A DISHONEST car dealer has been ordered to pay more than £1,600 after misleading a Sedgley customer into buying a vehicle which was an insurance write-off.

Pryzemyslaw Solecki pleaded guilty to one count of fraud after misleading the customer into buying a car which he described as like new.

The car was in fact a writen-off former taxi.

Solecki, of Furzewood Road, Bristol, who traded as South West Car Sales on Facebook was in Dudley Magistrates Court on Wednesday January 11, following an investigation by Dudley Council’s trading standards.

Solecki also admitted fraudulently stating in an invoice that by signing the document the consumer accepted the car was a trade sale and a non-running vehicle.

This was an attempt to avoid paying a refund to the consumer.

The vehicle examiner said “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.”

After Dudley Trading Standards intervened, the Sedgley consumer received a full refund of £2,650 from the dealer.

At Dudley Magistrates Court, the court heard that the trader had a previous conviction, before sentencing Solecki to a 12-month community order to carry out 100 hours of non-paid work.

Solecki was also ordered to pay £1,500 towards prosecution costs with a victim surcharge of £114, backed by a collection order to be paid in 28 days.

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."