Should we pay garage bill for new owner who we sold car to?

123sparklyqueen

My husband sold his car (he is medically unfit to drive) about a month ago to a family member. It had to go to the garage for a brake related problem this weekend (we knew nothing of this, had MOT 2 months ago and passed) and she had to pay a large bill. She is now expecting us to foot the bill, I say it's not our problem, my husband feels bad. What legal rights do we have? Anyone had a similar problem?

Sgt_Pepper_2

More of a morall issue than legal.

vikingaero

This is why you shouldn't sell a car to a friend or family - you feel obligated in some way.

Pay the bill if you want but ask for £1,000 for acting as a warranty provider!

So where does your liability end because it's a family member? In another month something else could go wrong, and the month after that, and the month after that. You're going to have to say no at some point.

McKneff

Buyer beware, full stop.

You are not legally responsible for the repair bill.

I bet you sold them the car at a knock down price anyway.

Tell her to walk till her floats................

mikey72

There are a lot of factors.

What the age of the car is
whether you sold it as a bargain, or top price,
what was wrong with the car,
what garage they went to,
whether they spoke to you nefore having the work done,
whether the work actually needed doing.

Legally, after two months, I doubt they would have a leg to stand on under any circumstances.

s_b

i totally disagree with micky
if they had the car 3 days fair play
2 months is a damn cheek
if they push it cut them off completely as wasting relations

123sparklyqueen

Thanks for all replies, thing is we can't really afford the bill anyway, she earns 3 times as much as we do put together. I say if it was me, I would be annoyed but it's one of those things, car was sold in good faith and we didn't know anything was wrong. If something happens in another 2 months time, are we going to be expected to contribute towards that bill too? We weren't informed of this until she had repair work done, and she hasn't even told us personally-she got another family member involved to talk to us about it. AWKWARD!!

mikey72

s_b wrote: »

i totally disagree with micky
if they had the car 3 days fair play
2 months is a damn cheek
if they push it cut them off completely as wasting relations

I never said to pay them.

If it was a new car (well just out of warranty) and it went to a decent garage to have a fault that was an advisory on the last MOT, that made it near enough unroadworthy, I'd think twice about it, if they were a family member like my grandma.

If it was a long lost auty that had just took it to Kwik Fit, and been told it needed new disks all round, and whoever sold it must have known about it, and they had the lot replaced on the spot though.........

[Deleted User]

vikingaero wrote: »

This is why you shouldn't sell a car to a friend or family

+1 to that.

s_b

mikey72 wrote: »

I never said to pay them.

If it was a new car (well just out of warranty) and it went to a decent garage to have a fault that was an advisory on the last MOT, that made it near enough unroadworthy, I'd think twice about it, if they were a family member like my grandma.

If it was a long lost auty that had just took it to Kwik Fit, and been told it needed new disks all round, and whoever sold it must have known about it, and they had the lot replaced on the spot though.........

my point was you were giving too many options when really the op should be telling family member to go do one

Paul_the_Painter

The car when sold had an MoT done 1 month previously, the buyer had every opportunity to have an inspection done, but chose not to.

I always have my doubts about large bills to new owners of cars anyway. If I was Mr Garage Owner, and someone came in saying "I've just bought this - does anything need doing?" I would be rubbing my hands with glee, I could charge for anything!

I would, without doubt, tell them to forget getting any money from you.

And never sell a car to a family member - unless all are aware at the start that there will be no hard feeling on either side - whatever happens.

I once bought a car from my Aunt, it had been abused throughout it's life (which I was fully aware of) Whenever I saw her she asked "how's the car", and I would reply "fine, all going well, just gave it a service/changed the brakes/put on a couple of tyres" - Without fail she immediatly looked guilty, and flustered, worse thing ever for our relationship!