Thread: Dodgy car - problems with trader. Quick advice needed.

As a follow up to the thread:
Forgery of a car's service history book - a crime?

I bought a car. The car was supposed to have a full service history. After I brought it home I noticed that the last stamp seems to be a little dodgy. I looked up on the internet and the postcode on the stamp did not match the street. There was no phone number either. The car was supposed to be serviced three months ago. I went to check the oil level and it was low and looked very dark.

I told it to the trader and he said that he knows the car was serviced. He offered me an oil change and he told me to bring the car next week. I agreed in good faith. In the meantime I noticed that the rear door on passenger side was painted. I called him on Monday (4 times - no answer), on Tuesday I took the car for a service to an authorised dealer.
They found a few faults with the car which I was not aware of including:
broken intercooler pipe (£250), alternator belt cracked, brake fluid needs replacing (would be changed if the last service was carried out), requires tracking, coolant level is low, wheel bearing is noisy.

I tried calling him on Tuesday and left him a message on the voicemail - did not return any call.

I called Trading Standards and they advised me to send him a letter. So I did. I stated that I want a full refund because of the stamp - so the car did not have full service history, he lied about accidents - he stated that there were no accidents at all (I found out later that more panels were painted and the car was involved in some minor incidents doesn't look like a major job was done).
Today he said that the rear door was painted because of a bird poop. Why would there be a filler in the floor?
Recently I spoke with him and he said that he also called Trading Standards and they said that I am not entitled to a refund. I don't know if it's another lie because looks like he lies about every single thing regarding the car.

I wanted a full refund including cost of service. He offered me £4000 for it which is £180 less than I paid and £280 less if I include the service cost.

He said that we can go to court and here are the questions:

Can I demand a full refund (at least the price I paid for the car, i will survive loosing the money for the service).

He claims he didn't know about the stamp forgery - does it make him not liable for the fact that he sold a car with fake stamp and therefore information provided by him was misrepresented?

He said he called the service company and they told him that they replaced the cambelt at 50k service. When I called them they said that the car does not require cambelt change until 150k so they didn do it. I have no witnesses but that obviously was a lie - would court believe my words?
I started recording my phone calls - I sent him a text message to inform that all calls to and from my number can be recorded - can this be used as an evidence?

In a text message he stated "the car is perfect" which in my opinon means "free from any flaws or defects" - I believe the above faults found by the delaer deny the fact that the car is free from any flaws. Can a text message be used as an evidence in court?

All help will be much appreciated and I told him I will call him tomorrow so I need to know wheter it makes sense taking him to court and claiming all the money? What do you think?

Thank you in advance
Alexunder

The seller may deduct a sum to reflect the period of use of the vehicle. It matters not whether he was aware of the stamp since an innocent misrepresentation will give rise to the right to rescind the contract (but not to claim damages). Also for misrepresentation you can only rely on statements made before the contract was made.