Legal advice about selling a car.

MothballsWallet

kiz, so do they use Pledge, Mr Sheen, French or supermarket own brand?

Oh, sorry, that's the wrong sort of "Polish"

unholyangel

AFAIK the only part of the general SoGA that applies to private sellers who do not usually trade in cars is that it must be as described.

So if you say the car has a cd player in the ad, its reasonable to expect the cd player to be working.

The element that isnt covered with private sales is "satisfactory quality". So providing the car conforms to any ad he has responded to, he has no legal ground and doesnt know English Law quite as well as he thinks.

LeroyBoyce

I've just spoken to him again (and recorded the phone call).

He tells me that they HAVEN'T charged him £900, they told him it will be £900 to fix. They have just charged him £70.

He told me the car worked fine all the way home. The next morning it was playing up.

It is now impossible/dangerous to drive.

He wants to drop it back here and demand his money back.

He also admitted he has given it a complete service, and told me all the parts he replaced.

I do sympathise with the poor chap, but all I know is the car worked perfectly for two years while we owned it.

MeanParent

Unless you misrepresented it in the advert or sale then he does not have a leg to stand on. Ignore him.



However, I hope you didn't deliberately sell a lemon to someone unsuspecting?

concerned43

There is no such thing as 'sold as seen'! if the car is unroadworthy then you are responsible as the seller and it is a crimal offence to sell an unroadworthy car.
http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/AF6CC87B-9483-4C9C-8F60-2A78AC17C01E/13374/UNROADWORTHYVEHICLESGUIDANCE.pdf

arcon5

concerned43 wrote: »

There is no such thing as 'sold as seen'! if the car is unroadworthy then you are responsible as the seller and it is a crimal offence to sell an unroadworthy car.
http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/AF6CC87B-9483-4C9C-8F60-2A78AC17C01E/13374/UNROADWORTHYVEHICLESGUIDANCE.pdf

no it's not. You've taken that out of context.

There was reasonable cause to believe that the vehicle would not be used on the road or would not be used until it had been put into roadworthy condition.

If you list a vehicle as 'requires repairs to make it roadworthy' and somebody purchases it, you'd naturally assume they will be doing repairs to the vehicle and therefore complying with the above.

It seems to me that is looking to stop people selling unsafe vehicles to the unsuspecting public, not to stop people knowingly trading vehicles which need work doing. Many garages purchase vehicles written off by insurance companies (particularly those simply written off as it's more economical to payout) and repair the vehicle for resale.

'As-seen' in this context would mean the buyer has inspected the vehicle for any potential problems/faults, the extent of wear & tear, any cosmetic damage ect and happy to take the vehicle in the seen condition.

The_Pedant

concerned43 wrote: »

There is no such thing as 'sold as seen'! if the car is unroadworthy[/URL]

There is such a thing as sold as seen, it is called a private sale.

I'm assuming it had an MOT and had no faults that would render it unroadworthy that the seller was aware of; therefore that link does not apply.

With a private sale it is up to the buyer to determine if the goods are of the quality they are wishing to accept. The car was inspected and test driven by the buyer who drove it home without issue. However since they have 'performed a full service' a light has come on?

The vehicle was deemed to be fine at time of purchase and a fault later developed (after THEY performed a service?). Provided the car was 'as described' when it was sold, the sale should be seen to be final.

Caveat emptor indeed.

LeroyBoyce

I recorded the last phone call where the chap told me he drove it home with no problems at all...

pendulum

concerned43 wrote: »

There is no such thing as 'sold as seen'! if the car is unroadworthy then you are responsible as the seller and it is a crimal offence to sell an unroadworthy car.
http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/AF6CC87B-9483-4C9C-8F60-2A78AC17C01E/13374/UNROADWORTHYVEHICLESGUIDANCE.pdf

Unroadworthy in that context means air in the brakes and things like that, it does not apply to engine problems / catalytic converters and so on. A used car does not have to be sold fault free especially in a private sale.

LeroyBoyce

... and the MOT runs out in May...