Warning after potential death trap sold on auction sites

Herefordshire Council's trading standards department is warning county residents to be careful about buying motor vehicles on internet auction sites.

The warning comes after a Hereford consumer bought a car from EBay which had previously been an insurance write-off and was in a dangerous condition due to totally inadequate repairs.

The car was bought from a man in the Birmingham who since has been fined £3,000 by Hereford Magistrates, including costs, for selling an unroadworthy car. The prosecution was brought by Herefordshire Council's trading standards department.

The 2003 Seat Leon vehicle was also misdescribed as requiring only £300 worth of repairs when in fact the true repair bill was at least £5,000 -almost as much as our consumer had paid for it.

Unbeknown to the consumer, the car had previously been an insurance write-off and was in a dangerous condition due to totally inadequate repairs. After handing over £5,600 in cash for the car the consumer almost crashed driving back to Hereford - a front wheel was secured by only one nut and the other wheels only had two or three nuts on.

The seatbelts did not work and the previous extensive damage had left the car with no impact protection and severe stability problems.

Mike Pigrem, Herefordshire Council's trading standards manager, said: "This car was a death trap, yet to the untrained eye may have seemed in good condition. The public should be very careful when buying motor vehicles, especially from Internet auction sites and always get an expert to check them out thoroughly before purchase. This should also include carrying out a car data check to see if the car has been a write-off. In this particular case the buyer was lucky to have made it back to Hereford alive."