In a mad pickle. Copart sold me a CAT B car advertised as CAT S!

[lakers1234]

Hi peeps, hope you're all well.

I'll cut to the chase. Back in November 2020, I won a car on Copart Salvage auction which was advertised as a Category S vehicle, didn't have much damage on it, start and drove with no airbag, chassis or engine damage. I enquired prior to make sure it was an Insurance entry which it was so I went ahead and bought it.

I had a very close family member pass away suddenly around that time so I completely put off any work or car repairs, plus I had a lot of other projects on which I've also been getting through.

Finally got around to sorting this car out, and randomly did a Hpi check on it (not doing one prior and trusting copart) and got the shock of my life.

Copart have sold me a CAT B car, advertised as CAT S. This car is useless to me now. Copart cover themselves with all their disclaimers, but literally, I'm SERIOUSLY out of pocket, over £7,000 .

Any recommendations please? Any previous experiences like this?

Thanks

 

[Alistair D]

Hi, I would contact the Copart CEO with a copy of their advert along with a copy of the Hpi check and ask for an explanation, possibly mentioning Trading Standards. Do this in writing not over the phone, depending on how reputable this company is you may well have to fight through the Courts and showing all the efforts that you have done to resolve the problem before Court will be in your favour.
Best of luck and I hope you get a speedy result.

 

[B5NUT]

It states on the web site they cannot sell a cat B to the general public. https://www.copart.co.uk/content/uk/en/support/how-to-buy/buying-cat-b-s You need to find out when the Cat B marker was put on the car and go from there. Trading standards would take a Dim view on a company like Copart Selling cat B cars to the general public.

 

[NHN]

As above, take screenshots of the website stating about cat b not being sold by them, also any advert pages document's stating by them its a cat s.

I'm sure once you put this to them, they will refund you.

 

[Raiden]

How did you pay? If by credit card, section 75 or debit try for a charge back


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lakers1234]

Hi Guys,

Just an update. Absolutely no help from Copart on this one at all. I managed to find out the insurance company that sold this to copart and asked them to review the pictures & report. They admitted that there's no way that this car should have been classed as a CAT B and that their engineer made a mistake, so they've removed the CAT B. I wonder if I should still go after Copart or leave it, but honestly it's so unprofessional of Copart, and literally treated me like I was the one at fault for "not doing a Hpi check before bidding, regardless of what it says on the advert as they're not responsible for the Category classification". Just a heads up to anyone else, PLEASE do a Hpi check before making payment for a car, because after that, you'll be stuck, as copart will not want to help you.

Thanks for all your help fellas. I used some of the points you mentioned when emailing copart.

 

[Nashe]

Hi Guys,

Just an update. Absolutely no help from Copart on this one at all. I managed to find out the insurance company that sold this to copart and asked them to review the pictures & report. They admitted that there's no way that this car should have been classed as a CAT B and that their engineer made a mistake, so they've removed the CAT B. I wonder if I should still go after Copart or leave it, but honestly it's so unprofessional of Copart, and literally treated me like I was the one at fault for "not doing a Hpi check before bidding, regardless of what it says on the advert as they're not responsible for the Category classification". Just a heads up to anyone else, PLEASE do a Hpi check before making payment for a car, because after that, you'll be stuck, as copart will not want to help you.

Thanks for all your help fellas. I used some of the points you mentioned when emailing copart.

Hi, I have just come across you advert as I have the same issue. How did you find out who the insurance company was?

 

[NHN]

It's basically illegal what they're doing, so if they're taken to court they will lose & have to pay out.

If they show the auction or sale page as a non cat b then it's false advertising & they can't get out of this.

 

[Nashe]

It's basically illegal what they're doing, so if they're taken to court they will lose & have to pay out.

If they show the auction or sale page as a non cat b then it's false advertising & they can't get out of this.

It’s clearly not a CAT B the insurer must have made a mistake when filing it. I have sent email to them and await a response

 

[lakers1234]

Hi, I have just come across you advert as I have the same issue. How did you find out who the insurance company was?

I kept ringing copart until I got someone who was a little willing to help.
I said “ you are only allowed to sell Cat B cars to a breakers yard with a licence , so how are you going to explain selling a private guy like myself a Cat B car? I am not going to come after Copart if I can sort this out, all I want is the insurance company that sold you the car so I can contact them”. Eventually someone told me it was LV car insurance.

I’m making it sound simple, but it really wasn’t. This is only where the troubles started. I then had issues with LV and took weeks for them to resolve

 

[Nashe]

I kept ringing copart until I got someone who was a little willing to help.
I said “ you are only allowed to sell Cat B cars to a breakers yard with a licence , so how are you going to explain selling a private guy like myself a Cat B car? I am not going to come after Copart if I can sort this out, all I want is the insurance company that sold you the car so I can contact them”. Eventually someone told me it was LV car insurance.

I’m making it sound simple, but it really wasn’t. This is only where the troubles started. I then had issues with LV and took weeks for them to resolve

Thanks for the info. They shouldn’t be aloud to sell it in the first place. I feel this is going to be painful!!!!

 

[NHN]

It’s clearly not a CAT B the insurer must have made a mistake when filing it. I have sent email to them and await a response

Even if it's a mistake, but it's the onus on copart to check the status of the car, the fact they're advertising it as say a cat s but the official rating is a b whether it's incorrect or not, they are obliged to check this & legally they're fecked.

 

[Rambo576]

I’m in the same situation, on Copart the car was listed as a cat N after a hip check it’s showing a cat B was put on a month prior and the vehicles marked as scrapped but Copart hasn’t updated this and sold the car as a run starts cat N

 

[NHN]

I’m in the same situation, on Copart the car was listed as a cat N after a hip check it’s showing a cat B was put on a month prior and the vehicles marked as scrapped but Copart hasn’t updated this and sold the car as a run starts cat N

It's false advertising, thus you have a legal case, but if you did hip check but still bought it, that's a little questionable.

 

[Rambo576]

It's false advertising, thus you have a legal case, but if you did hip check but still bought it, that's a little questionable.

Completely, I did the hpi check after which is stupid but still false advertisement