Car dealer who misled Sedgley customer ordered to carry out unpaid work

Pryzemyslaw Solecki, from Bristol, traded as South West Car Sales on Facebook and tricked a person from Sedgley into buying the vehicle.

The defendant had described it as "like new" with no hidden issues, but it was an insurance write-off, "poorly repaired" and was ex-private hire.

Solecki also admitted fraudulently stating in an invoice that by signing the document, the customer accepted the car was a trade sale and a non-running vehicle – in an attempt to avoid paying a refund to the person, Dudley Magistrates' Court heard.

The Sedgley customer received a full refund of £2,650 from the car dealer following the intervention from Dudley's trading standards.

The vehicle examiner commented the phrases used in the transaction were "extremely misleading" as the vehicle was not in excellent condition at the time of sale.

The examiner also stated "the vehicle had previously been declared an insurance write off and had been poorly repaired, including the refitting of the broken headlight assembly, at some stage in its life”.

The defendant, of Furzewood Road, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order on January 11 and must carry out 100 hours of non-paid work, and was ordered to pay £1,500 towards prosecution costs with a victim surcharge of £114.

Councillor Ian Bevan, cabinet member responsible for trading standards, said: "This prosecution shows that we will not tolerate traders that try to evade their responsibilities by claiming a trade sale to be a private sale.

"Online car sales rose in popularity through the pandemic. Car traders must describe vehicles accurately and fairly but consumers also need to be extremely cautious about buying vehicles in this way."