Crown Cars Peterborough

I Bought a car from this dealer at end of Feb 2023 and paid £2300 (I got a loan for this) for a vauxhall corsa on 59 plate (Jan 2010). I was told the car had been “checked” over by their mechanic. I test drove it and there was a rubbing sound which bothered me, he said it was because it needed to be driven more and loosened up - naively I took his word! I purchased the car and thought I would get a service anyway, not expecting the service to cost £600 & discover things such as the brake fluid was thick sludge and potentially dangerous leading to a potential brake failure. The rubbing noise I had heard on the test drive was a clip that had come away from the brake shoe and needed replacing (not loosening!). There were a multitude of things that clearly had not been “checked” over, the most alarming being he had sold it to me with an MOT that was “passed” but had a massive hole in the sub frame and it had been circled in yellow chalk to acknowledge the corrosion (it was an illegal MOT he had sold me). When I went to him to talk about it, he immediately said he just didn’t know what had happened and nothing like this had ever happened before, he was shaking and I graciously said to him that I know mistakes happen and please could he sort it - he immediately got on to it for me and sorted it. I wanted some advice and CAB told me to approach the Trading Standards Agency, where I was advised to report him & was told as a consumer I have rights and the vehicle was sold “not fit for purpose”, I was told I was entitled to a reduction on the car and could request compensation for the sum of £900 which was what I had ended up spending in the two months since purchasing the vehicle (brake fluid needed flushing, water leak, diagnostics check as engine light was always on, oil leak and other things!). It was then discovered that the timing chain needed replacing and the car was not driving well and I started to feel unsafe (the clutch broke!). I wrote letters recorded delivery to the owner with the help of the Trading Standards Agency and mentioned the consumer rights act 2015, I asked if he could respond within 14 days of receipt of the letter and if he was willing to have mediation with the motors ombudsman (he probably wasn't a member) I asked if we could discuss a refund on what I had paid out on the car - he never replied. I then sent him another letter recorded delivery titled “Letter Before Court Action” (small claims court). I said this due to no response or willingness to offer me a satisfactory reply stating what his thoughts were, I said I would be taking court action & again asked for a response within 14 days otherwise I would proceed without notifying him. He never replied! Wow! Someone I knew then contacted him and in layman’s terms explained I was serious about court and it would be less hassle to settle out of court, he offered me the sum that had covered some repairs I had spent on the car and I accepted. Last week the car broke down, I was advised it wasn’t worth fixing, as so much had been wrong initially with it and now the clutch and gears were going to cost over £1000 to fix, along with the Timing Chain that I had noticed was affecting the acceleration when I drove to work. I work really hard, I support myself and I don’t have that money to spend (thats why I got a car at that cost) I sold the car for scrap for an amount that I can’t even bring myself to mention for parts. I work at the Hospital and from where I live it is really difficult to get to work on public transport because of the times I start work, the public transport doesnt get me there easily on time . I now am reliant on lifts and there are not many people that live where I live and work where I work at the times I start doing the shifts I do 7am-730pm. This has all taken a huge toll on me & I feel quite unwell from the stress and the fact someone sold me a car like this, they just wanted to sell a car, they had no care for anything else. The person who sold me the car also said to me when I had purchased it to leave him a good review on google because people had been unkind about him (wish I had been savvy enough to read the reviews) I am disappointed in myself for not doing better research.