Friends who bought my car have stopped paying the agreed monthly installments

maginot

That's exactly how it works. If a private individual sells a car and it has major problems, this is the buyers responsibility. You do not have the same protection as buying from a business where you have the protection from the sale of goods act.

macman

It was a private sale, it was sold as seen. The OP is not responsible for any faults whatsoever, pre-existing or not, unless he offered some form of warranty, or made a statement about it's condition that he knew to be untrue.
But he does not have the right to repossess it either, as the vehicle is no longer his property.
OP, how much is owed on the vehicle?-the small claims limit is only £5,000, which may not cover it.
And remember that winning a judgement does not actually get you your money back if there is no money there to get.
Start with a letter by recorded delivery saying that if the payments do not resume within say 14 days and are brought up to date, then you will take action against them through the small claims process. Don't get involved in any discussion about the condition of the vehicle or the alleged fault, because it is not relevant.

sheslookinhot

debbie828813 wrote: »

Let's see if they will have a reasonable discussion with me first!

Thats the best way to resolve it. They must know their position legally. If they are friends and want to continue being friends then they need to continue the payments and get the car fixed themselves without whining about it.

On the other hand, the actions they have taken mean you may have 1 or 2 friends less, no great loss by the sounds of them.

debbie828813

I dont believe that I have any responsibility to something that has gone wrong 2 or 3 weeks ago when they bought the car at the end of July/start of August. All I know is that something seems to have melted in the electrics, that's as much as they told me. Since then they have pretty much avoided me because they obviously knew they were going to cancel their payments. Wilma - it normally appears on the 1st and therefore should have gone in my account yesterday. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt by leaving it till the weekend until I confront them. Believe me I don't want to have to take it to court but they have seriously annoyed me by simply stopping the payments without even discussing it with me. I will give them every opportunity to resolve matters without taking it to court, but I will if I have to. I believe they think I will lie down & roll over but unfortunately they are wrong!!

debbie828813

PS - I thought about possibly taking the car back but then why should I take it back and then I would have to pay the repairs before I could re-sell it! However if they agreed to this then I would consider it if the bill was only a couple of hundred pounds, purely to resolve the situation and to not have to worry about it any more! But out of principle, I want them to continue their payments.

globetraveller

Good for you! They really are in a no win situation. Please don't offer to take the car back. If they don't want it anymore THEY can sell it.

debbie828813

Thanks globetraveller! Some people just seem to think they are so hard done by and the world owes them a favour. Unfortunately these are those kind of people. And yes you are right, they are welcome to sell it. They must be really dense if they didn't think they would have to pay out money at some point for a used car, they are just trying it on!

debbie828813

They are now saying it was not sold as seen, because I told them it was in good condition when it was not. However, none of the items it has apparently failed the MOT on were flagged up on previous MOT's or services that I has done, so to my knowledge it WAS in good condition at time of sale. They are going to send me a letter, but have told me the fail items and or/problems are -

Illegally sized number plates - I put the car through x2 MOTs with no mention of this

New battery required - Wear & tear item, I cannot be liable for that!

New alternator required - Wear & item, I cannot be liable for that!

Something that melted in the electrics meaning that electrical repairs are required - I have had no work done to the electrics so how can I have known that this would happen!

One set of brakes was apparenly worn down to the metal, needing new pads, discs & calipers - for this item I am trying to get copies of all my old MOT & service paperwork as I had one set of discs & pads replaced not long before they bought the car, and I dont even remember any MOT advisory items on the other set. So I don't see how they could have worn down to the metal since my last MOT if there was no advisory that they would need replacing soon. Even so, this is still a wear & tear item.

I don't see how, from the above info, they can say that I missold them the car. The electrical problem is unfortunate but none of the above items I knew about or had any advisory info on any of my paperwork for.

They also said the garage said that because the car is an import, it is more likely to be a K or L reg rather than the R reg that it has. But I believe that when a car is imported, it must be given the appropriate UK reg that matches the car's manufacture date? I do not see how it could be given an R reg if it was older?

I still do not think I am liable for any of these issues but they are saying that they are within their rights to return the car in accordance with trading standards as I misrepresented it. How could I misrepresent future issues the car has had!

Also, I know the car MOT was due in Sept and they are just reporting these problems to me now and were driving it well into November, so it sounds like they may have been driving it around for a couple of months with no MOT!

ILW

How much was the sale price?

LilacPixie

ummm they have had the car for 6 months. I am guessing its a jap import mr2 or something?? Anyway irrespective its a private sale, buyer has no come back.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/advice/problemswithvehicles-sum6.cfm is a link to the TS leaflet on used cars

Full version is here http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Business%20and%20Industry/TradingStandards/TSB/ConAdvice/ProblemwithcarsInfo.aspx?frmClient=39BC40C5-1185-6B25-FCB3F848870A2006&frmItemID=122489&frmShared=1