Dealer not saying a car was crashed

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xavier

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A family member bought a second hand car from a fully franchised dealer who are members of a recognised trade body. In buying the car the person checked and verified milages etc etc. Also they asked if it had been crashed or had any repair work done to which the response from the dealer was no.

Roll on a few years and it transpires the car has had some panels resprayed.

What steps to they take now?
 
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AFAIK, under the sale of goods act, dealers are legally obliged to disclose any faults that are not already apparent.

The lapse in time probably doesn't help though. You say 'resprayed' but is there any evidence of structural/chassis damage?
 
I think Caveat has a point here. Just because a few panels were resprayed does not automatically mean that the vehicle was involved in a crash. EG someone may have just reversed into a pole etc. There is also the possibility that the dealer himself was not aware of any repairs carried out on the vehicle.
 
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I take that point - however if the damage was slight then why say there was none.

Also if my memory serves me correctly a seller (professional car dealer) cannot hide behind the "a shure I didn't know" as they are deemed to be experts and should have known.
 
just because a car was painted does not mean it was crashed!! every person that buys a second hand car from a dealer ,first thing they say if im gona buy it i want that mark done,therefore painted ,,which is what every customer asks.even new cars get marked during tranportation ,thats why nvd have the biggest body shop in the country.to paint all yer new cars.
 
That is as maybe - but the dealer was specifically asked if the car had ever been crashed or repaired. The answer was a categoric no. Not a caveated not that we know of or some such. It was a no.
 
My mechanic found that my car had been resprayed prior to sale. He didn't feel that this was done as a result of any crash (he couldn't find evidence of a crash), but rather to cover normal wear and tear.

Considering that there isn't necessarily any evidence of crash damage and it's been a few years since purchase, I wouldn't be inclined to do anything myself.
 
I was looking at a car in a main dealership recently and asked the usual questions about history - crashes etc. I was told that it had never been crashed or repaired. When I was lifting the bonnet I felt a drip mark underneath the lip. I asked the salesman what the story was and he called the mechanic up. He said that they had given a few of the panels "a very light respray to freshen it up". I got my own mechanic to check it out and he reckoned it hadn't been crashed and they probably had just done as they said.
 
It all comes down to the question asked and how it was asked back a few years ago. "Was the car crashed?" Salesman "Says no, as far as he/she knows No". It doesn't sound like it was crashed or repaired, it was touched up.

How many panels and what panels were done?
 
On this 'phrasing of the question' thing, I was advised by a mechanic before never to ask if the car was crashed/damaged as it's such a subjective thing. Is a tip into a tree a crash? is a small scrape damage? etc

Was advised to specifically ask about respray/touch ups/replacements and more importantly why?

Other than that, with no intention to rub it in etc, I would never buy any car from anyone - reputable dealer or not - without having it independently checked.

Having said that, I wouldn't be unduly worried about areas being repainted as long as there is no other evidence of damage - although I would maybe regard the dealer in question as being untrustworthy if indeed he specifically said 'no' to the question of repainting. He can't claim ignorance - any half decent mechanic can spot a touch-up.
 
I had to get 6 panels resprayed courtesy of a neighbour's little child and a bolt. Do you consider that to be repair?
 
6 panels? (Bonnet, 2 wings, 2 door skins and 1/4 panel?)

That's a respray not a touch up!
 
All of one side, front wing and front door on the other side.

My point is that the fact that a number of panels have been resprayed isn't necessarily evidence the car has been in a crash.
 
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