HELP Sold car on eBay - Buyer unhappy!

gemma1585

Hello MSE's! Please could anybody offer some advice...

I recently sold my car on eBay in an auction listing. I listed the faults with the car that included cosmetic damage only from parking incidents, and included pictures of each dent/scratch. The car also had a few rust spots (minor) that I felt would be expected due to its age (52 plate) and didn't mention them in the description, but the full car was photographed for the listing. Unfortunately I made a typo with the mileage and put this as 10k less than it should've been.

The buyer came to collect the car and pay cash. They had plenty of opportunity to inspect the car, but in my opinion just had a quick look. They signed the V5 then after another quick look at the interior and the dashboard, drove off very happy!

Since then I have received messages from the buyer stating that I have been a dishonest seller and the car was misrepresented by my eBay listing due to the extent of the damage and the discrepancy in the mileage. They are seeking legal advice.

Please can anyone advise me on my rights? The reason I sold the car was to fund my final year of postgraduate studies so I am in no position to pursue a legal battle. Nor do I feel that I should offer a refund and try selling the car again.

Many thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts and comments.

DUTR

Typo or not, you should re-imburse for the difference in mileage, you are lucky it was not me thatwas the buyer as you would have to spend more than the money from the sale to make amends, looks like you will have to take the hit of negative feedback and a note on the record of being dishonest.

neilmcl

I'd say they would have a right to be unhappy and legally they have grounds against you as you sold the car car not as described. Damage aside, 10K difference in mileage is a big deal.

glasgowdan

Offer a slight refund for the mileage, £100 or so, as they should have checked it before driving off. I am pretty sure the courts are sympathetic toward genuine mistakes in listings like that.

They are probably blowing steam and will quickly go off the boil so try not to worry too much.

motorguy

neilmcl wrote: »

I'd say they would have a right to be unhappy and legally they have grounds against you as you sold the car car not as described. Damage aside, 10K difference in mileage is a big deal.

Private sale and they had the opportunity to view before paying.

= No comeback.

motorguy

glasgowdan wrote: »

Offer a slight refund for the mileage, £100 or so, as they should have checked it before driving off. I am pretty sure the courts are sympathetic toward genuine mistakes in listings like that.

They are probably blowing steam and will quickly go off the boil so try not to worry too much.

Private sale. Buyer viewed the car after the auction and before paying.

No way it will get to court.

I'd ignore the emails and forget about it.

vax2002

The mileage on second hand cars is not guaranteed anyway.
He inspected the car prior to purchase, you would have given them chance to reject the sale before completing the transaction.
I would say, hard luck.

pendulum

You cannot be expected to detail every tiny imperfection in the bodywork. There would be too many to even list on a second hand car. You made it clear the bodywork wasn't in perfect condition by drawing attention to the main scratches and dents and any reasonable person would expect less than perfect bodywork on a 2002 car unless they were specifically told otherwise. I don't think you'll have any problems there.

I think you have a bit of a problem with the mileage though. He had the right to expect the mileage to be roughly accurate and 10,000 miles out is significant. Be bidded on the car thinking it had 10,000 miles less and he may have bid more because of it. Morally and probably legally you owe him the difference that 10,000 miles would make to the price.

The contract to buy was made when he bid on the auction based on the listing so just because he didn't notice the mileage discrepancy when he picked the car up doesn't mean your not liable. He may have assumed (as he has the right to) that the auction description was correct so he did not check that until later.

motorguy

pendulum wrote: »

You cannot be expected to detail every tiny imperfection in the bodywork. There would be too many to even list on a second hand car. You made it clear the bodywork wasn't in perfect condition by drawing attention to the main scratches and dents and any reasonable person would expect less than perfect bodywork on a 2002 car unless they were specifically told otherwise. I don't think you'll have any problems there.

I think you have a bit of a problem with the mileage though. He had the right to expect the mileage to be roughly accurate and 10,000 miles out is significant. Be bidded on the car thinking it had 10,000 miles less and he may have bid more because of it. Morally and probably legally you owe him the difference that 10,000 miles would make to the price.

He inspected the car before paying for it.

In the same way as he might not have spotted say a 'crunchy' second gear, as its a private sale, theres no comeback.

pendulum

vax2002 wrote: »

The mileage on second hand cars is not guaranteed anyway.

If you sell a car with X miles and the buyer can prove it had more than X miles then the buyer has a comeback.

pendulum

pgilc1 wrote: »

He inspected the car before paying for it.

In the same way as he might not have spotted say a 'crunchy' second gear, as its a private sale, theres no comeback.

I updated my post just as you wrote that.

That would be true IF he answered a classified ad, but he didn't, he entered the contract to buy the car by placing a bid in auction and that bid was placed on the basis of the auction description.

He has a right to expect the auction description to be correct as it formed the contract to buy.

If it had a crunchy second gear, he'd have no comeback - unless the auction description specifically stated it had no crunchy second gear. If the description says something and it turns out to be inaccurate there's comeback.