocaat in my jeep

by **Dico** » Sun 16.12.2007, 17:26

I'm completely convinced about palm readers.

by **GeoffSmith** » Sun 16.12.2007, 17:40

TrueBlue wrote:just off to shops to get some advocaat in my jeep

I know the tax is high, but petrol is still cheaper. :-D

by **rip** » Sun 16.12.2007, 23:23

Dico wrote:I'm completely convinced about palm readers.

by **rip** » Sun 16.12.2007, 23:46

Monty wrote:
Sorry but i can't agree, Trueblue has had 2 chances to bring back the vechile and a refund will be given after they've inspected it, which there are intitled to do. I can't see what more the garage can do

The garage are sure to use this in any legal dispute, then add "If you could go that far to buy it, surely it would not be too far to take back?"

by **muley** » Tue 18.12.2007, 09:28

rip wrote:
Monty wrote:
Sorry but i can't agree, Trueblue has had 2 chances to bring back the vechile and a refund will be given after they've inspected it, which there are intitled to do. I can't see what more the garage can do

The garage are sure to use this in any legal dispute, then add "If you could go that far to buy it, surely it would not be too far to take back?"

Yes, but it wouldn't have made it under it's own steam! Why should the buyer have to organise a trailer or whatever. In any case, true felt seriously intimidated by the 'trader'.

All that said, I think true should have got assistance early in the buying cycle - if not a LECer then AA or RAC.

There's some seriously dodgy people and cars out there ...

Take care

Jim

by **GeoffSmith** » Tue 18.12.2007, 13:49

muley wrote:There's some seriously dodgy cars out there ...

Soon to be one less.

by **TrueBlue** » Wed 20.02.2008, 16:40

well its bad news

the guy from the ministry of transport went off sick so trading standards had to drop their case because they didnt have a witness..

then
my insurance company said they will not pay for the civil case because the dealer knows what he is doing
the land where the garage sits has no record in the land registry
and we cannot trace the garage owners assets, to secure payment when we win the case
because we cannot secure payment my insurance wont pay the legal costs

my only options are
1. pay a private investigator around £500 to find out if the owner has any assets and is not just stacking up CCJ's

2. return the car to nottingham which will cost me £500 each way
because it cant be driven and its a bit late now anyway
and i dont trust the dealer anyway after what he has already done

3. sell the car cheap as a restoration project and cut my loss's

I have therefor put it up in uk elans for sale as a restoration project

Dont worry
i can easily double my money with some stocks that i am currently shifting so its quicker and easier for me to do this which is what i'm best at rather than all the stress and hassle... i can/am turning £5k into £10k on a monthly basis for a few months buying and selling stock and the extra money will help me do it quicker

case closed and FK all second hand car dealers

by **Dico** » Wed 20.02.2008, 17:48

Sorry to here the bad news

On a more positive note - I have just sold an investment property and have £140,000 in cash. I'm thinking if you point me in the right direction, this time next month I will have £280,000 in my account.
I am quite happy to give you £10,000 for your advise.
:-)

I'm just writing my notice as I'm quitting work tomorrow.

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