I was sold a car with a falsified service history - what should I do? | Ask Honest John

I was sold a car with a falsified service history - what should I do?

I bought 2007 Jaguar XKR with 25,000 miles on it. I returned the car after 10 days because it had a few issues. I also took the car for an MoT, where £450 worth of faults were found - which was odd because I'd covered less than 2000 miles in the six months I'd had it/since the MoT it was sold with. I then checked the MoT history and the mileage, and the service book does not correlate with the MoT history. There are mileage discrepancies as big as 10k miles, which tells me I was sold a car with a falsified service history. This obviously devalues the £20,000 I paid for this car. I've contacted my credit card company, but I would like to take him to court as well. What do you think?

Asked on 21 August 2018 by keith kellaway

Answered by Honest John

Knowingly selling a car with falsified mileage is a criminal offence, conviction for which can carry a jail sentence. So this is a police criminal matter, not merely a civil matter. Tell the vendor that if he does not take the car back and refund your money you will not only sue him in the county court you will take out a private criminal prosecution of him, which you can do if the CPS refuses to prosecute. Law here: www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/

Tags: used cars legal issues service history false service history

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