If you bring a small claim against him the matter is judged on a balance of probability of evidence, and is pretty much judged on the credibility of the witnesses, their affidavits and statements, if you have the text evidence and you both provide affidavit evidence, as to the content of the 'contract' and assurances given then you should go for it - if you genuinely believe the seller knew the car to be faulty when sold. Don't bother with the CAB - complete waste of time and effort. You will not recover any costs save for issue fees and interest if your claim is under ?5,000 (except maybe ?50 for your loss of earnings, if any, for your day in court should it go to civil trial) You will have to find an issue fee, allocation questionaire fee, hearing fee, (all recoverable) and posibly commission an experts report (not recoverable if claim under ?5,000), solicitors fees and barristers fees are recoverable if your claim is over ?5,000 and not if under. Then even if you obtain a judgement in your favour you then have to enforce that judgement, which is not as easy as it sounds. Do a brief check for any recoverable assets before even considering action, ie land registry, does he own his house ? Do you perceive their to beanyequity in it ? etc If your claim is over ?5,000 and you decide to pursue it yourself then you may be able to claim the grand sum of ?10 an hour for your time , if he defends by using a solicitor and barrister and you loose, then you would be liable for their fees ! If your claim is strong youmay be able to get a solicitor do do it for you uner a conditional fees agreement, which is no win no fee, but with the other side being liable to pay up to double the fees should you win. (Confused yet ? you will be !) Blown head gaskets on aluminium heads are pretty easy to spot - you get 'frothy coffee' in your radiator - when buying a second hand car always leave the engine to idle for at least a 15 minute (preferably onger) time period to check the oil pressure stablizes, if the oil pressure light indicator has been removed, not working or has had the fuse removed then this is a sure sign that the buyer knows the car to be faulty. If you're lucky in the county court, the judge, registrar or recorder, will have read the evidence prior to entering court and will only really be testing the credibility of the evidence and the witnesses. If you're unlucky he/she won't even have seen the docments before entering court, and most of those supplied to the court will be lost somewhere within the system, so take lots of copies of everything with you.
