Information Source: Storm Catcher Automotive Law Classic Car Lawyer
If you have an issue or disagreement with a vintage, rare, or collectible automobile, we’re your go-to law firm.
Over the last 30 years, we’ve gained a reputation for resolving restoration disputes and automobile rejection cases with unparalleled competence and experience in the vintage and classic car retail motor business.
Get in touch with us if you’re interested in buying or selling classic automobiles.
Inquire at the following number: 0333 700 7777
For individual customers, collectors, and dealers, we help them settle disputes regarding questions of title, provenance and misrepresentation, as well as deceptive advertising and restoration in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.
Ex-racing and rally vehicles like Cosworth, RS Ford, and BMW M3 are among our many satisfied customers, as are E-Type Jaguars and Aston Martins along with Rolls-Royces, Porsches, Ferraris, and other luxury brands.
Buying a vintage or classic automobile might be a challenge
If you’ve ever acquired a vintage automobile from a private owner or a dealer, you’ve likely encountered one or more of the following situations:
We’ve worked in and around the business for decades, and we’ve learned all the tricks of the trade.
Disputations about restoration work
Either the antique automobile owner hires an expert restorer to fix and restore the vehicle, or the dealer sells the completely restored motor car to the customer, are the most common scenarios.
If you don’t correctly specify the scope of your project’s work, you’re going to have troubles from day one. In the end, these results to either the repairman performing more work than planned and consequently costing more, or the client not getting the job done to their satisfaction.
It’s becoming increasingly typical for a restoration company or antique car dealer to pledge to offer a, completely restored vehicle for a certain fee.
There are a variety of ways to do this, including obtaining a vehicle of the agreed upon kind and origin and restoring it, or agreeing to restore an existing vehicle.
Because of the following three factors, both circumstances are a formula for disaster:
- After a buyer pays for an automobile, the seller is responsible for financing its repair, which removes any motivation for the dealer to finish it in a timely manner.
- Another concern is that components and materials may be reduced in order to improve profit.
- Third, the firm might go bankrupt, leaving the buyer with nothing.
Disputes over identity
Vehicles with unwanted twins have the same VIN or chassis number, which might be a problem.
This might happen if the original vehicle’s chassis has been damaged in an accident or collision and has to be replaced. Instead of destroying the damaged chassis, it is auctioned off and a new vehicle is constructed around it using the same identifying numbers.
Disputes about the ownership of property
Conflicts about who owns an automobile may lead to this situation, but it can also happen when more than one person claims ownership of a single vehicle. If it’s a loan from a financial institution, this individual or organization may be responsible for repayment.
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Do You Deal With Car Restoration Issues?
We deal with all manner of legal issues and disputes involving the sale, purchase and restoration of rare, high-value collectors cars and classic motor vehicles.
The rise in classic car values has driven interest in barn finds and ultimately the growth in classic car restorers. With this comes bodyshops and accident repairers diversifying into this collector car sector without the necessary expertise leading to quality and integrity disputes.
Equally, classic cars are big business and problems involving restorations costing many times the original estimates. Sometimes the cost of the restoration can exceed or equal the value of the motor car.
We have enormous experience of the car restoration industry and resolving disputes in this area.
Car Auction Sales and Purchases
Anyone reading auction house terms and conditions will be excused for thinking that they exclude liability for virtually everything. So much so, that you could equally be excused for thinking that it’s a licence to deceive, giving carte blanche to describe a pile of scrap metal as Concours without fear of recourse.
This would, of course, be perverse and fail the test of reasonableness in determining whether the term is unfair and cannot be relied upon or not. However, this proves expensive through the usual channels.
Can You Deal With Valuations and Inspections?
We have contacts with a range of experts who have experience and expertise in virtually any make of care who we can put you in touch with. Our retained clients and contacts are some of the countries leading buyers and sellers of rare and classic cars who will be best placed to assist with valuations.
Sales and Purchases of Classic and Historic Cars
Aside from dealing with circumstances when things go wrong we are regularly instructed with prevention in mind rather than cure.
This can include investigating the provenance, service history and of course the legal ownership, tracing the history back in a similar way Philip Mould and Dr Bendor Grosvenor have done in researching the provenance of artworks.
Expert inspection and opinions on the vehicle are often required as well as forensic testing and examination of the documentation.
Identity Disputes
Car fraud where the identity of the motor car is not what it seems is on the rise and is an ongoing concern. This can be the use of counterfeit chassis plates and VIN tags or using those from a damaged or written off vehicle on a stolen car: known as cloning or ringing.
In some circumstances, there may be more than one car with the same identity. In a recent case, a client had purchased a 1970’s race car that had been involved in a serious crash and the parts sold off to two separate buyers. Each went on to build or rebuild a vehicle that seemingly matched the original neither apparently knowing about the other until one, which was outside the UK was imported back in.
Classic and Historic Car Litigation
We are not litigators but are instructed for our unparalleled insight and experience in the business. Our aim is to provide buyers and sellers with a cost-effective alternative to solicitors who often will prepare the case at great expense and instruct a barrister to present the case in court.
We are authorised to draft and settle the statement of case, be that the particulars of claim or defence, draft the witness statement and any other legal documents. However, more importantly, our overriding objective is to resolve disputes out of court using negotiation, mediation or arbitration.
Do You Look After Classic Car Dealers?
Yes, we accept instructions from classic car dealers, private clients and collectors. Unlike other lawyers in the sector, our experience extends not only to the high-value multi-million-pound vehicles but right across the spectrum. This may include a 1980’s M3, Sierra Cosworth or Mk1 Escort Mexico, to Ferrari, Mercedes Benz SL or E-type Jaguar.
What is Your Experience in The Classic and Collector Car Sector?
Growing up around cars in the 1980’s many of the cars of the 1960s and 1970s were nothing more than has-beens and bangers. The Triumph’s the Sunbeam Alpines, the 107 series Mercs were the cars we worked on, refurbished, did up and sold on. We got to know them intimately.
Then there was the ugly ducklings that no one wanted, Aston Martin Lagonda, Ferrari 400i and Mondial, Lotus Elite. The modern classics of the future, the Porsche 993 and 959.
Over 30 years, in the business, we bought, sold and were involved in all manner of classic cars from the working man’s sports car the M1 Capri to Ferrari F40, F50, Daytona, XJ 220 and DB5.