car written off before purchase

[sparkplug]

hey i am posting this in the hope to get some help in regards to a car my sister bought and then sold.

she bought her car about 2 years ago i think. she has just recently bought a new car and was trading the old one in but after being inspected at the lot which were offering the trade in, they got back to her saying that her car was written off like 7 years ago and should never have been sold in the first place.

she managed to get a bit of an offer out of them and took it, which was probably pretty stupid cause she no longer has the car now to prove anything. i would like to know if anyone knows if she has a leg to stand on. she probably lost about 3K out of the deal because of this.

first off I understand the chance of the second dealer talkin crap to get a cheap deal so no need to say that. How would she go about dealing with this, who should she talk to.... those kinda things? any help would be appreciated and if you could keep the replies to PM that would also be appreciated.

Steve.

[mustanger]

First of all,you sister does not have a leg to stand on now,because she has agreed to trade in the car on the new one. Do you have any paperwork stating that the car was written off from the dealer. I suspect not.

Do you honestly believe that a dealer would trade in a vehicle which supposedly doesn`t exsist. I think your sister has been had and that is why I am posting in this thread and not sending a PM.

It should be a warning to all , that if a deal sounds dodgy, that is what it is , "A Dodgy Deal".

It should be OK to post in this thread as long as you don`t mention the dealer. Unfortunately , it seems as the deal has already been done....Cheers John

[BaBarracus]

Have a chat to Dept of Fair Trading, DOCEP and the MTA.

I think they would be very interested to hear about this, especially given how dodgy it sounds!

[Y2kGoofball]

you'll find something would have been said when your sister went to re-register the car at some point in its life, the inspection for one!

[planetdavo]

Rather than all sorts of speculation and dagger throwing, why not just contact your local road authority, and get them to confirm the VIN's status?
If they confirm a stat write off, smile and be happy for your sister. Bear in mind that it only takes one letter or number to be typed into a computer for the wrong car to come up, so the dealer may very well have given this answer in good faith. In the parts department, we get all sorts of incorrect VIN's typed on rego's, VT sedans rego'd as VU utes, 03 Astra's as 05's, all sorts of errors...
Saves getting everyone who hates the car sales industry having a word in your ear, leading to all sorts of conspiracy theories, especially if what the dealer said is confirmed by your RTA! (imagine that ever happening on a forum....)
If they confirm no issues, feel free to contact consumer affairs, but the dealer isn't necessarily guilty, or if they are, possibly through no fault of their own...

[sparkplug]

First of all,you sister does not have a leg to stand on now,because she has agreed to trade in the car on the new one. Do you have any paperwork stating that the car was written off from the dealer. I suspect not.

Do you honestly believe that a dealer would trade in a vehicle which supposedly doesn`t exsist. I think your sister has been had and that is why I am posting in this thread and not sending a PM.

It should be a warning to all , that if a deal sounds dodgy, that is what it is , "A Dodgy Deal".

It should be OK to post in this thread as long as you don`t mention the dealer. Unfortunately , it seems as the deal has already been done....Cheers John

I never planned on mentioning any names as I do not even know exactly whos fault it was in the first place.

After the lot inspected her car they basically told her they wanted nothing to do with the vehicle as they could not sell it again and instead of taking it somewhere else, which i would have done hoping for a better offer than $0, she and my mum spent ages convincing them to offer something which they ended up doing. She had her heart set on a car they had and nothing anyone could have said would have changed that.

I don't know all the details as I was not there when the car was bought or when it was sold but I was just wondering on the process involved if what had been said happened did happen.

"you'll find something would have been said when your sister went to re-register the car at some point in its life, the inspection for one!"

good point maybe I should try and find out more before asking anything else. There is no way that you could register your car if it has been previously written off? As planetdavo stated maybe they did enter the wrong number to start with.

Thanks for all your replies guys it has made a bit more sense out of it all. I think I will be trying to check the history of the car. It is beyond me why she thinks she can do these things on her own as everytime she has gone near a car or a car lot she has been screwed.

[LargeRice]

Sparkplug, didn't your sister do a revs check or anything before she purchased the car? I think you can even do that on the web for free and it will tell you what has happened to the car. If she originally purchased the car from a dealer then it should be no problem, if it's private....well that's why you are supposed to check the car before buying.

She may have bought a rebirthed car. This is why women shouldn't go alone to buy a car....if there's 2 women together to buy a car the 'oh sh%t' factor is multiplied by 2 :)

[wanaVE]

Goodluck man

[sparkplug]

Sparkplug, didn't your sister do a revs check or anything before she purchased the car? I think you can even do that on the web for free and it will tell you what has happened to the car. If she originally purchased the car from a dealer then it should be no problem, if it's private....well that's why you are supposed to check the car before buying.

She may have bought a rebirthed car. This is why women shouldn't go alone to buy a car....if there's 2 women together to buy a car the 'oh sh%t' factor is multiplied by 2 :)

nah it was from a dealer i guess thats why she didnt do a revs check. i donno i give up on it, bloody women and cars they jus dont mix.

"Goodluck man"

haha yeah thanks.

[seldo]

Something doesn't ring true here...
If she bought it from a dealer initially, that dealer has to warrant the title by law - so she's got recourse on him.
If it really is a re-birth and therefore not registerable, why did dealer #2 take it at any money (unless he's sold it to a wrecker, but even that has problems because they are both dealing in stolen goods...)
If it really is a rebirth, how did it continue to get re-registered each year ?
Sorry, but someone needs to do more investigating here. The facts don't gel. I suspect that dealer #2 has done a Revs check and has made a typo which has given the re-birth result. He's told your sister and she's accepted the story, but he's then re-done the revs with the right info, got clearance, but since your sister's accepted the original story (probably been shown the print-out) so he's on a winner.
I'd recommend that you start from scratch, get a Revs check using the genuine numbers on the car (engine, chassis/Vin, rego) and see what comes up.
Something stinks here.

[joshsmum00]

Good luck with it. How can a dealership do that to anyone regardless if they were female, I think that alone is shocking.


bloody women and cars they just dont mix.

:1peek: I reckon its a good mix for me, but it is true that most people take advantage of Women because they think they can walk over *most* women well I can say they can't walk over me, that I can assure you. :jester:


shell

[SS Enforcer]

You could probably try talking to the dealer yourself so you get their side of it before you get anyone else is involved.

From what you have written it looks very dodgy but it may be just a case of your sister getting her terminology mixed up regarding what the dealer said to her.

My wife has reciepts from many years ago from aworkshop that used to sell her plugs,points,oil and air filters every time she went near their workshop for anything. Another time an NRMA guy offered to get her car towed to an auto electricians to repair her car .... she told him she would wait for her boyfriend (me) to get home from work first. When I checked the car I found the bolt that holds the alternator barcket on had broken that was all , a $3 fix :confused:

Very easy to rip women off regarding cars .


cheers

[sparkplug]

You could probably try talking to the dealer yourself so you get their side of it before you get anyone else is involved.

From what you have written it looks very dodgy but it may be just a case of your sister getting her terminology mixed up regarding what the dealer said to her.

My wife has reciepts from many years ago from aworkshop that used to sell her plugs,points,oil and air filters every time she went near their workshop for anything. Another time an NRMA guy offered to get her car towed to an auto electricians to repair her car .... she told him she would wait for her boyfriend (me) to get home from work first. When I checked the car I found the bolt that holds the alternator barcket on had broken that was all , a $3 fix :confused:

Very easy to rip women off regarding cars .


cheers


yeah i wouldnt put anything past my sister lol. with the small amount of info I could get out of the two of them I dont think I am gonna bother trying to help anymore. not worth me doing anythnig just to find out they stuffed up hehe.

[CV8-RO]

I doubt it's rebirthed or a statutory write-off. It would have been picked up eventually.
Probably a repairable writeoff, that's why the dealer offered alot less for trade in.

If it is a repairable writeoff then when she bought the car the dealer must have disclosed it somewhere in the paperwork.

[sparkplug]

I doubt it's rebirthed or a statutory write-off. It would have been picked up eventually.
Probably a repairable writeoff, that's why the dealer offered alot less for trade in.

If it is a repairable writeoff then when she bought the car the dealer must have disclosed it somewhere in the paperwork.

well she can have a read of that if she has even kept any of the paperwork. This sounds more like something that was possible, thanks.

[maxter21]

Sparkplug, didn't your sister do a revs check or anything before she purchased the car? I think you can even do that on the web for free and it will tell you what has happened to the car. If she originally purchased the car from a dealer then it should be no problem, if it's private....well that's why you are supposed to check the car before buying.

She may have bought a rebirthed car. This is why women shouldn't go alone to buy a car....if there's 2 women together to buy a car the 'oh sh%t' factor is multiplied by 2 :)

A REV's check will not tell you if it is a 'write off', to the best of my knowledge. At least not in QLD. It is only a check to see if it is under finance. There is another check you need to do, can't remember the name tho.