Sorry for the random question with very little detail….

A colleague of mine bought a car some time ago, it was not as described. (broken £700 car delivered, £3500 paid.) She has been going through the courts to try to get her money back but keeps hitting stumbling blocks.

Ive advised she needs to get a lawyer involved and suggested to start with Citizens Advice. What type of lawyer does she need? How do you set about finding one?

This is a “small claim ” the type of lawyer she needs is one willing to work for no or very little pay as she will not recover their fees .

The small claims procedure is supposed to be easy to follow and the court staff are usually very helpful . Citizens advise usually have a free legal session when a solicitor in private practice gives up his time to offer advice only .(and cream off any decent cases)

What stumbling blocks is she hitting ?

the trader keeps changing his story, has tried to say an individual sold the car rather than the company, stated the ‘details’ were automatically uploaded to autotrader – despite her buying direct from the traders site, refuses to attend court so further dates are needed
She has a good record of everything but is suffering with having a car that she has been advised not to fix and cannot sell, needing regular time off work to go to court, phone calls, child care and more recently regular harrassment from the traders ‘lawyer’ pressing for an out of court settlement.

the car was delivered, keys through the letterbox, while she was in labour – 16mths ago now.

refuses to attend court so further dates are needed

that’s odd – normally the magistrates will just find for the claimant if the other party doesn’t attend.

What out of court settlement is being offered?

Full refund car back?

I would have thought that the Judge would not be willing to adjourn for non attendance in a case like this ?

Why is the trader paying for a lawyer? at least £100 per hour for a small claim?

has he actually filed a defence if so what does that say?

Doh, didn’t read thread properly!

wwaswas – yep all very odd

offering £300 and taking car back!

it seems the traders ‘lawyer’ is the free type

What type of lawyer does she need?

She needs a litigation lawyer. This is a civil matter, not a criminal one (though there may be underlying criminality).

EDIT: she needs a solicitor*.

It sounds like the claim lies in contract law – both as to how and with whom the contract was made, and what factors induced your colleague into parting with the money.

It falls into the small claims court, which means that each side has to bear their own costs (unless the court finds in her favour – she needs legal advice on how to make that happen if nothing else).

How do you set about finding one?

Ask Citizens Advice if they have any contacts at local legal firms. TBH, you need someone who has experience doing civil litigation, but who is cheap enough to justify it (at £3.5k, it’d be easy enough to rack up more in costs).

She does need legal advice. It’s worth paying for. And she might be able to find someone to do it on a contingent fee (no win, no fee) basis.

*There are three types of lawyer in England and Wales (not sure about Scotland): solicitor, barrister, notary. Roughly speaking, if you need legal advice, you go to a solicitor. If you’re in litigation (civil or criminal), your solicitor may need to instruct a barrister. Notaries are usually used these days for making documents enforceable in other jurisdictions.

don’t think her lawyer is a lawyer.

you should get a full refund. you can add on a claim for loss of use, ie compensation for not having a car of the agreed standard for the time taken to resolve. this element is less certain and you have a duty to mitigate your loss ie take the most economical way of solving the problem of no car. so loss of a banger hire a replacement for a couple of weeks ok but not hire a porche for two years .