car that has been clocked

[shdg]

if you get a car on finance and find out it has been clocked what can you do, is the dealer responsible or the finance company and can you sue them

[Oneeyedvic]

As usual the answer is: Depends!

Firslty, you need to read your invoice and find out if it has a 'usual' clause in there stating something like "we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the mileage"

If there is such a clause, your problems will be far more difficult - though still not impossible. You will really need to prove that the dealer either clocked it or knew that it was clocked - not an easy task I'd imagine.

If your agreement is a Hire Purchase or Conditional Sale agreement (as opposed to a Loan agreement - it will be stated on the top of your agreement) then the finance company has an equal liability as the motor dealer.

[yummymummy]

Clocking a car or supplying a clocked car is a Trade Descriptions Act offence against the dealer. You do not have to prove they knew about it or did it, it is said that they did and down to them to prove they did what they could to check mileage was correct.

I would say you have civil rights against the dealer for selling a car not as described, which would entitle you to give the car back and cancel finance. Would also be worth contacting finance co (as long as finance arranged via garage not your own bank loan) as they could well be jointly liable.

There is also the criminal side which Trading Standards would deal with, although is up to you whether you want them to look into it, or want to sort your own problem out first.

[shdg]

hi thanks for your advice. we did a hpi check and found that the car dealer did in fact do a hpi check before we purchased the car, so obviously they knew about the mileage being wrong. we were told by the car dealer and the finance company that we had to have another car from them, but 2 days later they rang and said that we do not have to have another car and we can have our money back that we have paid each week on finance but they dont know if we will get it all back. but the car dealer wants the �300 cash back that they gave us, but i think they have a cheek, and should not have to pay it back for all the trouble we have had from them for the last 4 months. hope you agree. thank you again.