Sold a car, air con stopped working, buyer complaints

vax2002

It must be as Described at point of sale.
If the Op had wrote, Air conditioning guaranteed to work for 50 years or all your money back.
Then they may have a case.
The Buyer had plenty of time to inspect the vehicle and satisfy themselves of the condition and offered a lower price based on their findings .

The Only similar case I heard of was lost at Small claims when the Judge ruled the vehicle was inspected and the deal negotiated following the inspection and like all second hand goods you pay a lower price to a private seller than a dealer in the knowledge that you will have less protection and on that basis you purchased the second hand van,
complete with any faults or imperfections common to second hand goods having satisfied yourself of its condition.
The claim was refused, albeit this was for a diesel pump on a van that failed within a week, but similar in nature

pendulum

fivetide wrote: »

Sure if someone pulled that stunt on you you'd be complaining like the OP's buyer.

I'm usually very lucky with vehicle purchases, I've had some cracking deals over the years. But I bought a motorbike two weeks ago described as having good tread on the tyres and riding like a dream.

It looked great when I went and paid for it.

By the time I got home it's leaking oil from the forks. Checking it over the next day, and I found that the back tyre, although having lots of tread (as described), has a cut in the tyre in which you can see a cord.

So that's probably £200 worth of work.

The bike was still as described. It does ride well, and the tyres do have tread. I'm not going to ring up the seller and moan or cry about it; I bought it second hand for a low price expecting and budgeting for problems like this, as I always do with second hand vehicle purchases. It should be viewed as a pleasant surprise when a used vehicle doesn't need work - not a surprise when it does.

mikey72

Joe_Horner wrote: »

............... just a dishonest buyer trying to scam some money back on a non-existent problem!

Easy one then. The op has said the buyer has already lawyered up, when he goes to court with the engineers report stating it's still working perfectly, he'll be bound to lose. If however, he has a report stating the aircon had a leak, and must have topped up hours before, and that the car wasn't "in great condition, good value" he may have a better chance. http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/your-rights-buying-second-hand-cars/used-car-problems-faqs/

mattyprice4004

OP, you have nothing to worry about. Ignore all correspondence.

Tilt

pgilc1 wrote: »

Your point

"SOGA does not cover private sales UNLESS the buyer can show the seller has deliberately falsely advertised the vehicle."

is WRONG.

Thats what i was correcting.

That statement is incorrect. The car must be as described - there is no onus on the buyer to prove the seller deliberately falsely advertised the vehicle.

You can 'correct' all you like. The fact of the matter is that in a private sale there is no come back on the seller providing that the car was not falsely advertised. According to the OP, the aircon was working at the point of sale. So yes, the buyer can bring a claim... but how are they going to provide proof that the OP 'miss-described ' the car?

photome

mikey72 wrote: »

Easy one then. The op has said the buyer has already lawyered up, when he goes to court with the engineers report stating it's still working perfectly, he'll be bound to lose. If however, he has a report stating the aircon had a leak, and must have topped up hours before, and that the car wasn't "in great condition, good value" he may have a better chance. http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/your-rights-buying-second-hand-cars/used-car-problems-faqs/

I think you are just trying to scare the OP, I dont agree that SOGA gives the buyer any protection in this instance.

The OP has said they were not aware of any problems with the aircon prior to sale, are you calling the OP a liar?

mikey72

photome wrote: »

I think you are just trying to scare the OP, I dont agree that SOGA gives the buyer any protection in this instance.

The OP has said they were not aware of any problems with the aircon prior to sale, are you calling the OP a liar?

Does it say that in any of my posts?

fivetide

pendulum wrote: »

I'm usually very lucky with vehicle purchases, I've had some cracking deals over the years. But I bought a motorbike two weeks ago described as having good tread on the tyres and riding like a dream.

It looked great when I went and paid for it.

By the time I got home it's leaking oil from the forks. Checking it over the next day, and I found that the back tyre, although having lots of tread (as described), has a cut in the tyre in which you can see a cord.

So that's probably £200 worth of work.

The bike was still as described. It does ride well, and the tyres do have tread. I'm not going to ring up the seller and moan or cry about it; I bought it second hand for a low price expecting and budgeting for problems like this, as I always do with second hand vehicle purchases. It should be viewed as a pleasant surprise when a used vehicle doesn't need work - not a surprise when it does.

Given you seem to advocate ripping people off I'd say this is essentially karma.

I recently sold a car with aircon - it wasn't working so I never advertised that it had it although you could hear the clutch kick in on the compressor so it probably just needed a regas.

The car before that I bought had exactly the same issue you talked about, the sunroof was off the runner and didn't work. the seller was quite open and again, hadn't advertised the car as having one saying "if you want a sunroof then get a different car"

I'd much rather buy from someone who is open and honest than someone who thinks advertising features that don't work is morally a good idea.

5t.

lil.smartie

Gav, they checked the car, they said it was working, they agreed a price 'as seen'...

Don't worry about it

Kate

Sgt_Pepper_2

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