Complain to Auto Trader

Two complaints, to two different places. The one that gets your money back goes to the dealer, because your contract is with them and not with Auto Trader, and it is made under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Auto Trader’s own help page then asks you to email customerexperience@autotrader.co.uk with your name, the vehicle registration, the seller’s business name and what went wrong, so it can look at the dealer. It also recommends contacting Citizens Advice first, on 0808 223 1133 in England, because they are the only route that can pass the case to Trading Standards.

Email customerexperience@autotrader.co.uk. Auto Trader’s help page asks for four things: your name, the vehicle registration, the seller’s business name and a description of the complaint. Do not ask Auto Trader for a refund, repair or compensation, because it was not party to your sale and cannot order the dealer to pay. This complaint gets the dealer looked at; the money comes from the claim you make against the dealer.

customerexperience@autotrader.co.uk, for complaints about a dealer or trade seller on the site. There is a second address, financialservicescomplaints@autotrader.co.uk, and it is only for Auto Trader’s own FCA-regulated finance and insurance products, not for a car you bought from a dealer. Include the vehicle registration and the seller’s business name, because that is what Auto Trader asks for.

It can act on the seller and the listing, not on your refund. Auto Trader is a classified marketplace, so it can review a dealer that keeps generating complaints and it can pull an advert, but it was never party to your sale and cannot order anyone to pay you. Report the dealer to customerexperience@autotrader.co.uk, and run the actual claim against the dealer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Select “Report this advert” at the bottom of the advert page. Auto Trader says it reviews every report it receives, and lists incorrect mileage, a vehicle that is already sold and a potentially fraudulent advert as examples of what to report. Screenshot the listing before you report it, because an advert that gets pulled takes your evidence with it.

Only if that dealer is accredited to one of The Motor Ombudsman’s Codes of Practice, and it will not take a dispute about a business that is not signed up. Complain to the dealer first: they have eight weeks to give a final answer before you can refer it. The ADR service is free to consumers, and a final decision is legally binding on both parties once you accept it, which means you may lose the right to take the same complaint elsewhere.

Thirty days from the day after delivery, under section 22 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Inside that window you can reject the car and get a full refund without giving the dealer a chance to repair it. Past 30 days the dealer is entitled to one attempt at a repair or replacement, and if that fails you can reject and claim a refund, which they may reduce for the use you have had.

Weaker, and the difference matters. Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 a private sale must still match its description, so a wrong mileage or a hidden write-off is actionable. Satisfactory quality and fitness for purpose apply only where the seller sells in the course of a business, so ordinary wear or a fault the seller did not describe is usually yours. If a trader was posing as a private seller, report it to Auto Trader and to Trading Standards through Citizens Advice.